i love the diaspora logs right now. nothing makes me happier than speaking about a mass migration to armenia. it would be the first mass migration from USA in HISTORY... what an amazing thing to have in international history books.

in the year 2003, 50,000 Americans from all over the USA bearing the last name ending, ian, moved to Armenia (CONSTITUTING .05 of USA population). people from all over the world were doing the same thing in Russia, Iran, Beirut, Syria, Canada, France, Argentina, and many other countries. in a single year armenia prepared the way for over 200,000 new residents ready to start a new life. It has been a month here in armenia since the mass migration but businesses are being set up left and right, new condos are going up and there is a long line at the passport center. for the first time in armenia there is a line to get a ten year armenian resident passport. and for the first time in years there are only three people waiting in front of the us embassy. there are new teachers and students in the school... and many new languages have been added to armenia's education program.

homecomings are being shown on tv. people who left armenia decades ago and have not seen their families in over a decade are showing up with flowers and tears to kiss the mother and father they have missed too much. thousands of people go to tsitsernakaberd every day just to see the historical mountain ararat majestic and in full view.

the armenian government, landlords, and moving ie freight companies are busy throwing welcome parties for the new residents. notable was a goodbye banquet thrown in LA. harout sang... while thousands of armenians filled the dance floor celebrating the mass migration back to HAYASTAN.

I have DSL!!! (Halleluyah playing in the background) For the next 30 days at least, I have broadband internet access! I still don't know where in the world I will be after that, but time will tell. I have not left the apartment since monday, and now I just may not leave for a week ;-) So in my housebound state, living in NY in the winter has been much like living in Armenia in the winter. Don't want to go out because it is cold, the restaurant/bars are smoky, and here in addition, I don't want to go out often because of sticker shock. I am still not used to these prices.

A couple of days ago I finally heard what our friend Juan's (who logs in the Diaspora log) music sounds like. He told me his group won an award in Argentina and described it as a mix of genres which I didn't know what to make of. It was really good! Raffi Meneshian better sign them onto Pomegranate before Rick Rubin gets his hands on them!

Since Lena mentioned that Canada is an OSCE member, my friend (Nigol) and I dropped by the OSCE office to sign up as observers for the upcoming elections. Unfortunately, we were rejected since Armenia does not have a Canadian Embassy to represent us. We decided to seek an organization instead, but that was a useless effort as well.

Until the Canadian government decides to show a little more interest and presence in Armenia, we�re going to have to deal with our embassy in Russia. It�s too bad, considering there are quite a few successful Canadian-Armenian repats/expats who have launched various businesses and factories throughout Armenia (Gorciqapah, Parev Yergir, Grand Tobacco/Sun/Candy, Gem Corp., etc).

As far as Ara�s comment about God making us suffer once again, I have to comment. God does not necessarily teach us lessons. �Djagadakeer� (�fate�) is a word I keep hearing over and over again in conversations in Armenia. But most of the time we just make the wrong decisions and later blame God for a negative outcome.

On a different note, I just heard that Fred Rogers has past away. Rest in Peace Mister Rogers.

I�m completing some of my list of things to do � unfortunately, the logging on cilicia.com has always fallen to the wayside��

So the 2nd round of elections is next Wednesday and a few of us have signed up, and been accepted, as observers � obviously, not being from Aussie or Kiwi land! It should be very interesting, particularly with respect to the reports, which have been circulating from the 1st round observers.

Work is progressing, there�s a lot of it and it seems to never end � but then, that�s always a good indication of what�s going on around here. A lot of extra projects seem to be cropping up, which, if they�re realized, could be quite exciting. One interesting project is that we�re hoping to organize a Northern Ireland football (soccer) team match against some orphanage children, when they come to Armenia at the end of March for a Armenia-Northern Ireland official match � together with the British Council and some football supporters who�ve been busy fundraising in Northern Ireland these last few weeks. There�s another even more exciting project�..but that is only in its initial stages and hence I�ll report back in a few months.

I went back to the UK for a few weeks recently, and have hopefully managed to intiate a choir tour for Hover chamber choir for this coming September 2003. It should encompass London, Oxford, Cambridge, Edinburgh and also possibly Glasgow � all in absolutely beautiful concert venues and hopefully some interesting workshops which will allow the general public to participate in singing Armenian music. When things get confirmed and organized, further information will be released��watch this space and the Hover website

Also, in a few days time, the new Spring Wish List, for people wishing to donate to worthy and inspiring causes in Armenia, will be uploaded. If there is anyone who is wishing to donate, please don�t hesitate to point them to : www.arlex.am/wishlist.htm . Armenia is growing, and is looking toward a bright future � you can all help to have been part of its development.

Outside of work, life�s equally interessant � making English apple pies with old friends, watching a random play called Miss Hayastan which Antoine (one of the volunteers) suggested we go and watch�hmmmm, listening to the Armenian Chamber Orchestra in a very nice warm, comfy-seated (first concert I've been to here where I was able to fall asleep;-)) cinema hall, playing Monopoly with some extreme capitalists, an amusing evening in Monte Cristo with Keri, some of the Arlex boys, our new boy on the block Haro Setian, and guests, oh, and I�m still continuing with my Armenian classes � that dream is still there, it�s gradually becoming more realistic�..!

