what is it with all these squares and symbols ? this is supposed to be a question mark

I’ve been meaning o write, but unfortunately I have been in a very bad mood lately. It has been about 2 straight weeks that I keep hearing bad news after another. Most of them have to do with the messed up system here or simply the lack of self respect of the local population.
I know I am usually not the one to let these things get to me but when the cup is full … it spills.

The first story is about a restaurant owner who was visited by the sanitary people. They inspected the kitchen and dining area and found nothing to be out of the norm. But they said that they were forced to write them a fine anyway! WHY? because otherwise their superior may visit in the following week and decide to inspect the meat – at THEIR laboratory! what does this mean? it means that this “superior” would be new free to inject anything he wants in the meat on the way from the restaurant to the lab and then have it tested and the results could be that this restaurant serves bad meat (you get the idea).

The next story is about a small lahmajoun joint that employs 2 workers. The owner pays their share of the pension. HOWEVER, he was visited by the sotsiab (social insurance department) who claim that he has to pay more. He has been refusing since everything he’s done has been in order. They started visiting him during the busiest hours of the day asking him to open his books and check the data. This is unacceptable because these few hours are when he actually makes the day’s worth of work. Finally he caved and offered them a $50 gift (bribe). Their and answer was – “What $50? We want $100 each.” - The guy sells lahmajoun $0.25 !!!

The third story is about one of the taxi drivers from the usual service that we use. He started telling me about the business he had and that he wanted to close it down a few years ago. During that time he had met a befriended a man from the political sphere. This man had convinced him not to lose it but sell it to him. They signed some papers – but being the innocent guy that he is, he neither asked for copies or anything – well they were close friends after all… To make a long story short, the new owner of the company never transferred the company to his name. During 3 years he made profits and used the company name but apparently didn’t pay his taxes. Today, this poor taxi driver owns the Government $800 – that’s a lot of money that he doesn’t have. Why do people do this to each other? where is the self respect and the respect of a fellow friend?

Did you know that registered NGOs have to pay $10 per month for the pension program EVEN if they are not operational and have not employed anyone?

Did you know that the Government just came up with a new law that all the basement s of buildings belong to them so if someone has not legalized their basement when they had bought them for $4,000 in the mid-nineties has to now BUY it again from the government for $40,000? I can’t argue the fact that the country has to establish more regulations and create a more transparent environment etc etc etc – but we all know what the system was like early to mid-nineties – what paperwork what legal documents? People were grateful when they were able to fix up a basement and sell some available products.

Many stories later, it was my turn. I needed to send cargo shipment by UPS. After my third call, I got a quote on the cost of shipping and other details. I asked if there was anything else I need to know. Finally, I sent the merchandise and the money with one of our volunteers. It was simple, fill in the blanks, pay the guy and VOILA! but of course it wasn’t so. WE were supposed to take the shipment to Cargo terminal near Zvartnots, We were supposed to deal with the bullies sitting behind the glass ignoring half of what you had to say. We were running up and down flights of stairs only to have the lazy girl at the desk say, “why didn’t you bring the yellow paper? you have to go back up and ask the guy in room #219 to give you a copy” When you go to room #219, they guy says “well you need to get that paper stamped by the guy on the first floor so I can give you the yellow copy”. We spent the WHOLE day sending 2 boxes – A WHOLE DAY! because no one took the time to stop and explain the procedure from beginning to end. They all knew what they had to do and would tell you to go to the next person once it’s done – he without any explanations or details.

I need a vacation – I need to get out of Armenia for a while!

either raffi kojian or i (and i would like to think it was me) took this picture of ararat on saturday. ararat was so inviting a few of us jumped in our niva and drove to khorvirap to get a better look. it was mesmerizing.

I'm sitting at Zvartnots Airport waiting for my flight to Toronto.

No surprises this time ... I've informed all my friends and family back in Canada that I'll be visiting them for a few weeks. This will be my second time back since I moved here just over 2 years ago. Last time was only for 2 short weeks, mostly spent shopping for my home.

