Alright, the others have kind of got me thinking of being in Armenia in general - so here are some scattered thoughts that come to mind...
In February 1996 I moved back to California from Armenia. It was my first winter in Armenia, and I could not find work, and there was no electricity, and I could not even get a visa to stay longer, and I just ended up going back with the conviction that I would save up for a few years and then return to Armenia. When I had arrived in Armenia in 1995, I had been told all kinds of horror stories in the US of what to expect, and except for the lack of electricity, none of the other negative stories were very accurate, most were outright false. So when I got back to the US in February, and signed up for internet, it came with this thing called "web space". Five whole megabytes! Well not all that many people used the web at the time, but it was still a way I could share the truth about Armenia with anyone in the world who cared, and happened to have web access. I still marvel at the miracle of the web. So this site is about 8 years old now, and I never imagined what would happen to it, or the web. Last I checked, I think this site was getting over 8,000 hits a day.
Well Armenia has changed a great deal since those times, both for the good and for the bad. In those really hard years, there were no beggars, no homeless. There were also no decent places to eat out, a lot of consumer items were impossible to find. Most of the city was pitch black at night, and entire blocks would light up and then go dark as the rationed electricity was turn on and off. With nowhere to go, people would gather at each others homes by candlelight, with cheers when electricty came on. The US Embassy was like a community center, with a very open policy. People would gather there for movies and drinks. Anyway, I didn't plan on writing about this topic, so I will end it there, but I did want to say that things have changed so much since those days.
So now I have been back in Armenia since 1999, and it is interesting how it feels to be here. Even in these past few years things have changed drastically, so a lot of the things I missed when I first moved here are no longer an issue. I have cable TV, eat whatever I like, can get whatever I need. True, prices for certain things can be higher, and selection not as wide, but it is not too bad, especially since most things are much cheaper. I would still like to see the megastores come - Home Depot, Frys, Costco, Ikea, any department store, supermarket and massive book store. It would just make shopping simpler. If anyone can open a reasonably good knockoff of Home Depot, I think they will make a fortune. There is so much construction and remodeling going on, and there is still no one stop shop.
I keep checking Yerevan weather to see when this cold snap will end, and checking La Paz weather (Baja California) to dream of where I could be. Winter is still the #1 thing I really hate here.
In February 1996 I moved back to California from Armenia. It was my first winter in Armenia, and I could not find work, and there was no electricity, and I could not even get a visa to stay longer, and I just ended up going back with the conviction that I would save up for a few years and then return to Armenia. When I had arrived in Armenia in 1995, I had been told all kinds of horror stories in the US of what to expect, and except for the lack of electricity, none of the other negative stories were very accurate, most were outright false. So when I got back to the US in February, and signed up for internet, it came with this thing called "web space". Five whole megabytes! Well not all that many people used the web at the time, but it was still a way I could share the truth about Armenia with anyone in the world who cared, and happened to have web access. I still marvel at the miracle of the web. So this site is about 8 years old now, and I never imagined what would happen to it, or the web. Last I checked, I think this site was getting over 8,000 hits a day.
Well Armenia has changed a great deal since those times, both for the good and for the bad. In those really hard years, there were no beggars, no homeless. There were also no decent places to eat out, a lot of consumer items were impossible to find. Most of the city was pitch black at night, and entire blocks would light up and then go dark as the rationed electricity was turn on and off. With nowhere to go, people would gather at each others homes by candlelight, with cheers when electricty came on. The US Embassy was like a community center, with a very open policy. People would gather there for movies and drinks. Anyway, I didn't plan on writing about this topic, so I will end it there, but I did want to say that things have changed so much since those days.
So now I have been back in Armenia since 1999, and it is interesting how it feels to be here. Even in these past few years things have changed drastically, so a lot of the things I missed when I first moved here are no longer an issue. I have cable TV, eat whatever I like, can get whatever I need. True, prices for certain things can be higher, and selection not as wide, but it is not too bad, especially since most things are much cheaper. I would still like to see the megastores come - Home Depot, Frys, Costco, Ikea, any department store, supermarket and massive book store. It would just make shopping simpler. If anyone can open a reasonably good knockoff of Home Depot, I think they will make a fortune. There is so much construction and remodeling going on, and there is still no one stop shop.
I keep checking Yerevan weather to see when this cold snap will end, and checking La Paz weather (Baja California) to dream of where I could be. Winter is still the #1 thing I really hate here.
posted by Raffi K. at 8:18 AM
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