What have I been up to? Oh yeah the 3 day weekend was great. Firstly the vernisage trip with Alex and Raffi was the first time I experienced the real vernisage not rushing around in the “tourist” area for gifts etc. So while we were in the army/soviet icon section we noticed an IESC badge so I asked the vendor where he had received it from. Of course he misunderstood my question and he replied 200 Drams. Ouzoumes vertsnel? (do you want it?), I’m like, leeke ounem (I have plenty) so Alex tells him I was the “Chef”. Anyway then of course meeting the Aussies at Europe hotel was great. One of the girls went to the same uni as my nephew and were in the same maths class, what a small world!

Sunday night was Jack’s farewell and we had a small good bye party for him with a few friends, nice and relaxing.

On Monday, after cleaning the house, I treated myself to Hotel Yerevan pool. It was so great I had the whole place to myself, I really should treat myself more often while it’s still hot.

On a different note, this is what I learnt yesterday. GDP is up 14.9% mainly due to the ongoing construction (really, I haven’t noticed), Agriculture is down, Inflation is basically nothing and tax revenue is up 12.9%. Today I just returned from a meeting at World Learning where we talked about how the NGO’s view fundraising in Armenia, quite an eye opener.

On the job front I still don’t know where we stand but I have a month extension to either close up or continue for another 5 months.