PS Here�s a photo (if I can get it uploaded) of the time Hover sang at Oshagan, at the Feast of St Thaddeus & Bartholomew.

OSCE rejected my application to observe the upcoming elections. Why you may ask? Well Australia doesn�t seem to be an OSCE member and nor is New Zealand so why is Canada? Aren�t we all part of the Commonwealth? There goes my chance of this incredible experience. Jal (that�s absos in Russian).

russian class is one of the funnest and greatest projects i have had since my move to armenia. for $20 a month I get 3 classes a week... and after my fourth class i am proud to report that i have a vocabulary of over 300 and can have very light conversation with someone who has just walked in the door, or someone on the street who knows what the street name is, or someone with a watch, or someone whose name i do not know. it is fantastic. arthur is annoyed as hell as i keep asking his name over and over but i am learning... and that is what matters.

the real shocker came last night. our usual and main fight has to do with tv cruising. when cruising the channels, he sticks too long to the russian channels and i get upset because i do not understand anything. i call him selfish, he tries to explain the program and why it is soo important that he watch it... and we get grumpy. well last night while we were waiting for alla the massage lady... we were watching tv... and he did it again. stuck too long to the russian channel. but this time i watched and tried to listen so hard... and heard pronouns, words, verbs and phrases that i knew... it was soo exciting. i was floored. after ten minutes we realized that we had not had our usual fight and arthur turned to me and said ya tsibia lublu maya jena (i love you my wife) to which i replied... ya tsibia lublu dozha, moi muzh (i love you too my husband)... now i do not know if this is the start of eternal marital bliss... but i do know my grandma's favorite saying... inch kan lezu gides, ayd kan mard es (the more languages you know, the more person you are).

the massage lady came and started on arthur while i started my painful exercises to straighten the slight scoliosis that was never cured by geeky braces which would have resorted to junior high school ridicule. the exercises are painful and i am a bit sore... but the massage makes up for it.

arthur leaves for USA in less than a week and between massages, russian classes, elections, plays, friends, work, and family... i am happy to say... i have a full schedule to get me through the week. although he will be missed i hope to make it. don't newlyweds make you sick.

what cute puppies. i love dogs. most of you remember my white lab mix shakar-avazian that i gave to ara and then we laid to rest in martuni. then i tried bringing home a chow mixed named winnie the pooh (pronounced vini-pukh). the second day arthur gave me an ultimatum it was either him or vini. it was a very hard choice. i took an ad in the paper... giving away my husband or my puppy... come and decide which one you want. a family with children were the first to arrive. they auditioned arthur and vini... and ended up taking my puppy. arthur cannot live with dogs in the apartment, so with tears in my eyes i found vini a home.

for a long time now i have been talking arthur into selling the apartment to buy a house... then i can have a few puppies in the yard. in order to stay in the center of the city (which is where our apt. is located) and seeing the desperation of the situation as well as the frowns that would appear every weekend after visiting the puppy section of vernisage... he found the answer to all our problems.

he surprised me on valentines day with a baby cockatiel named chico. he is from the parrot family and can talk. but for the past ten days all he has been doing is throwing us attitude... hissing and facing the opposite way... or panickly flapping his wings when we try to take him out. even a few bites have been attempted. if anyone has a cockatiel i need advice. can you tell me the secret to befriending the great bird. the pet store guy told us to starve him then feed him from my hands... but i find that a little harsh and mean. i want a more humane approach.

arthur and i decided to treat ourselves this month to some real good healing. her name is allah and she comes and gives me a one hour massage, and arthur a one hour massage. i have a bit of an arch in my back so she is curing that ... and arthur has headaches so she is curing him for those. she is a certified doctor who also has prepared in germany and russia in healing massages and energy healing. it is wonderful. this is going to cost us 100USD. this includes 10 days of massaging, one hour for arthur and one hour for me. that is an amazing deal...

we went to the demonstration yesterday...i really wanted to see what was going on. all my repat friends had the same idea... i saw everyone i knew. it was interesting, there was a large large show of people ... almost 60,000 demonstrating against the current government. we will see what happens.

working during this time is ridiculous. whatever you want, whatever you need... the most common answer these days is... no problem, but after the elections.

After a relaxing breakfast with friends, I went home to rest since Sunday is my only day off. So while I was in bed with a headache, my friend called me from yet another Demirchian march and told me there were thousands of people rallying and he was amongst them taking pictures. I just couldn�t get out of bed and knew that I was missing out on a great experience

But opportunity came knocking again, when I met my girlfriend in the afternoon. We saw the crowd coming up Nalbandian Street and after running into another friend who was also taking pictures, we ran up to my girlfriend�s house to have a better view. To say the least it was amazing, somehow the crowd saw us on the balcony and we were cheering them on while they were chanting De mir chian, De mir chian, it was actually more like egging them on to chant and raise their voices. The march was peaceful as they turned onto Sayat Nova and the car that was in the lead (an old Soviet car) with some blokes on top of it, broke down and had to be pushed, it was rather quite funny.

