I am DISGUSTED and ANGRY!

A friend of mine from Canada who lives in Armenia got into a car accident today and it's all over the news.

She was travelling on Mashtots when a guy made an illegal turn onto Mashtots, hit her, then she moved to her right and hit 2 cars, followed by those 2 cars hitting 2 other cars. All the drivers who were locals noticed she was from abroad and automatically blamed her for all the cars being involved in the accident.

What disgusts me now is that they have already started blaming her as the guilty one and presenting her as "a female foreigner from abroad" (making that the reason for the accident).

As if locals know how to drive.

Kapan was beautiful, as was the scenery on the way - when we weren't stuck in the thick thick fog between Goris and Kapan both going and coming. I unfortunately felt rather ill during much of the ride, the big fancy work SUV's causing me car sickness which the tiny crappy Russian cars never do. The kindergarten opening was great, the kids were of course just adorable, and the school was remodeled very well. Besides the usual run down condition it was in from years of use, it had also been partially damaged by a missile during the Karabakh war, while the building next door was completely destroyed. I am glad Glendale and Kapan are now sister cities, I hope the relationship grows quickly.

Things are quite busy in Yerevan, it's making my head spin. I can't wait till the weekend when I will finally have some time to relax and recover. I am so tired I couldn't get out of bed for 2 hours this morning - very unlike me. Now I am going to run late for work if I don't get my butt going...

I'm off to Kapan. There is a kindergarten opening that USAID remodeled, so I am going to go down there and write it up. I love Kapan, so this is going to be fun for me. The scenery on the way might be quite nice too, I'll take lots of pictures if it is.

On Friday night I watched "Bruce Almighty" after work. It was relatively new, and I had not even seen a trailer, so it was nice going in blind. It was a Carey movie, so I did at least know that it would be silly, and that was just what I needed.

Saturday there was this Armenia2020 conference, and I sat in on part of it. There were some interesting presentations on what Armenians who had been surveyed thought about the situation in Armenia, and the direction it should take in the future. Different scenarios were being presented for Armenia to take/emulate. There is an Armenia2020 web site with some details, but I forget the URL (try google).

At night I went to Rene's pumpkin carving party. I cut the top off of my pumpkin before wandering away and hoping it would gut itself. Eventually it was indeed taken over, gutted and carved, which was fine with me. I got home late, but not as late as I would have thanks to the time change.

Anyway, off to Kapan where I'll pick up some BBQ pringles, a delicacy they do not have in Yerevan :-)

I'll keep this story as short as possible.

My mom was supposed to arrive this past Wednesday early morning. I hadn't seen her in over a year. The plane had left Toronto on the night of Monday the 21st, head to Vienna where then she was supposed to take a connecting flight to Yerevan.

Three hours into the first flight, while flying over the Atlantic, the plane turned back towards Toronto. About three-hundred passengers returned back to where they first started because: 1) A young guy on the flight died because of a drug overdose; 2) Three refugees were trying to flee Canada.

Once back in Toronto everyone was put in various hotels on the airport strip courtesy of Austrian Airlines. The next day all three-hundred passengers were split apart to depart on various flights to get to their destinations. My mom was now supposed to take a flight to Vienna, then to Prague where then she would have to take another flight to Yerevan. After her luggage had already been checked in she was told that that particular route was not going to work for her, she would have to go to London instead. Luckily in London there were vacant seats on the direct flight to Yerevan the same day courtesy of British Mediterranean (now 4 days from the first time she took a flight out of Toronto).

My aunt and I went to the airport on midnight of Wednesday/Thursday to pick up my mom. We were shocked by a surprise visitor...my sister! Never in a million years would I have thought I'd see my sister here. Now more than three days after their arrival I still can't believe she is in Armenia.

Unfortunately, other than their two carry-ons, their four heavy luggage (mostly filled with shopping they had done for me in Toronto) hadn't arrived on the same flight. They were stuck in the same clothes for not only the few days it took them to get here, but also until their luggage would arrive.

On Friday we received a phone call telling us that their luggage had arrived, so we head to the airport. We were confronted by a couple of rabiz guys in red uniforms telling us that they expected something green ($$$) after we picked up the luggage. In Lost and Found, where we picked up the luggage, my aunt and I were speaking in English trying to figure out how we would deal with the two corrupt guys once we came out of Lost and Found. While speaking in English the two friendly workers in blue interrupted our conversation and asked in English "What's the problem?". When we told them what was going on all hell broke loose. Apparently this routine happens quite often with the guys in red uniforms and because of them all staff in that department get in trouble. Eventually, after a smooth process at L&F, we were escorted out of the airport by one of the guys in blue, at which point I saw the guys in red take off. The guy in blue then informed us that this would be taken care of immediately.

So now this is a warning to all those who might have to deal with the employees at Zvartnots...only communicate with the employees in blue not the ones in red...and DO NOT GIVE ANYONE A CENT when it comes to dealing with lost luggage.

