Tension with Georgia/Javakh...

Things in Javakh seem to be getting more and more tense after the murder of an Armenian there - and 3,000 people attended the funeral. Formal calls for autonomy have become louder... there is an excellent article from Agency WPS on Groong this week about the possible split of Georgia, specifically in reference to this region. Interesting enough, also on Groong, a widely publicized poll in Georgia shows that 28% of Georgians consider Armenia their enemy. That is truly messed up, but sadly, does not surprise me. I think the article is quite interesting so I'll paste it below. But meanwhile, two related stories are rather interesting as well, Armenia has a brand new Ambassador in Georgia as of yesterday, and also this week Georgia decided to set up a border demarcation commision which is bound to set off some issues...

GEORGIA IS ON THE VERGE OF SPLIT
by Irakly Gelashvili

Source: Rossiiskie Vesti, No. 11, March 23-29, 2006, p. 6

Agency WPS
DEFENSE and SECURITY (Russia)
March 29, 2006 Wednesday

Tbilisi Plays The Dzhavakhetia Card; The Problem Of Dzhavakhetia Poses A Threat To Georgia'S Security; Dzhavakhetia is another potential hot spot on the Georgian map.

Residents of the region protest against the withdrawal of the Russian military base.

The problem of Dzhavakhetia, which is inhabited by Armenian, poses a serious geopolitical threat to Georgia. Incidents happen in this region from time to time. A conflict between Georgians and Armenians recently happened in Tsalka. One Armenian was killed.

Those who understand the mechanism and nature of ethnic conflicts in the South Caucasus know that the matter concerns a qualitative change of relations between residents of Dzhavakhetia and Tbilisi. Social organizations support the federative structure of Georgia.

Dzhavakhetia is a region in the south of Georgia, which borders Turkey and Armenia. Expert Alexei Vashenko said that the region plays a very important role in Georgia's geopolitical destiny. He noted: "Dzhavakhetia could become a hot spot in the late 1980s. Armenia established the Karabakh committee, which sought to restore Great Armenia. The committee made decisions concerning the armed struggle.

Ass a result of voting the committee decided to start in Karabakh; not Dzhavakhetia."

Georgia faced a lot of ethnic problems after 1991. Abkhazia and the South Ossetia became independent. Azerbaijanians defended their rights in the east of the republic.

Saakashvili understands the challenges of the time. What does he do?

Firstly, he appoints Georgian officials in this region and tried to merge Dzhavakhetia with neighboring regions inhabited by Georgians. A branch of the Georgian University opened in Akhalkalaki in order to integrate Armenian young people into Georgian society. All this irritates Armenians. A serious conflict happened in the region last year. Armenian customs officers were replaced with Georgian on the border between Georgia and Armenia. At present, Armenia social forces organize actions of protest against the withdrawal of the Russian military base from this region. They note that the base created almost 2,000 jobs. Georgia tries to convince residents of Dzhavakhetia that unemployment does not threaten them.

(...)

Bored and Miss Canada

I'm getting bored! I'm ready to head back home (to Armenia) and get back to work. The only thing I don't want to deal with is that nutcase neighbour of mine, the one I've been having water pipe issues with.

Something most Canadian-Armenians should be proud of ... representing Canada in the next Miss Universe is a Canadian-Armenian. Her name is Alice Panikian and you can read more about her here.

BUY ARMENIAN

After reading GlendaleChick's post on buying Armenian products, and now Garen's column on Turkish imports to the US by Armenians, it sounds like there is a bit of buzz from them, Stepan Partamian (on TV) and perhaps others advocating the importation of alternatives from other countries... Here's Garen's column...

Now That's a Problem

By Garen Yegparian, Asbarez Online

When you're discussing a printing job and your conversationalist says, "Garen, if you don't already have a topic for this week, you've got to write about the tidal wave of Turkish goods flooding the Armenian and Middle Eastern markets," the reply is, "I've covered that before."

When two hours later, someone who never gave a damn about this issue, even thought it was silly to discuss, says, "Garen, I hate you, I just can't stand Turkish stuff any more, it really bothers me now," the response is an understanding nod and some "counseling" while starting to wonder, "What's going on today."