I just kept hoping that the camera crew wouldn�t point up to see what the crowd was looking at and didn�t particularly want to see my face on TV. I have to keep a low key since I�ll be an OSCE observer for round 2 elections the following week, yes the British Embassy called me again and this time I accepted. So after a briefing next Monday for a few hours, I�ll be off on Wednesday to observe. Ah this was democracy in the making, it was a good day. My only hope is that these marches or rallies don�t turn into violence.

I just lost a log I was very happy with about the elections and about seeing Raffi Niziblian's last night and my take on the movie Bowling for Columbine, as well as what I am working on with all this free time I have. I am too demoralized to try to rewrite it. It amazes me that computers are so buggy that windows still freeze, and pages don't load, and even if you can go back and everything you typed is gone. So I will just retell the part about what I am working on...

I am putting together a book that will probably be called 101 Armenian Monasteries. People joke that all there is to see in Armenia is monasteries, and although that is far from true, there is no denying that the rich monastic architecture of Armenia is amazing, and sets it apart. I don't actually know that the contents of the book will be exactly that, it is just a fun title. Certainly there will be churches as well as monasteries, there will probably be more than 101 for that matter, and there will be pages with photos of things other than churches and monasteries as well. I finished going through my over 16,000 photos and sorting them into seperate folders for each place/theme. There will be no text, just photos, so all I have to do now is narrow down the photos for each place, which is the hardest task I am faced with by far, and then lay it out. Places like Kobayr, Tatev and Haghartsin, which in one photo can convey their magnificence I can't go wrong on. That is not to say choosing photos for them is easy, but it is the little gems like Teghenyats and Arates that no one or two photos can capture, but which you can spend an hour exploring and discovering and being amazed that probably less than a dozen foreigners like yourself will visit them this year. Hopefully laying it out properly will take only a couple of weeks, and then we'll see if I can successfully get it published.

Boy Armenia is changing by the day, not to the better. Last night after a really fun night of dinner with a bunch of people with different backgrounds we enjoyed good food and Armenian music. We then decided to go to a night club and outside the club there was a young kid standing with a cut off sleeve shirt. Let�s not forget there is still snow everywhere and it�s still minus whatever.

One of the guys from my group asked the kid how come he wasn�t cold. The kid turns around and says �do you want something so you too don�t feel the cold?� and takes out some pills from his pocket. When there was no response from my friend who was dumbfounded, the kid puts the pills back in his pocket and walks away.

Once inside, I don�t know what percentage of the kids were walking around with tank tops sporting their tattoos. I spoke to the first girl I came across and asked her if it was real tatt, she says sure. I�m like did you get it done here? She says yes, my friend does it. So how much does it cost? She says it�s only $20! So most of the crowd was 16 or 17, I don�t think there was anyone older than 20 in the club.

When I first came to Armenia, I said that tatts was going to be the next big trend. So now that it�s here, the next trend I can almost guarantee will be body piercing. The sad thing is that all these kids walk around with tatts think they�re the coolest people in the world.

I relate so much to how Madlene and Arthur have been feeling these past few days.

Just last week I was excited about so many things. Getting back to work, house shopping, planning a retro 80�s night at one of the clubs in Yerevan. But nowadays (only days after the elections) everything seems to have been shifted into the twilight zone.

There is a serious sense of uncertainty and tension everywhere I go. My stomach has been in knots since the presidential elections and so many people I have spoken to say they feel the same yukky way. I never cared about politics while living in Canada, but coming to the Motherland while things were progressing positively, and being excited about my future plans, all seem to have been put on hold right now. Nobody knows what can happen in the next week and a half, and thereafter. Rallies are taking place all the time, yelling and screaming, pointing fingers, vandalism of campaign offices, (mind you the opposition rallies are only getting everyone a little too excited). The country is split into two (half supporting the current president and the other half supporting the opposition, or as I�ve heard by so many, anything but the current president). To top it all off, Bush and his plans to attack Iraq (a country only around the corner from here) treating Turkey with a nice $26+ billion package (who can use this perfect time to aggressively conquer its other issues with the Greek Cypriots, the Kurds and of course us�the Armenians). It seems like it's decision time worldwide.

I hope everything works out as soon as possible. I only pray to God whoever is chosen to run our developing country does a good job. I just want people to relax here, and right now it appears that everyone is ready to just blow up. I feel sick, I think I�m going to puke.