Other than that, the airport has been improving. Rather slowly, but it is still progress. There are now a few visa and passport booths rather than just one or two of each, and also airlines are handing out visa applications prior to Yerevan arrivals for those who do not have visas.

On another note, check out this house. It is being built across from the Vahakni homes...





YIKES!

There are rumors about the possible closing of the Melkonian Institute in Cyprus in the Diaspora press now. To read one of the articles, click here. Melkonian is the big diasporan boarding school in Cyprus. Many Armenians, especially from the mid east attended that school. I don't know if there is any truth to it, or whether they would have plans to reopen it, but I would like to make my suggestion.

I think certain (obviously not all) diasporan institutions should be moved to Armenia. Imagine Melkonian Institute reopening in Ijevan in the big old hotel building there. It would completely reinvigorate the economy and be an incredible place to study. You sell the campus in Cyprus for the rumored $70 million, and buy/refurbish this one for $5 million and the rest of the money could be put to great use. I discuss this idea in more detail on the message board, but really, isn't it time we start to think about this. What institutions need to be located in the diaspora itself, and which should be moved to Armenia. The Mekhitarist school in Vienna. Yes, it has a long tradition and history, but really, why not lease out those premises and move the institution to Armenia?

Food for thought.

Since it was a gorgeous day yesterday, I decided to go for a walk down Abovian St only to find myself in a huge dust of smoke, I could not see the buildings on either side of the street, yes the remond is still going.

Anyway I then see a crowd gathered at the Republic Square so I ask a cop what was happening, he says where, I say right there in front of you. Oh they’re getting ready to walk to Matenadaran. For what purpose I ask? He says when you find out let me know.

Then I notice a missed call on my mobile so I call it and advise that someone just called from that number and ask if it was an office. The lady could not or would not tell me if it was an office. Why can’t you just tell me lady if it’s an office so I know if the call was business related or just the wrong number. Her reply? Pretend you know and everything is ok. Sometimes I wonder.

a lot of repatriate activities. someone is throwing a halloween party, another is planning a repatriate lunch. this is great. for halloween, i will be arthur and arthur will be... me. genius. it is going to be a riot. especially because arthur does a great impression of me.

for a while now i have been thinking about building or moving into a home... my own house. I have an apartment, athur has an apartment but a house really is something different. with prices rising and rising i am thinking of moving fast. at first i was thinking of waiting until we see how many additions there will be to the family... blah blah blah... but the prices and the real estate boom is forcing me to think fast... and just guestimate... i will keep you updated.

for those of you who are interested in ozy and that storyline (since so many people complain that i talk about her way too much) i have news. at first arthur was completely against a dog. he had never ever pet one before... he hated dogs. it was our biggest marital problem... to have a dog or not to have a dog... i was tormented... always being a dog person and craving one more than ever, i cried and cried... so he finally gave in. it has been four months since ozy, our golden retriever wonder, came into our home... arthur has..... fallen in LOVE. they lay on the couch together... i get the chair next to the couch. he spends his evenings walking with her... instead of lying around and reading with me... before everyone who saw ozy on the street would say... "beautiful dog"... to which arthur would reply... "do you want her?"... NOW... he replies with "And she is very smart too". He then goes on to show them many of her tricks. for example, he puts a treat on her nose... she sits there with the treat on her nose... until he says HOPA then she throws it in the air and catches it in her mouth. talent runs in our family.

Raffi N's apologies for not writing very often made me realize of my own sins.
It's the end of tourist season and we're hosting our last large group, Habitat. 15 Americans have volunteered to come to Armenia and help local Armenians with renovations of their homes.
One of the conversations I had with a group member was related to the insufficient funds for the project. She asked why Armenians did not donate more finances to Habitat.
Part of my explanation was that Diaspora Armenians are used to donating and volunteering in the West. As for Armenians who have left Armenia it's not that they do not send assistance, but they prefer the direct way with no intermediary organizations. They directly assist their own relatives, neighbors and friends. Most of them have a deep-rooted mistrust of the system. Though there is a gradual change.
I investigated and there are around 90 local Habitat volunteers.
I've been thinking a lot about volunteerism in Armenia and how to expand it. One of my lesser bright ideas is to replace the financial assistance of all Non-for-Profit organizations by volunteer-work-for-assistance program.
A family has lost a member to the war and is getting financial assistance. And a couple of their family members are unemployed or have part-time jobs. In return, one of the unemployed volunteers a certain amount of time (four days a month) to Habitat or Land and Culture or another organization he wants to work with and brings a written statement from them.
Does it sounds more of a compulsory work than volunteerism?
Work is good for the soul and volunteer work is more healing that getting free financial assistance.