When an hour later, you walk into Jon's in Glendale on Glenoaks to buy some fine cut, #1 tsavar (boolghoor--ironic, isn't it, having to reference the more familiar Turkish term?) to make some eech, only to discover they only carry the stuff imported from Turkey, the response is, "Now that's a problem, the universe is trying to tell me something."

Add this ridiculous conversation to the mix. In early February while buying manaeesh from Panos bakery in Pasadena, the proprietor's response to my criticism of his stocking Turkish pepper paste was "Oh, we don't sell it." It took a minute to register what he was really saying. The guy "merely" uses it in his baked goods. Of course all this happened while an employee, also Armenian, was giving me sideways looks implying, "Who is this guy and what garbage is he spouting."

The first person reported that Sdepan Partamian, on his TV show, had advocated picketing the Armenian owned importers' plants to address this vile situation. The response was, "Hey, I had the identical thought a few weeks ago."

As I'm sure you're familiar, legion are the lame-o excuses and explanations for this behavior on the part of our compatriots. And they're not limited to the West Coast of the US as I recall similar idiocy being put forth while I lived in New York.

It's time to call them on it. It's no longer acceptable for these people to launder their blood money through the petty contributions they make to our community. The pennies they throw our way are supposed to keep our mouths shut. No more I say. They can replace their product line with goods just as tasty and inexpensive but produced in Greece, Iran, Lebanon, Syria, etc.

Perhaps if the AYF's efforts in the late eighties and early nineties to stem this noxious flow had been seen through, we wouldn't have this gigantic problem today. Who's going to step up and tackle this problem, pickets, protests, letters, embarrassment tactics, and whatever else it takes to resolve this matter once and for all.

Of course if the Turkish government and its pit-bull master--the Turkish military--had any sense, they'd make this and a host of other problems for their country go away by simply addressing the rightful demands of the Armenian nation. But since this is unlikely, let's handle our own dirty laundry in the meantime.

Let's picket packing plants and ports of delivery. Let's pummel these complacent purveyors into proper behavior. Who's organizing? Who's leading? I and many others are ready to follow!

Eclipse

Wow, it's almost finished, but what a cool one. I saw on CNN that there was going to be one which was best seen by the Caspian, and luckily I was outdoors when it came... Everybody was stopping every so often and looking up with sunglasses. It got pretty dark, like the sun was close to setting, and when I looked at the sun with a welders mask, it was a slim crescent, which was really cool.

Translations, soldiers, water meters...

I have been having some interesting books about Armenia digitized for Armeniapedia.org, but most of them are not in English, so I thought that at some point I would work out getting them translated. Someone suggested online sites might be able to do the trick, even if the initial translation was coarse. I didn't think it could possibly be good enough, especially for texts with technical terms, or Armenian terms, but now that the entire text of a book on Soviet Armenian architecture is online in Russian, I thought I'd just see what's out there. Well can I say I was blown away by the translations done by Altavista? I tried Russian to English and French to English, and both were incredibly readable and useful. You can see the results of the architecture book translation here. It will be much more interesting when I get around to adding the photos, but it is already quite a cool resource to have online. The next book that will get an online translation to English is Zeïtoun: Depuis les origines jusqu'à l'insurrection de 1895. Sadly, and not surprisingly, there is no Armenian to English option - leaving the vast majority of Soviet Armenian materials out in the cold.

This morning I saw something I don't think I've ever seen on the streets of Yerevan, at least not since the military parade in 1999. There were well over a hundred soldiers walking in formation down Pushkin towards Mashdots. I don't know what the deal was, but it was unusual.

Now that pretty much everyone has water meters in Yerevan (there was no such thing in Soviet times), there are water meter guys coming around to read them. Unlike California though, where the meter is outside and the guy can come and go without bothering you, here in Armenia the meters are in the apartments where the guy cannot read them. I doubt you could even have them outside your apartment if your piping was redone, since that would leave the pipe prone to exploding from winter freezes. So they come by your apartment or call you (always seemingly at an inconvenient time). Over the past year I thought if I could get a folded clear plexiglass paper holder by my door, where I could write the amount of water used each month, and he could come by at his convenience and read it would solve this problem for both of us. I saw just the plexiglass thing I'd imagined while wandering around in Barcelona, and brought it back, but didn't get around to installing it until yesterday after my neighbor was telling me about the meter guy hunting for me during the winter. That was quite a detailed explanation about something unlikely to interest many of you, but I'm quite a happy camper and maybe someone will decide to follow suit.