Peace.

my god, i was floored. thank you for electing me as mrs. president. i wish it were true.

i would first of all declare free press in this country. i am so disgusted by the press. the channels that are showing news... are very one sided and there is no real news. i am not taking sides... i am just saying that the media is. and most of the stations are not covering anything at all. there is one station that has been showing whitney houston and celine dion concerts for the past three days. it is pathetic... we are drenched in politics... there is a lot going on... and the media is too scared to take sides (most of them) and are pulling out archive trash and putting it on the air. they do not know which presidential candidate will hold the longest stick in the end... and are scared to pull for one or the other. it is pretty pathetic.

with this election win, the mock one of course, i have a newfound energy. these past few days i have been down. arthur has been down too. we do not know what is right for our country... we are confused. everyone is screaming something else and i am trying to listen and i don't know if i fully believe in anyone right now. when i saw myself as president on the poll it was the first "candidate" i could fully believe in... and that was because it was me, and becuase i am me... so i have to believe in me... and sorry to sound so cynical... but it has been a pretty rough election... with promises etc. and it has left me very confused and very skeptical.

i am very interested to see what the end results are. i am not avoiding voicing my opinion... i do not have one yet. i just know that i hope that the two candidates have half of the love we have for this country.

on another note, this is the fifth day of snow... and it is not letting loose. i see about a foot of snow or more outside the window... and we had to really push the snow out of the way... to get out the building door... i have never been in so much snow ever. it is beautiful.

Kocharian gets 49.8% of the votes so it goes to round 2. Serge Sarkissian gets on tele and says, �we will definitely win the second pool and you know why? Because 707,000 votes is a serious thing�

So I�ve heard a couple of stories from friends who were OSCE observers but won�t divulge that information. Demirchian had a victory party planned today and after the votes were counted tonight, I heard Demirchian supporters were already rallying against vote irregularities. I decided to go home and stay away from it all.

The results are in and unfortunately it's not over yet. Since the 50% mark wasn't met by any of the candidates, there will be a second round on March 5 (only for the top two candidates with the most votes, based on yesterdays election). The results as of midnight (that's Thursday night) are:

Robert Kocharian 49.8%
Stepan Demirjian 28.3%
Artashes Geghamian 17%

The remaining percentage goes to the other 600 candidates, oops I meant 6.

Armenia�s election was mentioned on CNN last night! By the way, if the weather wasn't so bad I�m sure more people would have voted and travelled to their regions for that purpose. From what I�ve heard so far, everything was really well organized.

A few hours ago Armenia casted her voted to elect a president. We're waiting for the outcome.
Meanwhile some preliminary data for you.
Inspite of the weather: snow that would not stop the whole day, one million 420 thousand and 344 pp participated in the elections. That makes 61.9 percent of the electorate.
The highest turn out was in Syunik region 72.5 %
The break up is as followed:

Yerevan 58.1 %
Arakadzodn 59.9 %
Ararat 68.6 %
Armavir 67.5 %
Gegharkunik 65.3%
Godayk 62.1%
Shirag 54.2%
Syunik 72.5%
Vayotz Dzor 66.2%
Lori 58.9%
Davoush 67.6%

It�s Election Day tomorrow and the city is swarming with �Foreigners� from all walks of life. I was at Armenia Hotel tonight and OSCE has taken over at least 1 floor. The news opened with a speech (a prayer) from the Vehapar for the new President. Polling starts at 8am and the media is getting ready. Observation will be strict this year and that�s my take on it, I�m now kicking myself for not being an observer, I should have accepted the invitation from the British Embassy (I wanted the credentials like the badge, arm band, whatever else).

A couple of my work colleagues believe it�s going to be a tight race and for that very reason they will take the day off and travel to their respective regions to cast their vote for the current President and demonstrate their sense of duty to Kocharian. Too bad I don�t have rights to mark my ballot.

Weather wise it�s still snowing and cold. Oh Raffi N they showed Egoyan and gang re Ararat awards on tele tonight.

What timing, I am in NY for the worst winter storm in years, a state of emergency. The sidewalks are piled high and there is loads of mush all over. The silver lining I have found so far? My shoes are pretty clean. They were always dusty in Yerevan. :-) We were in Boston last weekend, visiting Zabels parents. We didn't leave the house except once to visit one of my old friends from my high school days who has been there a year. Here in NY, as soon as things melt a little I plan on hanging out with all the friends I keep realizing I have here.

My computer is now seriously kicking some butt. All I need now is DSL, which the landlord has promised. The TV card is working, I can watch DVDs, Richards speaker/woofer system is amazing. I am just loving it. The next temptation is a DVD burner, but I must resist this consumerism! (we'll see how long any determination lasts). The thing is I have so much data on my hard drive, something like 60 GB, that its really quite impossible to back up any other way, except buying a second hard drive or a DVD burner.

In the news I am quite pleased with the turnouts around the world at the peace rallys last weekend. If I had been in NY I would have attended, even in the cold. It is great that so many people stood up and said this whole attack Iraq fixation that Bush has is precisely that, Bush's fixation. Not that of the USA, not that of the west, nobodys except this one man who is hellbent on getting his way at some incredible cost. Let him stop sending billions of dollars to human rights abusing nations like Turkey and Israel before attacking Iraq.

what a weird mood. not just here but all over the world. friends i have not heard from in years are forwarding actions of peace emails. the city is in an unsure and unsettled mood. elections are tomorrow and today is a day of rest, where there is no campaigning allowed. everyone is buzzing, talking and repeating urban legends, rumors and fears.

as for me i have made a big change. i feel that i have a good grasp on the armenian language... and have stopped trying so hard with armenian... and instead have picked up russian. i am now taking an extensive russian course. so kak dzila readers?

this is all for now. i am sure i will have much more to write tomorrow... and especially when we all wake up on the 20th... it will be interesting to see what we will wake to.

paka for now.