It was nice seeing the Niziblian's and Sylvie last night, I see too little of them. Back in 1999, when the number of repatriates was so small, we would just about all get together a few times a week. By 2001, when AVC started, the number had already mushroomed so much, that there was no longer space for us all at our favorite restaurants, and groups started to split off and form. Most of us bump into each other or meet on occasion, but unless you make an effort, you can really lose touch now. Also, I meet new repatriates now that have been here a while and we had never met... it amazes me and I wonder just how many there are. (btw- I am just talking about repatriates from English speaking countries, I do not know what goes on in the French, Russian, Arabic and Iranian Armenian communities). Anyway, that is just a little background on the evolution of this community. I have a mobile phone now, something I have resisted for a long time, but finally decided to try it since work does provide one. With the mobile, I hope to keep better touch with a lot of my more distant friends here...

You may have noticed that our email addresses have disappeared from this page. That is because of the massive amounts of spam I am getting. it averages I think about 75 to 100 a day I think. This means I have been deleting loads of things rather automatically, just in order to preserve my sanity. So this week I learned that I have deleted 2 emails from people I know, so I don't know how often I do this, but I cannot apologize, only ask for patience and for you to resend. When I got my own domain name back in the 90's I was quite pleased I would never have to change my email address again, but at this rate, I just may have to after all.

So, back to important matters. On Saturday I went out to a village with 2 locals and a repat. One of the locals was a taxi driver, and the other wanted to see a project implemented in his village. Almost as soon as both of them were in the car, the old conversation I have heard so many times started about how the communist days were great, and nowadays the government and others are robbing the riches of the nation. And if only they would steal less, etc, etc, until I wanted to puke. I asked if they had ever given the government a reason to stop, if they had ever done one thing about it. Of course the answer was no. They never even bothered to protest when the protests were being organized. In 1996, I asked, why did you not get out there and protest the stolen elections with the others, who were too small in number to make a difference. They made few excuses, then decided it was because there were tanks on the streets and they would have been killed. Well, there was a tiny chance of that, but not really if the whole nation had stood up like they did in 1988. If half a million people were on the streets, including the soldiers mothers, I do believe the tanks would have been turned around to face the government rather than the people. This has happened in many places around the world. Well, I guess I have advocated revolution enough for today... sadly, I do not think we even have an opposition worth rallying around today.

I know… it’s been way too long since I have logged.
Every time I thought of something to log about, I would forget as soon as I sat down in front of the comp. So, I’ve decided to just write. Let the words flow and maybe I can make some sense out of it all.
Just got home. I was with Raffi K, Lena, Sylvie Keshishian and Lara. We had dinner at Diamond Pizza and then some tea at Marco-Polo. A walk on Abovian to digest… and lots of laughs. It’s great to be surrounded by people you admire and respect.
Two days ago, Tata Sylvie (same one as above) visited Amassia and made bead necklaces with her. Then, Sylvie, Lara and I joined Stepan and Hagop, re-pats from Cyprus for some sushi and jazz at Paplavok. We then chilled at Stepan’s apartment by sipping on some cognac and home made apple pie. On the way home, we stopped at a Karaoke bar. We sang an A-ha song and off we went.
Meanwhile, during the days, I have been quite busy with LCO. Our international board will be meeting in Armenia in 2 weeks and I am working on preparations. This means I will locate some new projects for them to look into, write up reports and evaluations on past activities… you know how it goes.
I am also working on my film. The 25 minute documentary should be completed by the end of this week. I am very excited to see the project coming together.
As for my beautiful babies, they love it here. Amassia is growing up very fast. She is smart and always has a logical explanation if she disagrees to do what I ask her to do. Varanta is a real cutie. She climbs and runs and goes through drawers. They are very happy babies and as parents we are grateful for that. Speaking about babies, we are seriously considering adopting a baby. We have always wanted to, but are now quite serious. We might start the process in early spring.
I have so much more to say, but I think I will stop now but promise to write more often.

i bought a car a month ago. i bought a volga 31, a russian made sedan. i thought it would be a nice, roomy, humble ride. i have always been turned off by mercedes, bmw, and cars that measure wealth or stature in general... especially here in armenia. although the volga 31 was a russian boss car, and showy for russian cars... i still thought it would be semi-humble next to the more flashy mercedes jeeps and 600 series sedans in town.

the car lasted for less than a month. it was sooo poorly made. first of all, it felt as if there was tin cups, ladels, and cutlery dangling from the back... kind of like when you get married and are driving away to your honeymoon. it was so darn noisy. the second problem was that after the car would not start, an ignition problem, i took it for a check-up and it had so many problems that i was going to have to spend one tenth of the amount fixing it... and i had not even driven it out of yerevan yet... mind you this was a brand new car... straight out of the dealership.

the dealership laughed when i asked very politely if they would take it back. i ended up selling it for five hundred dollars less to some guy who would fix it up at his autoshop... and then sell it back to someone else... for five hundred dollars more.

now i am looking for a new ride. after speaking to every car expert in town... ... i am now bowing my head low... and looking for an older mercedes... a luxury sedan. they say the only cars that will be quality are the jeep-a-teep (what they call SUVs around here) and mercedes... so i fold.