This last month I've spent most of my time with friends from Canada. Not the typical tourists (...wanting to visit Garni, Edjmiadzin, Amberd, etc.) This time it was all about chilling out, and shopping for apartments. One friend wanted to splurge ... ended up staying in a nice suite in Hotel Yerevan, rented a Benz for the entire time he was here, even rented a limo to take a trip up north to see some relatives. After 2 years of being here, I've realized how much I've changed ... how much I have drifted off from my previous priorities. I've become so simple, relaxed and carefree in some ways, but completely the opposite in other ways. Or, maybe I'm just getting old. :-(

Will definitely shop like MAD for the next few weeks, then will come back with some new studio goodies to work on a whole slew of interesting projects.

Goodbye Armenia ..... will definitely say hello from chilly Toronto. :-)

Today Armen and I were driving through the streets and he said "Armenians are beginning to become much more attractive". As I looked all around, I realized this was totally true. Men and women of all ages are dressing better, taking care of themselves, and most importantly they seem HAPPY! It is now a rare occurrence to see a Britney clad teen walk on the streets (make-up, costume, and all). We also drove by North Street... what a massive dig! I'm so excited to see what Yerevan will look like in a few years! Too bad all of the new housing developments are required to have these awful silver roofs! (kamants kamants).

Well, the weekend is finally over. I spent most of Saturday and all of Sunday attempting to recreate those amazing "barsgahye" meals that my Mom would cook for us on a daily basis... fesenjan, shirin polow, and plain rice with tadik. After venturing to Evik (possibly Edik), the Iranian Armenian shop located on Nalbandian, and purchasing the necessary ingredients, I started doing the one thing I despise... COOKING. Strangely, the first day I decide to try and cook is the day that my husband's relatives are coming for dinner... (something I do not recommend).

To make a very long story short, the dinner was not as disastrous as I thought. The food was actually good for a first attempt. At least the relatives ate it... no second servings though. Practice makes perfect so they say :-). At least my puppy Rocky was quite a happy dog as he got fed a lot of leftovers.

Now it's Monday 10:15 PM and I am still at work. Armen, my husband, is also working. His furniture company, B&Z Design is currently working on new furniture line to put into his store located on Tumanian Street. For those of you who have seen "Airport Road", this furniture is nothing like it. Although 100% designed and produced in Armenia, it is much more modern.

Enough for now...

The weekend was quite nice. The weather is bright and crisp. On Saturday I worked all day (literally) on the LCO annual publication called Tebi Yergir. It focuses on the 15 years of LCO work in Armenia. I think it'll be a great issue.

On Sunday, I spent the entire day with the kids. We decorated a pumpkin, played with some toys, went to Square One for dinner and met up with Lara who was giving training until 4. we all took in a nice nap. Then a stroll to Cascade, rent a DVD (My Life as a House with Kevin Bacon), took the marchroutni home, washed the kids and hopla, the day was over.

I love my life in Armenia!

note: there are some frustrations but you learn to enjoy the challenge of overcoming them. Like the computer we were working on crashed with 5 hours of work on it... we just rolled up our sleeves and with the designer, started over!

Lara and I went to see a play tonight. It was at the Puppet theatre on Mashdots (near Grand Candy and Madenataran). The play was about real life in Armenia. Basically it was a 6 day story about a writer who had just left his wife and was hiding in Gond (one of the poorest areas in Yerevan. He was working on a script when he rescues a young girl who had had a bit too much to drink and was about to be gang raped by some punks. She is arrogant and takes lots of space in that small workshop where the writer was living illegally. Over the six days they learn about one another and start to take care of each other. He finds her a decent night job at the hospital. She starts cooking and cleaning the small room. They never sleep together. At the end though it becomes clear how desperate the girl really is. She needs to get medication to her 6 year old bastard child who is being watched by her mother in her village. It also becomes apparent that the man’s son was one of the leaders of the group of punks who were going to rape this girl a few days before.

The 2 fall in love and the play ends on a happy note for them. But the truth of the matter is there are more and more situations like these in Armenia.

We then walked to Mr toaster. I’d forgotten how good and healthy their food was. Lara and I talked a little about the play. we were disturbed and thought of what we could do to change this. We reminded ourselves that this is why we had chosen to come here. It is not simply to be a good nationalist Armenians, but to do one simple thing a day to make one person’s life a bit better. We both do that through our work, through our daily contact with locals on the streets, in restaurants, through colleagues.

On a lighter note: ARTO Tuncboyadjian’s in town and will perform next week!!