Today I saw two Russian soldiers standing infront of a shop. One of those shoe-box-shops that have a tiny window for sale transactions. The office where I volunteer is very close to it, and the lady shopkeeper is interested in having a side job as a cleaner lady in the office. Something that she can do in less than an hour everyday and have extra income.
When I noticed the soldiers, she hurried back and invited me with her. They were window-shopping. When we got close, each said in Armenian 'pogh chunem'. She asked what they needed, they kept repeating 'pogh chunem' with a wistful look, she said you are 'soldat', meaning she won't ask for money, and gave them a pen as a gift, they took it and left.
The previous cleaning lady disappeared a month ago. Her husband was very sick, then passed away. We assisted her with funeral expenses, and she took the deceased to their city, Sissian, to bury him properly, with his family. We waited for her return patiently. What's the proper mourning period in Armenia? No one was complaining. This week we heard from another shopkeeper that two hours after the funeral she had followed him to the other world. Wow, what a bond.

Watching some of these candidates on TV really makes me wonder what some of them are really thinking running for presidency. You look at them and you try to picture them representing this country (it just seems so wrong).

What I really find sad is some of Demirchian's campaigning and the people in the villages that are going nuts over him, slaughtering rams and bulls, spilling their blood all over the streets so Demirchian can drive off on those streets for good luck. But why has he been avoiding the subject of Artsakh, or his opinions on Armenia's foreign policy? Maybe he's better off not saying a word, 'cause when he speaks I just cringe!

How about the six opposition candidates questioning the legitimacy of Kocharian's Armenian citizenship....I mean come on! You can't go around saying Artsakh is a part of Armenia, demanding world recognition, and then taking this B.S. to court saying that he is a citizen of Azerbaijan (since he was born in Artsakh in Soviet times, which then was a part of Azerbaijan).

To top it all off, since Hovannisian couldn't run for presidency, he's now backing the son of Karen Demirchian.

Ask most Demirchian supporters why they are voting for him and they'll tell you "well his father was a great man", so what does that have to do with him?

I can't wait for all of this to end. Sure there are games being played, but let's not forget about the elections in the USA. Ouch! I'll leave it at that. Ara had his say on Kocharian and I had my say on the opposition. (Luckily, I didn't mentioned my opinions on a couple of the other candidates.)

Well, the snow is back. The great weather had to come to an end and tonight all the streets of Yerevan are covered in snow again.

I've been shopping around for a home for the past week and I'm already sick of it. I checked out listings for apartments on sale, but I think I prefer a house. So this weekend I'm supposed to check out a few on sale. With the help of God I'm hoping I'll find a great inexpensive deal and a foundation where I can build my own custom-made home. My relatives here told me it took them two years to find this place, but the prices have gone up like crazy! Apartments that were on sale for about $20,000 four years ago are about $60,000 or more now. Just talking about it stresses me out.

Today my life took a huge leap forward as the pieces I needed to reassemble my computer arrived and now I finally can do something productive with my days. It has been a rough couple of weeks with no computer and weather so cold I don't feel like heading out. Luckily, I found some good Michener books at the Salvation Army store and have had something to do with all my time. Yesterday I built in a desk and shelf, and the landlady (well more like land girl, I think she is younger than me) has been doing some work around the place, so things are slooowly normalizing. I can finally start catching up with my online stuff, including get to some old e-mails, and start working on some of these projects I have mentioned.

The computer came together *pretty* easily once all the parts arrived. I treated myself to a nice 17" flat panel monitor, the kind I have been drooling over for so many years since I had to buy a monitor anyways. I got it for $350 on Outpost.com which is a really great website. Go to the "Hottest Deals" link on the bottom right of the page and scroll through those to see the best deals. When I was putting the motherboard into the case, I accidentally scraped the motherboard with my screwdriver and actually knocked off a capacitor which was so small I could not even find it. So when the computer wouldn't turn on the first 20 times I tried, I was seriously worried. I tried everything I could though to make sure the problem didn't lie elsewhere and it turned out to be the VGA card, of which, fortunately, I had 2 spares. So anyways, that pretty much wraps up all the excitement here, except that because of new terrorist warnings, I have to worry that the subway is going to be bombed by terrorists while I am on it. Great.

I tried to get a sense this morning of how many of my work colleagues would be voting on Feb 19 and there wasn�t that much enthusiasm. You want know why? Well one basically has to vote in the region they are registered in so if one is from Stepanavan, then they would have to go and vote there, well it�s really not very convenient for most of my colleagues. So most these �brains� at my work won�t be voting which is a real shame.