if anyone is interested in a volga... i would suggest they talk to me before they purchase one... and definitely avoid a metallic gray one being sold by a guy named gago, it might still be a lemon. :o)

my parents left and i am sad... i miss them and their positive energy and their love for me... and support of me... and the overall comfort you feel when you are around your mom and dad. it is an amazing feeling that never goes away... no matter how old you are.

yesterday arthur and i set off for gyumri. arthur ispirian, my husband, is a singer and a benefit concert had been organized to help one of his good friends. armen gevorgyan, a strong vocalist, who was famous for singing hay im ashxar. arthur grigorian, the head of the national song theatre of armenia, and some of arthur's closest friends (forsch, aramo & emma, anahid manukyan, irina malkhasian, and new talents; arsen grigoryan and aram avakian) set off to sing and raise money to help armen with his medical costs to treat a very sad and sudden liver disorder.

we stopped on the way to have coffee and arthur and his friends laughed and enjoyed inside jokes from the past... remembering, laughing and enjoying the road trip. we got to gyumri and headed towards the theatre and went backstage to prepare. i had a few minutes while everyone got ready so i called my friend aram who is doing some great work with the new housing projects there. he came to visit and we chatted. he brought with him presents, among my favorite the first modern map of gyumri and a tourist brochure on the old kumayri district.

the concert started with an empty stage while hay im ashxar played. it was a very beautiful moment, as the people of gyumri were reminded of what a talent had come out of their own city, and how important this concert was. i was given a seat next to the head of culture for gyumri, a feisty woman named dikin hasmik. she had brought her beautiful daughter whose english was perfect. we sat and enjoyed what was a beautiful concert... filled with beautiful songs. arthur sang two songs from his three candles album and got a loud round of applause. i exchanged telephone numbers with dikin hasmik's daughter sona and went backstage to find the group. everyone was huddled together teary and praying.

after the concert we left to visit armen who was in bed in his house in gyumri (a domik/temporary shelter that his family was moved to after their house was destroyed in the earthquake). they had recently received a new apartment from the lincy foundation however had not been able to completely move everything. it was sad to see armen looking physically weak. i had seen him on video and he looked so different. however his spirits were not broken. happy to see all of his friends, he was laughing and joking and making funny cracks with the group in no time.

we returned home feeling blessed to have had the opportunity to contribute to armen's well being. i love it when arthur does benefit concerts... it makes his career so special and so valuable. i just hope that they can be for happier occassions... or at least they can make one drop in the ocean... of change and good.

http://www.khachaturian.am/

http://www.armenianhouse.org

Yerevan celebrated its 2785th anniversary this past weekend. On the 10th I celebrated my first year of being here in the Motherland. It's been a great adventure, but it's time I pack up and go home. Okay, I'm just kidding. I don't miss Toronto enough to leave just yet. Everything is going good here and seeing and experiencing all the progression in this fantastic country is great, something I was looking forward to before moving here.

When I first got here, one of my first observations was that it seemed as if the country lacked diversity. With over 95% of the population being Armenian and me coming from one of the most multi-cultural cities in the world, it was a little bizarre at first. Everywhere I looked I saw rabiz guys dressed in black, smoking, spitting, giving nasty stares to non-Armenians and Armenians from abroad and even mocking them. And then there were the rabiz girls, the ones that were dressed for a ball but were only heading to school, wearing high heels and walking on the streets as if they were on a high wire in a circus; wearing too much makeup; big tinted sunglasses; talking on cell phones paid for by daddy; etc.

I have also encountered some irritating experiences, and whenever I try to ignore them they seem to come back to haunt me again. Nevertheless, throughout the year I have discovered so many things I had never noticed or knew existed. They are the things that have had an immense positive influence on my views of the people of Armenia.

I've met many locals who have greeted and treated me with so much respect. I've discovered how much variety actually does exist in this small country.

Earlier this year, the night I performed at the Annual International DJ Festival, I was shocked when I arrived and saw hundreds of Armenian teens dressed like they do at raves anywhere else in the world. Over this past year I've met and seen punks; b-boys; break-dancers; gay people; and people who passionately listen to all types of music, even deep house, trip hop and trance. I've even heard normal (meaning non-rabiz) guys tell me how much they dislike the rabiz scene. I've heard normal, naturally beautiful, girls (the ones that aren't rabiz) tell me what they think of the rabiz girls. I've also been told by many locals that even they get stared at.

(Though I've never heard anyone admit this, I DO believe there is such a thing as a rabiz girl.)

It's only been a year, and every time I think to myself that I know what Armenia and its people are all about, I end up discovering something else that completely shocks me.

