Friends, Armenians, Countreymen, lend me your ears.

I have come to LA to pick up CD's and promote them.

We are proud to announce the release of Arthur Ispirian's new CD Asum En Te. We have been working on this CD for over a year and are very proud of the outcome.

Please support the sales of this CD buy ordering a copy for yourself and perhaps buying some as Christmas Presents for your favorite Armenians.

Please visit the music section at http://www.narek.com/ or copy and paste this link,
http://www.narek-store.com/shop/SearchResults.asp?ProdStock=MD%2D8700%2DCD
to listen to the songs and preview the CD.

NOTE: Pre-order Arthur Ispirian Asum En Te album before release date (December 6th, 2004) and SAVE $8.00!*

For those of you living in Armenia, the original CDs will be in stores in Yerevan in a weeks time.

Thank you in advance for all your support and please forward this to anyone who you think may be interested.

Sincerely,

Arthur Ispirian and Madlene Minassian


PS. Here is the review from http://www.narek.com/

Armenian Music Award Winner Arthur Ispirian, with Asum En Te album, takes us back to the 70's and 80's with a set of most popular songs from Ajemian, Avetisyan, Ayvazian, Jrbashyan, and more. His light, satiny voice with marvelous fluidity delivers each note wonderfully. Up to date, this album is the best remake of our oldies, that has a chance to break through the barrier and reach the younger generation of listeners.His duet with Nune Badalyan (daughter of Hovhannes Badalyan) Knarakan is breathtaking. The original version of the song was performed by Hovhannes Badalyan and Rouben Matevosyan.Song Karine features Vahagn Hayrapetian (piano), Nikoghayos Vardanyan (bass), and Arman Jalalian (drums).

pps. a log about my vacation to los angeles is soon to follow!!!

Tuesday saw the first snow of the winter, and first really cold tempratures. The snow has melted, but the cold has stuck around. I wonder if this will be a mild winter or not? The nice thing about the snow was that it cleared the air and has opened up the view of Mt. Ararat which is now covered in fresh snow. The ArmeniaFund telethon raised 11 million dollars this year. That should go a long way towards building Karabakh's "backbone" highway. With all the rhetoric coming out of Baku, and a recent tendency for Azerbaijan to deny ethnic Armenians from the west entry visas, peace seems a long way off.

I cannot cook. This is unfortunate when I am attempting to teach my "barekams" what a true American Thanksgiving meal is. So far I have bought a turkey which the Embassy had delivered from North Carolina (much cheaper than last year's $50 Butterball). I have also purchased a 10 pound can of cranberry sauce (they don't have the smaller cans, I swear).

Fortunately for me I have already created the menu... a turkey, a pumpkin pie (this is quite daring on my part), gravy (a must), mashed potatoes, cranberry sauce, stuffing (maybe I'll just use the pre-packaged stuff I bought)... and that's it for now. Unfortunately all of the recipes for many of the above include spices that I have been unable to find for two years now. Yesterday, however, I was told by Peace Corps volunteers that these spices could ALL be found in "Europe". Maybe the dinner won't be so bad after all...

Now, in other news I visited the new Tashir shopping mall this past weekend. It seriously can be compared to an American mall - with one small difference - most of the materials inside are all the same as those in a "shuka". But on the upside it is beautiful and does have some nice stores. There's even a store that sells Mikasa. All in all it's an achievement for Armenia. Apparently another central shopping mall is in the process of remodeling and will hopefully be opened sooner than later. Now if they can include more shops like Swatch, Naf Naf, and Betty Barclay.

Work is busy.

This week IREX celebrated International Education Week. Like so many other organizations around the world, we organized a number of events in which both IREX alumni and the general public could participate. One such event was a visit to the Nork Marash retirement home - a government funded home that houses around 220 elderly folk. Now you may ask - why would elderly folk be placed in such a home when Armenians place such an importance on taking care of each other until death?

Well we asked. There are those that have no family left; some who no longer have family in Armenia; those who are in bad relations with their children; refugees; and others. We initially met with the Director and spoke of the difficulties and challenges of running a home. We also toured the building which was surprisingly in good shape. Each room included two beds and a separate bathroom. All rooms were in great "remonted" shape and the bathrooms were better than what you typically see. My only true complaint might be that the hallways are FREEZING... and it is only November. I dare not imagine how cold it gets in the midst of winter.

The purpose of our visit was to introduce the concept of community service to younger Armenians. We had purchased nardi (backgammon) boards, chess boards, checkers, cards, and dominos to donate to the home. For almost two hours, we split ourselves throughout three floors and played games amongst each other. Many of the "retired" were lecturing the younger high school students on the importance of education and discipline. It was nice watching their interactions. As for the games -let's just say the residents had the home advantage and creamed us all.

All in all we met really wonderful people. IREX is already planning on making a return and in the meanwhile running some sort of clothing drive. Blankets are always useful!