Seeing the posters of Kocharian absolutely crack me up, I really want one to place on my wall for a good laugh especially the one embracing a �Dadik�. Or better still the one that shows all, Kocharian with army boys, with sportsmen, with a youth, with the Dadik and the middle picture of him waving with a great smile.

I was invited to be an observer at the elections with OSCE but since I had to take too much time off work, I decided not to do it. Absos.

On a sad note I also have heard of a lot of thefts lately and break ins. My poor colleague from work had her bag snatched after work when it was still daylight and a Frenchman helped her get her bag back from the thugs. The locals were standing around morally supporting her instead of running after the bastards?

PS Thanks Mr Menechian re your comment about how I fainted in the back of the plane, believe me it was not due to excitement, far from it actually!!

a cultural weekend it was.

on friday i went to the lince show, at the camerayin tadron. wow, a very funny, creative, and talented group of actors put together a great show. full of political sattire on the made up set of the lincy foundation's renovation of the sidewalks of yerevan.

towards the end of two hours of laughter and a dazzling script one of the actors solves the age old armenian problem. according to his great plan armenia and albania would trade places. both cover roughly 28,000 square kilometers of land. armenia is surrounded by muslims and albania is mostly muslim surrounded by christians. the whole cast got excited and starting planning the great switch... the girls were delighted about the new coast they would have and started to plan trips to the beach. only when the cast realized that they would have to leave behind mt. ararat were they mortified. although manvel, the great thinker, promised to make a mount ararat out of penoplast... it was not quite the same. they concluded that they would stay, and work towards a better armenia.

on sunday we went to the movies. a new action (karate) armenian flick just came out starring the very hott gor vartanian. it was actually a good movie. our good friend aramo stars in the movie playing a heroine addict who sells his own father for his addiction. too many people died for my taste, but i guess violence sells all over the world. if you get a chance and it is playing in your hood, check out the movie chgrvats orenk (unwritten law)... i think you will be amused.

as far as these burglaries are concerned, arthur's police friends say that brigades of burglars from georgia and moscow have come for this reason alone. we will all have to take precautions. i knew this was not local as this is uncommon. now i must say i have been hearing of this too much.

It seems my website is jinxed. When I got to Australia, I had problems, and didn't even know it since I was offline for so many days. Now as I get to NY, and am offline, I have more problems. This time, apparently the web site is getting too popular for my own good. With over 3 million hits a year, it is getting expensive to host. So now I am going to have to do something I had avoided for a while (except on the log pages). Banner ads. Yup. So if anyone wants a banner ad on my site, get in touch with me. I can tell you how much traffic the page gets and how much it would cost... anyway, hopefully everything works out smoothly.

Here in NYC it snowed yesterday. A good heavy snow, the kind of which Yerevan would only get once or twice in the winter I think (like 5-6 inches in one night). Did I mention I hate the cold? Well I really really do. We are "living" in Williamsburg, which is part of Brooklyn. It is an OK neighborhood I guess, but apparently it is very trendy (I am told this) and that somehow justifies paying $1000 a month for an absolute dump (I had to censor myself there!). They are fixing it up a little as we speak, but living in remond conditions with others sharing the living/bath/kitchen areas is so not ideal and compounded with my lack of my own computer being together mean I just sit in bed reading and trying to get over my jet lag. The flights to get to NY were ok. I liked Quantas, although my seat was broken (it automatically eased back) and American Trans was not a bad airline from LA to NY although my seat was broken (wouldn't go back). So now that all my computer parts are ordered, hopefully I can finally put it together next week and start working on a project or two I have been wanting to do for a while now...

My thoughts on dual citizenship, and fleeing the Yerevan winters are the opposite of Madlene's I must say :-) Although I do agree that if diasporans get dual citizenship it may need to be a second class citizenship until the obligatory military service is over, or the diasporan agrees to pay something like 2% income tax to Armenia or something along those lines. Also, if Armenia keeps the lands of Zangelan near Kapan, or somehow negotiates the return of Cilicia, I will move there and stop fleeing the winters! :-))

Well since Madlene shared her story about her car being broken into, I think I can now share mine.

It�s in regards to something that happened to me a couple of months ago, and now, since the capability of commenting on these logs doesn�t exist, I can speak freely without being yelled at for not exclusively sharing sugar-coated stories.

I was home writing emails when someone rang the doorbell. I checked through the peephole to see who it was, but since the person didn�t look familiar, I just ignored him and went back to the computer. A few minutes later the doorbell rang again. This time it was the same guy, accompanied by another guy, both in their 40's or 50's. They sort of looked a little suspicious, so I decided to watch them to see what they were up to. They decided to knock on the neighbors door, and when my neighbor didn�t answer they whispered "Mart chee ga" or in English "There's no one there". So they pulled out a big crowbar and attempted to break into my house!!! I didn't know what to do, so I just banged on the door, at which point they took off. I just sat thinking "Do I really want to live in this country?". Later on, I was assured by my relatives here that they have never experienced anything like that before and that they've never had their house broken into. So the next day we installed a second more heavy-duty lock and since then everything has been all right.

