what a week !
Lara had organized a great event to celebrate the International Women’s Day. This all started when we received a grant from the Canadian Government to hold a training seminar on Gender issues at the Sociology Department of the Yerevan State University. This was done in June of 2003. That action led to a group of MA students to get together with Lara and start a new women’s center within the university. This center, now called Ganayk Hayots (women of Armenia) held its first event. They organized a collective art exhibition at the Chamber theatre near Madenataran. At the opening there were over 200 people. Some had to leave because there was literally no room to stand. The organizing committee was composed of both diasporan (Canadian, American, and Lebanese) and local young women. They received a lot of news coverage. The point of the exhibition was not to criticize or change the way things are here in Armenia, but to simply offer women artists (professional or amateur) to freely express themselves. I am very proud of my wife for actually rolling up her sleeves and diving into such a complex challenge. Of course I, as well as many other friends, was put to work to help with the set up. But we didn’t mind.

Today, we began the second week of our Russian classes. We hold them at our place. There are seven of us. It’s a nice way to fill your time. We have lots of laughs... Sylvie is in our group.