The other day a local asked me "Have you regretted coming here even one bit?". When I answered simply with "Of course not!", she was surprised and dumbfounded.........but it put a big smile on her face. :-)

Another great day. I got errands done, cleaned my place from top to bottom, visited a few friends at lunchtime (so some were not at work), wandered the city, tried to check out the remodeled Matenadaran, which it turns out is close on Mondays, and then went to Chez Garo's. I don't want to let out the secret, but this place is a gem which just opened a few months ago and serves fantastic homemade Western Armenian food. It was only a matter of time, and now it has arrived indeed. You just go in, ask Garo what's cooking tonight, and relish the food. The manti is just like medzmam's. Ahhhh... all that and low prices to boot. Oops, did I forget to mention where it is :-) If you must know, this hole in the wall (basement actually) is on Pushkin, just to the east of Mashdots. The sign says Chez Charles' I think.

Ooh, I almost forgot to mention a bit of fantastic news. Yesterday they put a new gas line up the stairwell... so we are all hopeful that we'll have natural gas by winter. We'll see...

Ahhh, Monday morning, and the weekend's not over! Friday evening was spent with the travel writers and my father. Saturday I got some excersize, then had a greasy hamburger, then napped in the afternoon. At night it was a dinner party - which a few of us left to watch the Armenia v. Spain Soccer game. What a riot it was (almost literally!). As we got close to the stadium, we got a cell phone call that they were not letting anyone into the game from another friend. We decided to try anyways. When we got there there were cops and soldiers and we pushed and argued a bit and people from the crowd were telling the cops to let the foreigners in - it was funny. We passed about 4 more lines of police/soldiers in the same manner, until we finally made it into the stadium. Apparently, a big crowd had forced its way into the stadium, and they were not letting anyone else in -tickets or not. So we get to our seats, and there are a row of kids there. We squeeze in and start watching the game which is already 1 to zero against Armenia. It stays like this for a good while before Spain scores again. Well it starts to get close to the end of the game and just as we decide to leave Spain scores yet again and now even as we leave early, we are not really beating the crowds. So we head back to the dinner party before going home.

Sunday was a rock hunting day. I hadn't gone on a real "rock hunt" since the school field trip in the 6th grade, and was lured by promises of "semi-precious stones". Well the place was about 3.5 hours north, almost approaching Georgia, and our rock expert who had not been there in 20 years remembered the place exactly. Now again I did not have a good idea of what to expect, but it was quite cool, the floor was littered with Agate, Heliotrope? and some other stones whose names I forget. Big ones, little ones, and all sorts of colors. Obviously they are not terribly valuable, but they do use them for jewellry. After an hour and a half I decided I had more rocks than I could possibly want, even after getting much pickier towards the end, and took a nap on the ground while the others continued. I woke up as they were finishing up and we went through our loot, tossing the not so great rocks.

On the way back we picked up a bunch of huge pumpkins, so that the back of the car was really low, and stopped a couple of times to photograph the changing colors of the leaves near Stepanavan... very nice indeed. I got back an hour late for a fancy party, and debating whether to go as a bit of a slob slob just back from a rock hunt, or go dressed nice and two hours late, I went with the former. It was quite fun, and our table was by far the loudest. The singer was just a peice of work, with a cut-off red spiderman t-shirt, a vest, slacks, a beard, dark sunglasses and some kind of felt cowboy hat. There was a big fireworks show in Yerevan that everyone went outside to watch at one point, celebrating Yerevan's 2,785th birthday. So anyway, another packed day.

Today, with everyone else at work, I will celebrate Columbus day by running some errands, relaxing, and maybe see some friends who do not care to be reminded that I have the day off :-)

Tonight we will be celebrating the 2785th Anniversary of Yerevan here at the Cascade. A concert featuring "Songs of Yerevan" will fill the Cascade air and make a bunch of people happy, nostaligic and cheerful.

My parents on the other hand have flown all the way here to celebrate their fortieth anniversary with us. I love having them here. They are the most wonderful people on earth. Today they went to Garni where my parents dedicated a Computer Center in honor of my uncle who was killed in a horrible robbery at his store in Montobello, CA two years ago. The room is in one of Garni's elementary schools. My mother was so moved today that she decided to also take on the gymnasium as well. She said their gym had no flooring and everytime they would run, they would kick up dust. sad. The children brought the traditional bread and salt to open the new room and my mother cut the ribbon. It was a beautiful day and helped my father deal with the loss of his brother.

It has been a pretty hectic time for me. Work is active and takes a lot out of me. I am Mr. Cafesjian's representative for the Protect Our Forests Coalition that a few of us have started. We are now trying to plan an Alternative New Year's Tree competition in schools so that we may spark children's ideas and imaginatio and also teach them that Armenia is not healthy enough (forest wise) to afford real New Year's Trees to be cut down. Hopefully we will get there one day. We can have tree farms, businesses that plant New Year's Trees so that they may be cut for the holidays. But as long as the trees are currently coming straight from the Forests (Armenia used to have 25% Forest area and now has 7%) we need to promote as many alternatives as we can.

My parents seem to be a lot more optomistic than our Forest figures and they see definite changes for the better. My father is interested in purchasing more land and my mother is retiring soon and wants to come here a few months out of the year. I was talking to Arthur last night and was trying to figure out a scheme to get my parents to move here permanently. Arthur said that once we start family planning and decide to have children... we can put one of our kids on the hook of a fishing rod... throw the string with kid out to California and my parents would latch onto the bait (a grandchild)... then we could reel them in.