In regards to car break-ins, it�s never worth leaving anything in your car. When I used to live in Toronto (which is considered to be a fairly safe city), I never used to leave anything in my car, although my VW Cabriolet was once broken into while sitting on my driveway, the convertable roof was slashed and the only thing the punks got was my busted radio/tape deck�.which never worked anyway.

Armenia is just another country, not paradise made up of 100% honest people. Nevertheless, it seems very safe to me. In Toronto, you will never see kids, before their teens, hanging outside late at night (unless they are homeless or rebellious against their parents). Here, seeing a 5 year old kid playing outside that late is nothing abnormal. Another thing I've noticed here is that seeing a family with their kids at a restaurant or tea house after 9pm on a weekday is normal.

I met a girl once that lives in Georgia (the former Soviet republic, not the American state) and she mentioned how she�s afraid to walk outside at night there. She said she feels very safe here in Armenia and doesn't have to make the effort of looking over her shoulder every second.

Well, I've been on vacation for the past 4 months and it looks like it's time to get back to work. The studio is about 90% ready. The voltage issue has been figured out, but I gotta take care of the grounding problem now. It's going to be weird working again, but this country has inspired me enough to create some great new material. I've got a cheeky grin on my face right now. Till my next log....take care all of you.

very interesting phenomenon. my colleague brought this survey to work (an in depth sociological survey to asses ones feelings on armenia, the government, the diaspora and the future) and my answers were very very close to the locals as opposed to the diaspora. after living here, i must say that i have changed my perspective on many things.

for one...

i do not believe in armenian citizenship for the diaspora. i would be scared if the diaspora, who has an idealized and romanticized version of what armenia is and or should be should have voting power. their children will not fight in the war, if one results from the decisions they make. their children will be safely tucked away at universities in america... attending the genocide rally and a handful of armenian socials a year. the boys here however, starting as early as 15 years old will be forced to fight a war they may or may not believe in. if we as the diaspora do not live on this land, if we are not BOUND to this land... if we have OUTS that these citizens do not have, how can we consciously vote... or make decisions on behalf of these people, this country.

i do not know what i would do GOD FORBID push comes to shove... i would like to say that i would stay here and give this country my all... but the difference with me... is that i have an option... i CAN get on that next plane towards LAX, my colleague sitting next to me, adis, CANNOT. it would be unfair for me to have lived so far away with feelings of hate towards turkey and force adis to actualize that hate that i feel, through my ideas of what armenia/turkish relations should be. perhaps adis shares those feelings, perhaps the current stability is more important for him, ultimately it is him who should decide as it is him... who will suffer the reprocutions.

i am not saying that the entire diaspora does not understand armenia, or that the decisions that the diaspora makes is always wrong. i am not saying that a select few like monte would not come here to fight from their diasporan lives. i am just saying that as a majority their decisions are not based on any sense of responsibility except a spiritual and cultural one. the responsibilities that adis has SURPASSES those of spiritual or cultural responsibility. they include his son, his children, his livelyhood, his life, his pregnant wife, his EVERYTHING, how could you compare that.

i have been toying with this citizenship idea i just spelled out for a while. i am convinced that it is not in Armenia's best interest, one that perhaps we can re-consider after a treaty is established with azerbaijan.

many diasporans fight with me on this. i have a relative who lives here in armenia and is from the diaspora and is a loud screamer for citizenship... but escapes the winters as they are too cold.

i do agree that there should not be such heavy fees for diasporans where visas, or residency are concerned. the government should help diasporans repatriate and should encourage relations, any relations, as much as they can. but are adis and i the same, definitely not.

raffi hovhannisian gave up his american citizenship and is now an armenian citizen. if anyone wants it that bad... let us follow his lead.
i wonder how many people would be screaming for citizenship then.

i do not know if this is how i would feel, if i did not move here. i think this has developed in me since my move. i feel like i have a better grip of these things. more insight.

this is just my personal view. sorry if i hurt or offended anyone.

Here I am in the horrible freezing cold NY winter. Yekh. I still haven't gotten my computer situation together yet, and have not adjusted to the time yet. I have been going to bed at a normal hour, waking at 2 or 3am, then sleeping again from 9am till 2pm. Anyway, it is an interesting contrast to LA and Yerevan, so I am just taking it in. I am at an internet cafe on 37th and 5th, where the prices are much better than anything I have found so far. My plans are all waaay up in the air right now, so lets see where I will be next month! :-)

elections mania. this is getting out of hand. now i know why the famous singer nune is "out of town"... this time of the year is annoying. luckily election campaigns last only a few months. soon they will be done, and hopefully things will get back to normal. i hope the street lights at night continue to remain lit after elections. that would be nice.

so the snow is melting and it is considerably warmer. my office building is five stories high... and the snow has formed big snow balls that are formed around the shinglings laid up on the roof. every ten minutes today a big snowball falls... and hits the ground... we all get scared and laugh. hope noone gets caught under one of those... they seem vicious.

next week we will be celebrating drndez... jumping over the fire as newlyweds. we decided to set up fire in our hyatt... (not the hotel, the backyard hyatt)... and so we will be hosting the party. will tell you all about it.