If you have a Yahoo! account, you can click on the link above and your My Yahoo! page will show these posts :-)

Yesterday I journeyed to one of the major Armenian television stations to file a complaint about incorrect reporting. Unfortunately, they seemed to care little about degrading American organizations and said it was a question of seeing a glass half empty or half full. We see it full, they see it empty. Ahhh....

On a good note, I went to play tennis earlier today and the tennis courts were FILLED with talented young tennis players. With the increasing fame of Sargis Sargissian, tennis is becoming more of a priority among Armenian youths. There are even talks about renovating one of the clubs here into a world class facility. Hopefully they can build some indoor courts! Having to shovel your own snow to play tennis seems rather odd... hmm...

And finally, I saw a reassuring news clip on H1 today. Madlene, you'll be happy to know that there are "actual" talks about opening a center for homeless animals in Armenia. Can this be true?!?

Welcome new loggers.

Madlene, I applaud you and your family’s effort to act as the life line to one of Armenia’s most beautiful and needy villages. I can only imagine what this place could be if one Diaporan family helped one Armenian village. Slowly but surely, Armenia and its population would start breathing.

So, here is our latest news – WE BOUGHT A HOUSE IN SHUSHI!That’s right, a house in the heart of Karabagh. It’s not like we will move there tomorrow, but maybe one day. For now, we’ll use it as a summer house. It needs a little bit of work so we have hired a young “Karindagtsi” who we’d met in 1999 when we were working as LCO volunteers. Abel is a young 24 year old who supports his family (Father, stepmother, younger brother (12) and his married brother and his wife). I will update on the work in future logs.

On another note, here is a message I received from the Ottawa Armenian Community. It is another problem we must tackle. It’s about the very low birthrate in Armenia.

Now, dangers of a population implosion
By David R. Francis The Christian Science MonitorOctober 07, 2004

Extracts are shown below from this article:
For decades, much has been written about the world's exploding population. But 60 countries, about a third of all nations, have fertility rates today below 2.1 children per woman, the number necessary to maintain a stable population. Half of those nations have levels of 1.5 or less. In Armenia, Italy, South Korea, and Japan, average fertility levels are now close to one child per woman.
.....................
This baby dearth has potentially weighty economic consequences for governments worried about everything from economic vitality to funding future pension programs and healthcare. That's why many of them have been taking measures designed to encourage their citizens to multiply. For example:
• Starting this year, France's government has been awarding mothers of each new baby 800 euros, almost $1,000.
• In Italy, the government is giving mothers of a second child 1,000 euros.
• Japanese prefectures have been organizing hiking trips and cruises for single people - dating programs to halt the baby bust.
.......................
At the moment, half of the growth in the world's population is taking place in six nations - India, China, Indonesia, Pakistan, Nigeria, and Bangladesh.

The contrast with low-fertility countries shows in this statistic: All 25 member nations of the European Union added as many people to their total population in all of 2003 as India did in the first five days of that same year. India will have an extra half billion people by 2050.

Full information is available by clicking below:http://www.csmonitor.com/2004/1007/p16s02-cogn.html

I’d like to hear some of your thoughts on this. Feel free to comment.

welcome to the logs arina, briony, and julia. i am so excited to see added new perspectives, fresh voices and passionate armenians. ps. arina, i know your dog is an angel.

thanks to my wonderful family friends... we are renovating another classroom... that means we have done garni school #1's computer center, outdoor asphalting and property fencing, and now a classroom. garni #2's computer center and gym room (basketball courts)... this all makes me so happy. i am always happy to help the garni schools and it is so wonderful when lovers of armenia and its children help!!!

i have this recent need to travel the world which is eating away at me all the time. the good news is that armenia's location is excellent and the opportunities are endless. i am very fascinated with china lately... and i think my next big trip will be there.

i am working late at the office... tying up some loose ends... and working on some stuff for work. it feels nice now that the weather is cool... makes you happy to be inside...

my best friend from new york is in town and i love spending time with him and hanging out ... showing him yerevan ... my yerevan.

today i went and looked at all the housing developments at the cascade... amazing, there is so much construction in the city and up near the cascade... this place is boooooming.

Being my first log ever, it seems appropriate that I provide a brief introduction. My name is Arina and I'm a "barsgahye" born in London and raised in Iran. My family immigrated to Boston when I was quite young and I lived there until moving to Montreal for University. Upon graduating I moved to Madrid where I worked with an advertising agency.