IREX brought in the "Johnson brothers" this week to lecture over 80 Armenian teachers from around the regions the art of cooperative learning. These Armenian teachers have also been involved in IREX educational activities for years - and it seems like they are finally accepting new methodologies they can use in the classroom. It's great to see change happen right before your eyes.

Now it's Friday night and for the first night in months I am going out clubbing. After living in cities including Montreal, Boston, and Madrid... Yerevan is a city that needs a lot of work in this department (to say the least). However in the past year there have been a few places that have opened are clearly a step in the right direction. I'll report on my experience later...

It is now later. Last night I club hopped around town with colleagues in from Azerbaijan. We started with Astral where, believe it or not, hundreds of Indians had gathered in celebration of the start of Diwali - or our equivalent of a New Years celebration. One boy shared with us the story of Diwali which was really quite fascinating. For those of you who are interested in reading up on it you can check out http://theholidayspot.com/diwali/. We also learned that there are over 400 Indians studying at Yerevan State University's Medicine Faculty who each pay 6k tuition each year. They were all so friendly! We were even asked to take part in the lighting ceremony at midnight. After a while, however, we decided that it was time to leave Astral. The smoke was already getting to us and by 1 very few people remained.

We walked down to check out the opening of Chez Christophe's bar. It was nice but small so our visit was quite short. As we exited the bar, a new Brabus car almost ran us over and my American colleagues and I "may" have lashed out. The Brabus of course had to stop and I thought we were all dead. Fortunately my colleagues have a great way with people and befriended them immediately. We were invited into their car so they could take us to our next destination - Atlantic. I seemed to have been the party pooper and refused to get in. Who just randomly gets into a strangers car???

Anyway, we finally made it to Atlantic and stayed for a total of 5 minutes. It seems to now be more of a place where men go to watch prostitutes dance. And the mirrors... everyone was dancing and staring at themselves in the mirrors. For those of you who have never experienced this first hand it does sound funny. But after 5 minutes it becomes downright ANNOYING! So we left.

Our last stop of the evening was Bunker... oh how I love Bunker. We arrived at around 2AM and were surprised that so many people were there. We ordered sandwiches and fries (which were really really good) and a nargileh. It was a very nice, relaxing atmosphere. My only complaint was the smoke of course. We stayed for about two hours and lounged around. It is one of the few places in Yerevan that I recommend highly!

After getting home at around 4ish, I passed out. It's been a while since I experienced such a long night... I am getting old!

Each morning I wake up early in the morning to play tennis, and each morning I realize that I must wait an additional few minutes until it's light enough. I can't believe that there is only 1 month maximum of tennis days left! With that being said there is a huge need for someone to build indoor courts here in Yerevan. Apparently the Hrazdan Tennis Club is working on some that may be ready in 2006... here's hoping.

A week or so ago I was walking Rocky. My dog trainer seemed somewhat upset and told me the story of Gmpo. Gmpo was a stray dog that lived in one of the yard areas relatively close to my apartment. My trainer had found Gmpo when he was only a few weeks old in a puddle of water in the dead of winter. He took Gmpo into his home and nursed him to health over the next few months. After Gmpo was in good health, the trainer returned him to the same yard where the neighborhood children began taking care of him. Gmpo recently had his one year birthday. Unfortunately, he was killed shortly thereafter.

Although the city of Yerevan has consistently told the public that they do not kill stray dogs, they continue to do so. In Gmpo's case he was poisoned and then taken to an abandoned area where he was shot. It is a depressing topic that needs a solution! Apparently there is a woman who has opened up an animal shelter here that is going through the "remont" process. I must follow-up.

i think it is a very sad time for the united states of america.

the re-election of george bush has left most people around me dissapointed and sad. I just do not undertand. I cannot begin to fathom international policy, environmental, social, and fiscal changes over the next four years.

This is by no means an invitation to debate or argue... i know there are different opinions... but i must say this is how i feel and it is hard to log and not to express this overwhelming disgust and fear.

Don't you hate it when people are coughing all around you without even covering their mouths? That is what I had to put up with for one straight hour standing in line to get through Passport Control in our so-called improved airport. And why it takes these passport control officers to look at your passport(s) for 15 minutes is beyond me.

I can't believe how clean Toronto is. And things seem more different now than when I visited in January. Simple things like ... I walk into our house and everything seems so odd ... the height of the ceilings, the depth of our kitchen sinks, the fridge we've been using for ages, the height of the toilet seat, etc. Speaking of toilets, the toilet paper in Amsterdam airport and the one they use in my house here SUCKS! I have a roll of Sanitex toilet paper from Armenia ... 2 ply ... kicks BUTT (or rather wipes)! Those days of no toilet paper or rough toilet paper are over!

I won't even mention how depressing the weather is over here.

Anyway, I'm sure there is so much more to tell, but I'm not well. I caught a cold from the coughers at Zvartnots and the FREEZING plane ride from Amsterdam to Toronto. I'll write more when I am feeling better.