As for fishing, the weather is perfect. This might be the last weekend to get out to Sevan for adventure. The weather is looking good. I hope it stays this way throughout October and possibly November.

What a crazy time. Every night is another event, every day is another event. So after taking Monday evening easy and cooking myself a nice dinner, I haven't had a chance yet to eat the leftovers, and doubt I will. Seeing Ara and his mom Tuesday night at Artsbridge was fun, then last night was spent with my dad, and tonight was a very interesting tourism event at the Tufenkian Hotel. James Tufenkian brought over a half a dozen travel writers to Armenia for four days to write articles about Armenia. Isn't it fantastic? So keep an eye out for these articles, they should be popping up all over the place. Write a letter to the editor even to thank them if you do see one. So all kinds of interesting tourism related people were there including Ralph and Savy Tufenkian, who are partners in the Ani Hotel; plus the deputy minister of finance and economy Ara Petrosyan, who is in charge of tourism and his guy Artur Zakaryan; also there was Nina Hovnanian-Alexanyan who is in charge of the Armenian Tourism Development Agency. We'll go to her house tomorrow since some of the journalists wanted to talk to us some more. So who says Diasporans aren't making a dent here? We are doing pretty good I'd say, although we can always do more. It came up at the gathering tonight that both the Armenia Hotel and the Ani Hotel are completely booked solid, not a room to be found. Now these are huge hotels, and it is now mid-October... tourism is really coming along very well. Anyone want to invest in a budget hotel here? I would be willing to put one together if there are interested investors.

Ah yes, in the afternoon I was at the Cascad Cafe that Ara logged about yesterday. We had a nice work meeting there in the beautiful weather. Like Ara I saw Madlene and Artur, but unlike him I did not see underaged kids drinking beer. Hmmm. Well as he said, the weather has been fantastic this week, and hopefully it will keep up all month.

The Columbus day weekend plans are quite full, so I'll let you know how that goes as it comes along.

Not you birthday shoushig, but Shushan's...She's my boss's daughter and my friend...So if you wanted it so bad, it can be yours too....
By the way, today is John Lennon's birthday....Happy birthday Johnny....

A cool new feature (in my opinion) is a new mailing list, where every new entry from these logs will be emailed to you. All you have to do in order to subscribe is send a blank email to logs-subscribe@cilicia.com

Great news for me , and I hope for others too. I found a place where they teach argentinian tango...All my life I wanted to learn that dance! I love it, the passionate music that awakes a soft anger in you...Now I have it, for 3000 drams each lesson.
The girl who teaches the dance is greek, who used to live in Buenos Aires, and now she's here because her boyfriend works for a company in Armenia. They distributed brochures last week, at the wheel club, and I called her first thing in the morning. I went to a private class with her....It was great. we danced tango for an hour, and she said what I learned in one hour is not even half the things other learned in 4 lessons(I think having danced 12 years helped me here)!
So, what's great about tango...It's always the men who leads(that's why armenians don't dance it!) the girl should only stay soft and cool in the man's arms and let him do the rest! most of the dancers are expatriates, german, japonese, and only 4 locals..I think it is a little bit expensive to pay 3000 drams for 1 lesson....!
So, this girl, Christina, is organising a Milonga night (a tango sort) next week, but the place is not decided yet... so , I will write the date and the place to whom it may concern!
On friday, there is a rock fest in the puppet theater at 19:00 pm. there will be the "bambir", "Vahan Artsruni", "lav eli", and other groups...I think it will be interesting!
My roommate went to Beirut for a long vacation, so it has been 2 days, that I am alone with my dog. That's a good feeling, but not always. I hate goping home, when there is no one there.....fortunatly there is my dog, or else I'll never go home!
the library is crowded today. Everyone is practicing GRE and GMAT, I think the exams are soon!
Today is Shushan Avakian's birthday...Hey, Shush if you're reading this, Happy birthday and good luck in every step of your life(I think Lara joins me here!)We love you!
Take care.

Ok Mate (Raffi K. that’s you), before you write anything on my behalf because God knows what juicy bits you’ll come up with, here I am, I’m just having such a great time you know what it’s like. I have met so many interesting people in the last couple of weeks from all walks of life, Frenchies, Brits, yes even interesting Americans believe it or not (I never thought I would ever admit this). Of course Mama Manoogian is in town then there’s Papa Raffi (that’s Raffi’s Dad) and finally Madlene’s parents whom I have yet to see. I also heard Tamar is in town so I must see her too.

Last weekend was great, I had a British get together on Friday night (had a blast), then met the Glendale/ Kapan sister city team on Saturday night, then an AMERICAN get together on Sunday.

The Volunteers I have in town for work are just great. Most of them keep each other company and share their experiences, collaborating ideas, and thoughts on the next steps. A few of them realized recently that they went to college together only to meet years later in Yerevan.