I returned to Boston again in 2002 when I entered corporate america for the first time. (Not a pleasant experience to say the least). So... I applied to become a volunteer with the Armenian Volunteer Corps and moved to Armenia in June 2002. (Good luck Briony and Julia in Artsagh!) To make an extremely long story short, I ended up marring a "hayastanci" this past June and am now living here indefinitely. I have also been working with the International Research & Exchanges Board (IREX) here in Armenia since June 2003.

That's it for now.

Oh, and I have a dog that everyone seems to be afraid of... but he truly is an angel :-).

Hello, hello, hello, Oh The Enlightened Ones. Welcome to the first posting of Volunteers Briony and Julia, currently in Vanadzor, soon to be reporting from Shushi.

In our final few weeks in our favourite Armenian city, we have been wrapping up our work for this year, which has included English lessons in various schools/establishments, and working in the Tufenkian children's organisation here, Zangagatun. With about 50 socially disadvantaged families enrolled (over 100 kids), our main role at this centre has been to encourage their learning progress and general confidence. We have collected and catalogued a library of English and Armenian books for Zangagatun and for community use.

Other projects include providing English labels and explanations in Vanadzor's 3 museums (the Fine Art, the Stepan Zoryan House Museum, and the History) which, incidentally, are well worth a visit if you make it up here. We are also trying to get a local website up and running so that local events can be posted, and local opinions aired.

On October 23rd we are planning to move to Shushi in Artsagh. We will be initially working from our house there, collecting information for jobsites/host families for future volunteers (of which there are already many hopefuls), and starting English courses for various members of the community. Once the Naregatsi Art Centre is finished there, we will be working with them to provide art lessons and encouragement for the locals, and starting up an English/Armenian library. At the same time, we hope to act as a channel for clothes/books/supplies donations, and also to highlight specific projects and costs in Shushi which interested parties may wish to sponsor/undertake.

Fasyo.

I had already written a log to post today, but I heard this news that Raffi has also posted which ticked me off, and so I decided to write about it.

The leader of one of the political parties has claimed that he has proof that there are homosexual MP's in our parliament. Can it be? So now many MP's have said a lot of nasty things, such as, "These homosexuals are a threat to our national security", and "They should be kicked out of parliament", or the comment one obnoxious female deputy made, "They should sit on a donkey backwards and spat on by the people who elected them."

Should I be surprised by these immature remarks? Expressed in a country where if you wear blue you must be gay (while in Europe and North America blue is the most masculine colour.) I have local friends that compliment my 'non-typical in Armenia' facial hair or certain jewelery or clothing I wear, but they say they can not wear that stuff because their friends won't accept it. One friend who loves hip hop and hip hop clothing wears typical rabiz clothes ... head to toe in black with sharp-toed formal shoes, but tells me that his friends have threatened to befriend him if he wears baggy jeans.

What am I doing here? I grew up as an alternative punk in my boring Armenian community. I grew up in a city where toplessness and homosexual marriage are legal, and where the biggest gay parade in North America takes place ..... where even thousands of non-gays party. How am I supposed to adapt to this backwards society? I'm not disrespecting traditions, but really! What the heck is this?

Fortunately, one smart doctor made some legitimate comments, "Why don't we talk about MP's that have sex with prostitutes", and "I don't care what these people do after work, as long as they are doing their jobs professionally."

Just today one of my local friends told me that a kid from his village was beat up because there are rumours that he is gay. Now the kid has no friends. Just imagine, this took place in a village where everyone knows each other, not Yerevan. And so my friend told me that he knows the kid as well as the guys that beat him up. He said, "If I see that kid I won't say hello anymore" .... why? .... "because I don't want anyone to see me talking to him." My response .... "Why not talk to him instead to check if he is ok?"

This is the mentality of our European civilization claiming Christianity? How are we members of the Council of Europe? And how did we just become a "European Neighbour"? This is really embarrassing.

Guys, what is going on in Parliament? do these people have too much free time on their hands? are they just looking for a scandal? please read this article...