In less than 5 hours I will wake to join other Americans in watching live election returns at the Embassy. It's like watching a tennis match from the sidelines - much more nerve wrecking than were I to be part of the process.

Other than that things are good. Work is busy as always. Today a number of participants will depart for the United States to participate in a one month long internship as part of the Community Connections Program. They are off to Fitchburg, MA and some will be interning in downtown Boston - so all you Bostonians keep your eyes out! We are also nearing recruitment deadlines for two of our programs - UGRAD and Muskie. So if any of you know local Armenians who are interested in studying in the US, send them over to IREX.

The weekend was also fun. I made my way to two separate halloween parties and it is always nice to see American tradition alive in the expat community. Madlene, people were only staring because you looked SO cute! Sunday morning I played tennis at the Hrazdan stadium and they have finally begun construction - too bad they can't wait until after tennis hours. Unfortunately during our match I couldn't concentrate at all since I was more concerned about the bulldozer that could have EASILY dropped a few stones onto our court... onto ME!!!!

As for Armen's business things are going well. He has his commercials being aired on a few of the TV (H-1 and Kentron) and radio stations in addition to newspapers. It's pretty great and I'd be curious to hear what any of you think of it if you have seen it...

And I will end with a happy piece... I recently boarded a marshrutka where there were no seats available. (The driver should not have even let me on; but that is a different story altogether). These two girls decided to occupy only one seat to give me space... how nice! Armenians seriously can be so hospitable!

my husband is my guardian angel. he watches everything i do and if there is a mistake he is sure to point it out and correct it. yesterday during the kids show i used an armenian word wrong... i was asking the kids to jump up and down and i said trvrek instead of trek. so arthur stopped filming and made me say it right. recently we were on another game show for the same station (armenia tv). the show was hilarious... the host makes up funny questions and the participants wear lie detectors . arthur's (his nickname is ispir) question was the funniest. "is it true that when you are sick that you drink "ispirin" instead of aspirin?". of course arthur got buzzed. they really are witty and talented at armenia tv. the studio is clean and beautiful and the experience of being a guest is wonderful. a good team of people... it's promising.

speaking of promising, please visit the website i have been working on for work and see the new prelimenary design for the gerard l. cafesjian museum of contemporary art. with a design in full force, i am filled with energy and look forward to the opening of the museum. it is going to sound freaky to you but i imagine the opening of the museum like i used to imagine my wedding... i play the scenarios in my head and imagine the surprise of many of my friends and people in our community. i am so excited to help build something amazing for this country and then show it off. please visit www.cmf.am for the design.

speaking of building, the garni schools are starting to look nice. my wonderful friend just donated another classroom so we are busy working on the fifth grade room.

speaking of garni village, our contractor had an accident. his two cows just fell off the cliff into the gorge. it was quite sad... for a villager it is also a huge loss financially. he says that one must of fell, and the other must have followed. i wonder if they were married.

This weekend was great. I realized how many hours I had been working and the amount of stress it had put on me. I was actually working 6 days with mornings and nights here and there. Although there aren’t any LCO campaigns happening, it seems that my plate is still full of this and that.
On Saturday night, we had a GREAT Halloween party at Raffi Koj’s new pad (what a great remond job!)Over 60 people showed up with the majority dressed up in the 80s theme of the night.
Then on Sunday, I was able to finally get out of Yerevan and enjoy Armenia like it should be enjoyed. Although we had missed the beautiful autumn colors, we decided to drive up to Dilijan with the kids and 2 other friends (Seb and Dzov). This is one of the prettiest cities of Armenia. It is also one of the oldest. A MUST SEE!
Whne we returned, we dressed up the kids and went trick or treating - this is not a tradition hjere so we drove from one friend’s house to another with a final treat at Square One. They had a GREAT timeand were very much spoiled by our friends.
Today, back to the office.

You can tell that I am almost over my hump from last week, no?

there is nothing i can say about raffi nizibilian's log other than ... it is true and it is one of our realities living here. aside from the magic of this land, the amazing quality of life... this looming and dark power of corruption exists. i am hoping that it will get better with time... i am sorry all those things happened at once...

i on the other hand had a wonderful weekend with no symbols of corruption in site for two whole days. we got stared at for our halloween costumes and that was the extent of a negative experience.

i loved being in yerevan this weekend... for the simple reason that i had no responsibilities. i allowed the wind and our mood to dictate what i would do all weekend. i had not tourists, and did i already say no responsibilities... i had finished a nice project at work so had given myself no work... and my only commitment was to make sure i enjoyed two whole days of yerevan.

the highlight i will say was my visit to the sarian museum. when i went to his art room where he worked i was just floored... so much history and so much beauty and so much passion... the room felt it and so did we.

today is an exciting day because arthur and i will appear on a kids show. i am going to do an armenian version of simon says and arthur will sing a song for the kids. i am excited to be on a kids show... far too often i am on adult shows where i have to be serious... this time i can be silly and fun... which is my favorite side of me.