The news of the week is that there is a new store called Gap land on Mashtots Street, where they sell items from Gap, Banana Republic and Old Navy. Most of the items are samples and of course 2001 season but who cares, at least I can buy some normal clothes now.

Finally, some of the backpackers who stay with my neighbours weren’t exactly backpackers but Indians with the whole gear etc. The funniest thing was that every time they went past my flat in the stairs and the sensor light would activate they would make these cooing sounds, shrieking with excitement and walking backwards and forwards. This activity was wonderful to watch just before my bedtime.

A couple of interesting items in the news.

Armenia is the 78th most corrupt country in the world, while Azerbaijan and Georgia are top ten. True, I don't like comparing Armenia to countries with poor records to make me feel better, but they did start off in about the same place a decade ago, and despite the blockade and the aftereffects of the earthquake, Armenia has certainly made greater strides than its neighbors. The study is by Transparency International, a well respected group.

Another study places Armenia in the bottom three countries in the world when it comes to happiness. I think the others at the bottom are also former Soviet Union. The happiest was Nigeria, followed by some Latin American countries (Mexico among them I think). I do believe the fall in living conditions since the collapse of the USSR can explain much of this, but in general the study shows that "undeveloped" countries have the happiest people. In other words, wealth does not make people happier. Surprising? Hardly. The desire both for "things" and for "better" things than the neighbors own are two things which drive many people in the west, and which make their lives unfulfilling. Spending less time working, and spending less money allows more time to enjoy peoples company, pursue hobbies (not just watch TV to unwind) and travel. I still maintain that 2 weeks vacation a year is cruel and unusual punishment, and think the whole world agrees on this.

Alright, I'll get off my soapbox now, but these studies were interesting news worthy of sharing I thought.

Alright, now for a real Raffi log, hopefully these fancy people will take a moment to log once or twice a week again. Going back to read the old logs is a lot of fun and makes me realize how nice it is to have these written snapshots of what is going on in Armenia these past few years.

On Saturday, I walked over to Artbridge, and halleluyah (sp?), Tumanyan Streets sidewalks are almost finished!! Oh, what a relief after walking through rubble all year. The construction all over the city is in a mad rush to finish with deadlines and winter approaching. We should have a beautiful new look next year. Every night seems to be meetings and get togethers with a different group, so last night I went straight home, having felt exhausted all day, and cooked a nice dinner, then went to bed early and slept for over 9 hours, something of a minor miracle for me. So today I am refreshed and feel normal. Alex just popped into my office and I showed him the log I wrote for him... it might just have the desired effect :-)

At work things are going ok. I just shifted offices, and don't laugh but the amount of excersize I get in a whole day has been at least halved. My office used to be rather far from my co-workers, and on a different floor in the large compound, so now I hardly get up in comparison.

What else? Well my dad is here still, this will be his last week. This weekend I wanted to go relax in Jermuk for the three-day Columbus Day weekend, but nobody else gets the day off outside of our offices, so I am not going to go alone. There is as usual lots of activities popping up for the weekend anyways, so maybe I will just visit my friends offices on Monday to rub in my day off, and try to run a couple of errands. G' desnenk.

Because some of the loggers are being horrible about logging, I may have to start logging for them, and do such a bad job of it that they are forced to log themselves!

So, the following is an Alex log*:

My guest from LA is still in town. Nice to have an old friend around, especially since she's been to Armenia a few times before. Last weekend was great since I got to see Raffi; what a swell guy. On Saturday the Glendale-Kapan sister city delegation visited to my house in order to meet some people here in Yerevan that have decent knowlege of Kapan. Some of the delegation members were old friends it was nice to see. The sister city program should be a great success. Well I am too busy and fancy to write any more for you people. Hmph!

*this log was not actually written by Alex, it was written by Raffi

In Toronto it used to be ants on the balcony, in Armenia it's either scorpions or lizards.

About a month ago we found more than half a dozen baby scorpions walking around on the balcony. We've also found a couple of bigger ones in the apartment.

The one in the picture I saw last week, but I didn't get a chance to see it up close. So the bugger appeared again yesterday. It was curled up in one corner of the balcony, but when I started blowing at it to get it to move, it stretched out to about 5 inches long, stuck its venomous tail up in the air and started coming towards me.

It's cute, isn't it?

Yesterday after work, I met my friends in Kovkas restaurant. It was a fairwell party for some of our friends, who are leaving in these 2 days. some of them were here to visit, one of them has a passport problem, and my roommate was on the way to graduate last semester, but she didn't present here thesis, so, she wil be gone till february, and then come back to complete her studies. So I will be literaly left alone this winter, I hope I won't die of depression.
So, Kovkas was ok, altough I had more expectations, cause I had heard from a lot of people, that it is a good place.Actually, it was a very normal place, the prices were ok, because the portions were very little! the music was ok, it was better than "Hin Yerevan", cause there you can't digest what you eat...A woman was singing folkloric and classical songs, it was ok, till she started to sing "Dle yaman"..everybody's mood changed, and we were all sitting sad, looking at our dishes....
One of the guys who is leaving today, was very sad, and told us that he misses Armenia already!!! can you believe this???I do! Cause sometimes, I fell just like that too.when I see pictures of Yerevan on the TV, I then feel how much I love this city, and how much I will miss it when I leave(I hope that day never comes). Armenia is great, and Yerevan is a city where people live their lifes to the maximum.....
I love you Yerevan, I love your streets, your sidewalks, your cafes(not all of them), and most of all your people....
Amen or Pari or!