Under Threat: Claim by extremist party head raisesugly rhetoric in Parliament and the press
By John Hughes and Zhanna AlexanyanArmeniaNow reporters

A threat by the leader of a fringe nationalisticpolitical party to “out” members of the Government ofArmenia has provided Yerevan newspapers withsensational copy for the past month. And now it hasbecome the hottest topic on the floor and corridors ofthe autumn session of the National Assembly.
Last month, Armen Avetisyan, leader of the Union ofArmenian Aryans, announced that he has photographs andvideotape evidence that certain ministers, Members ofParliament, and high ranking officials are homosexual.Avetisyan says he will release a list of names beforethe end of the year.
While Avetisyan’s claims are outrageous and from aninsignificant political body, the controversy hasnonetheless stirred anger, accusations and, mostlikely, reasonable concern for some politicians andpolitical appointees.
It has also revealed attitudes of hatred toward gaysby officials who, with their rhetoric, have ignoredCouncil of Europe regulations stipulating that gays,like other minorities, be assured civil rights.
Using slanderous nicknames such as “Dianchik”,“Primadona” and “Hasmik”, Avetisyan referred to thepeople on his alleged list as “dregs of society” andpromised to reveal them “in a systematized manner”.
“Our main goal is to clear up a list of ministers anddeputies so that they would not only hand in theirresignations but also be exiled from the republic,”Avetisyan says.
Avetisyan, generally seen by society as a dilettantepolitician of marginal influence, says he will releasehis information during a press conference when he hascompleted his list.
Avetisyan himself could be asking for trouble. It is acrime in Armenia to illegally collect or spreadinformation about a person’s private life.
Still, it appears his threats are being takenseriously.
President Robert Kocharyan’s National Securityadvisor, Garnik Isagulyan, told the media that ifAvetisyan’s claims are true, “I think appropriatemeasures will be taken”.
He also inferred that dismissing a minister because ofhis sexual orientation has no relation to Council ofEurope membership requirements.
If MPs or ministers are revealed as homosexual: “Theymust immediately hand in their resignations,”Isagulyan said.
National Unity party head and former presidentialcandidate Artashes Geghamyan has used the controversyas an opportunity for general slander of theGovernment.
“There are not only homosexuals in our ExecutiveBranch, but drug-addicts and gambling ministers aswell,” Geghamyan said.
To which Prime Minister Andranik Margaryan responded:“So does it mean Geghamyan participated in all suchthings if he knows who is a gambler or something else?If someone talks about something then that person has100% accurate information. And that can only happen incase that person saw materials or himselfparticipated.”
At various press conferences and in interviews in theNational Assembly, Members of Parliament haveexpressed reservations about the appropriateness ofAvetisyan’s claims, but mostly agree that homosexualsshould not be allowed to govern or make laws.
The presence of homosexual ministers and deputies isnot a surprise for deputy Manuk Gasparyan, who saysthe accused are “mainly known in political circles,”and therefore Avetisyan isn’t saying anything new.
“Of course, I’m a little bit skeptical concerning thefact that he really has facts and photographs on allhomosexuals. And in general I don’t think it is rightto publicize to these names.” Gasparyan said. “Thecorrect thing would be to send the pictures to thePresident of the Republic so that he could be informedwhat is going on in the Government of Armenia and inthe Parliament.”
Deputy Emma Khudabashyan was unrestrained in hercondemnation of any minister or MP who should be foundto be gay.
“After publicizing the names these deputies must beseated backwards on donkeys, their faces blackenedwith soot and they must be taken for a ride in theirelectoral districts so that those who elected them,could spit in their face,” she said. “This is what ourgrandfathers used to do with those who were repudiatedby society.”
Deputy and powerful businessman Ruben “Nemetz Rubo”Hayrapetyan says it would be an act of patriotism ifAvetisyan publishes his list, because: “This is amatter of national security and it would be right forus to know who these people are.”
Karen Babayan, Chief Physician of Dermatology andVeneral Disease of the Republic of Armenia toldHaykakan Zhamanak “Armenian Times” newspaper that theissue isn’t important.
“I don't care what any minister, deputy or any otherhigh-ranking official does after his work,” saidBabayan. “If he is a professional in his field but atthe same time he is a homosexual then I don't care.
“Why don't they want to publish a list of high-rankingofficials, who are straight but they spend their wholeday with prostitutes? And who said that it issomething better and more moral?”
Whether Avetisyan’s threats will be realized is amystery that has distracted this session ofparliament, whose main task was to considerconstitutional reform. And according to one deputy, ithas even threatened an ancient Armenian custom.
“Deputies are so frightened that when they meet eachother they don't kiss each other like they didbefore,” said MP Galust Sahakyan. “They only shakehands.”