For those of you living in Yerevan, The Armenian Bone Marrow Donor Registry Charitable Trust is organizing donor recruitment in Artbridge Bookstore Cafe on Abovian Street today from 4pm to 6pm.

On a different note, I am still waiting to have an MRI done on my head and the European Medical Centre tells me that the machine is broken? What? The one at the Diagnostic Centre? Yes, that one it�s broken and needs fixing. Do we only have one machine in Armenia? Here�s hoping that there�s nothing serious going on up there!

boy do i have a tale to tell.

suzy markarian invited us over. singer and mother of the adorable new singing sensation sirusho (great vocal chords run in the family)... they live near the cascade so we parked near the cascade and went up to their apartment. like a good artist family, they invited us over at 11:00 pm, so by the time we left their apartment it was 1:30 am. we were coming down the stairs when we heard our car alarm... we started to run.

our car had been broken into and everything had been stolen. our coats, daily vernisage finds and more. my coat was of most value as it was down, warm and my favorite. we ran to the cascade security team and asked if they noticed anything at all. they went on offence and started running in different direction. arthur and i jumped in the car to cruise the area. upon turning a bend we saw two young men with plastic bags. we screeched in front of them... and when they saw us (in the car) they started to run. we jumped out and ran after them. they already had their head start and they ran off to the backstreets of buildings up towards baghramian street.

we called the police and waited for them to arrive (20 minutes later). they were mostly useless and were more interested in why i prefer life in yerevan instead of my coat which was travelling further and further away as they shot the breeze about the perils of armenia life. i felt violated and i already was wallowing in worry as to what i would do without the winter coat that had made me a warm happy yerevanian camper.

all of a sudden we got word that the cascade security team had ran on a rampage all over the area in search of the robbers and had been on a hot pursuit when they found all our stuff abandoned as the robbers got scared and ran away. all our stuff was recovered.

needless to say my security team will be getting nice magharichs for a job well done and i am happy to have our stuff back. i am sad we were not able to get those lakots because today it was us, tomorrow perhaps those less fortunate. so unfortunate

very sad reality but it happens all over the world... in every country and in every city. i hate that we always purify our race, pretending to not see that we too have negatives. those standards are not reality and those standards begin to confuse you when these things happen. and although these things happen everywhere in the world, i am happy to live in a community where it happens infrequently. this was rare.

but the funny part is through the whole ordeal we gained an interesting tale... and took back all our stuff... and two plastic bags that belonged to them thus taking from the takers. ha

I got this great picture of a child kissing the Cross and Bible at Etchmiadzin. He was adorable!

I attended my first baptism ceremony in Armenia yesterday (Saturday). It was an entire family being baptized, including the parents and their two daughters. The ceremony took place in a building on the grounds of Etchmiadzin. It was great to see the excitement in the ones being baptized and the Godparents having the privilege to baptize.

Overcoming 70 years of brainwashed Soviet atheism is, no doubt, a big deal. You wonder how this transition has been progressing. Everybody claims they are Christians, they attend church, and definitely do take prayer seriously, but unfortunately, many still don't know much about what their religion teaches. (Not to say that this problem doesn't exist in other parts of the world.) Bible Study, the history of the Armenian Church, and Christian ethics are just becoming a part of the curriculum in schools. Teachers have had to be retrained in order to give these classes, and I'm sure that all of this must have been a great effort. Nevertheless, from what I've heard, the transition seems very positive.

The Vartabed (Priest) gave a great sermon at the baptism, and while addressing the ones being baptized, he spoke of the importance in changing their lives with a different and Christian outlook. My aunt was quite impressed when comparing this baptism to ones she had attended over a decade ago in Armenia.

By the way, another few anniversaries are taking place in Armenia this year, including the one celebrating the Consecration of Etchmiadzin (1,700 years). (The official website has not been updated, so it mentions the 1,700th anniversary of Christianity as the state religion...this should now read 1,702nd anniversary.)

On a different note, the new music director designate of the Toronto Symphony Orchestra (my previous hometown) is an Armenian. His name is Peter Oundjian. His first concert received great reviews and, according to these reviews, the orchestra really enjoys their new director. Congratulations Peter!

Australia is telling me to go... two days of cool, rainy weather are my farewell. Tomorrow I head for... The Big Apple! Yes, who would have guessed? Not me, I'll tell you that much. Don't y'all think we should dub Yerevan "The Big Apricot", (Medz Dziran') since dziran (Prunus Armeniaca) is the pride of the Armenia?

It has been a great trip, I don't know when I will ever be able to spend so much quality time with my cousins here again. Its funny how everything before Australia seems like ancient history. Armenia, California, everything. These two months have been so full, staying with this cousin, then the other, going for trips on the weekends, camping... It did help put Armenia in perspective as well. The internet went out here for four days, something that in Armenia I would always think is impossible in "the west". The contractors my cousins deal with are just as irresponsible and tardy, only they eventually have to pay for their mistakes. Well really I haven't got much else to say, so I will get back to you from the USA next.