I have heard from/met a few more people planning to move to Armenia these past 2 weeks. As I have said, if there were jobs, I think many would come. So although I try to help, I must say it is a tough market for those wanting western salaries at an international organization. The type of experience needed tends to be specific and they want people with experience in the former CIS already usually. So it helps to just move here and get your feet wet with "foot-in-the-door" jobs before going for the other jobs.

I really must encourage people to consider opening their own business here, which would create income for them, and jobs for others as well. This is not a step to take lightly of course. You should come, see what is needed, what interests you, what you can afford, and be on the ground here or really find good staff people, which takes time. For example, this country needs a chips factory. Not necessarily a huge one, but one that can make potato chips and corn nachos. All we can get is Turkish Doritos and Frito Lays at this time. Anyway, food for thought? Some more food for thought is that those wanting to go to med school can come to Armenia now for cheeeap, since I hear their med school has an English language program now.

Last night I finally met Matthew Karanian. Our paths have come close to crossing for years, and now finally after years of emails, we have met. He is teaching at AUA now, and we talked about so many things including the loads of friends we have in common, that we did not get to talking about his books on Armenia. Next time.

So there is about a month, month and a half left for them to work on the sidewalks and streets this year... I dunno if they are going to make it on time or not, I tend to think not, but it may be a close finish. Meanwhile, the new Northern Pedestrian Blvd is still slowly coming along. The picture I have posted is from the same spot I took a shot a year ago. So you can see the building is now getting relatively close to being finished, but they are certainly not rushing this either.

I forgot to mention that Arthur WON Sayat Nova's Performer of the Year Award.
This means he has won every kind of award that is possible this year for performers.
Arthur Ispirian is the man. And he's mine :o) and Ozzy's.

A reader of these logs has become more of a friend... even though I have never met her. A beautiful lady from Los Angeles whose optimism and compassion for Armenia inspires me. Her sisters are in town and brought the most beautiful clothing for in-crisis children, medecine and many other chunks of aid. Beautiful.

I am impatiently waiting the arrival of my father and mother who both arrive tomorrow. Ozzy is going to the beauty salon, my house is going for a overall cleaning and Arthur and I are moving into the studio fold out bed. I am so excited about their visit that I sit their looking at the Calendar trying to fit in all my wonderful ideas of activities, restaurants, and benevolent work in.

Work continues to challenge me as I find myself in the role of Director for a group of 11 or more people. I have definitely created a wonderful mood in the office.

My friend sends us Sex In The City tapes every few weeks. They get watched so much that the tape becomes worn and torn. I guess there are a few things that I miss... It really is a great show.

My mom is pretty sick of me calling for last minute things that she needs to bring for us, like meat flavored toothpaste for Ozzie and neutrogena hand lotion for me. However, we are definitely getting there in this country with stuff like that... and I will not be surprised if in a few years time... we are 100% stocked with things like that... for better or worse.

As for today, I am holding the next steering committee meeting of Protect Our Forests at our house. I got sick of the office scene... where we usually hold our meetings, and thought it would be a good change of pace. Have a good day people.

Autumn in Yerevan. Last week we had a couple of freezing days, but temperatures shot right back up to the mid-20's now. Temperatures this time of the year in Yerevan are odd, sometimes dropping more than 15 degrees celsius after 6pm.

The other day I had a chance to check out the great Torontonian violinist Catherine Manukyan accompanied by the Armenian Philharmonic Orchestra. What a great performance.

The next night I saw the annual Sayat Nova competition. Though it wasn't anything outstanding, it was a great place to see the big entertainment stars of Armenia all in one place. Sadly, when it came to the best popular song award and a couple of the artists were very rabiz, the anjashag (without class) ones in the audience were shouting "bravo, bravo", yet the talented artists barely got a deserving response.

I had planned to visit Toronto this winter but I figured the cost of the flight was not worth it. Instead my mom will be visiting for a month. I haven't seen her in almost a year.

So...since I won't be going back home just yet I figured I'd go on vacation instead. Sadly, most of the flights from Yerevan are expensive, and because I have decided to go somewhere in this region there are quite a few things I need to take into consideration (which borders are open, which countries require visas, which countries are unsafe to visit, etc.)

I have reserved a ticket to somewhere I've been wanting to visit for years. Once I pay for it I will tell you guys where it is. I know my friends in Toronto will get quite excited.