Going underground in Yerevan

So, I live near the Paregamoutiun area, up at the end of Baghramian. I go through that roundabout a great deal, and, quite often, I end up thinking that, en vor asoum a Hayastanoum mart chi mnatsel, togh me hat barehachi gal ayntegh...! (All those who think that EVERYONE has left Armenia should take the trouble of visiting there)

See, here's the irritating part: I have to get from Point A, say, where the "Yum Yum" used to be, to Point B, the "Hayastan" store. Now, crossing above ground is really downright dangerous and, for Heaven's sake, the underground crossing is there for a reason. The underground, unfortunately, has stores and the stores, even more unfortunately, have shoppers. Slow-moving ones. Very slow-moving. Painfully slow...

Okay, okay, so I'm being impatient. But a thought occurred to me the other day as I was crawling my way to Point B. Why don't we have walkers' lanes ? We have lanes on highways, with fast cars on one side, slower ones at the other end. Even supermarket check-out counters have express lanes. So why can't we have, like, a "swift walkers' path" or something ?

The worst part is when you're walking at a reasonable pace, and so's the chap in front of you, and then suddenly she decides to stop at that kiosk to have a look at something, and you end up crashing into her...! Or, even worse still, when you go under from Point B JUST as the Metro's commuters are making their way out...!!

Sigh...

Yet another in a series of seemingly-practical suggestions from me that are really just venting off misplaced anger... ;-)

Okay, next pet peeve: a certain television channel. I know I'm being nasty, but this television channel has great potential and, indeed, to be quite fair, it has a few good shows, but, on the whole, it's basically glamour, show biz and superficial nonsense. Their journalistic standards are ridiculously low... And then, they announce, they're going to show "Friends".

Well, well.


Dubbed. In Armenian.


!


Yes, sir, I thought to myself. If anything, this is the chance for the channel to redeem itself and, at the very least, spit onto the faces of all those idiot translators who make kids off the street of Sao Paulo sound like they went to the Armenian version of Oxford ("Yes chapazants zayratsadz em dzezanits." "Sriga!" "Bayts yev aynbes, miyevnuynn e, douk iravatsi chek!"). So, I await, in bated breath for the first episode and, being a "Friends" fan, my expectations are quite high. And...

Sigh...

Bad, folks. That's the verdict. Very, very BAD. I mean, Ross makes his first appearance, looking very sad, proclaiming that his ex-wife just took the last thing that belonged to her after she moved out, and Joey says, in English, "How could you not know that she was lesbian ?". The Armenian version, however, goes, "How come you didn't know she had a boyfriend ?".

Aaargh! I haven't seen any more episodes after that, I can tell you, but I'm pretty sure one or two people at that good ol' TV channel have their mouths open now, because this is an ESSENTIAL plot point in pretty much the rest of the nine seasons that follow this one...

Okay, okay, I'm exaggerating, as always, but allow me at least that much righteous indignation. Let me end with a nice Armenian Abarantsi joke: So, this Abarantsi goes to watch a comedy show, and takes a seat at the very last row. Inchou ? Vorov hedev na e tsitsaghoum, ov verchoum e tsitsaghoum. ;-)

David of Sasun and George Bush...

I had never actually read the story David of Sasun, the epic Armenian poem over 1,000 years old, but yesterday as I edited a translation of the abbreviated Hovhanness Tumanian version of it for Armeniapedia.org (see translation, or see original Armenian), I realized it said a lot about Armenians. Our epic hero refused to decimate the armies of his enemies, instead insisting only on fighting their evil leader... I really liked that. It's the same thing I've always said about Saddam and Bush. If you really must remove him from power, kill HIM, don't punish his entire country and kill tens, possibly hundreds of thousands of people, who have already suffered enough under his rule. It's simply insane. Of course at the same time the US supports governments like those in Israel, Turkey, Pakistan, etc, just as it supported Saddam when it was convenient, so it never was about freeing anybody. But then we already knew that. It's just sad that Armenia sent any support to the "coalition", no matter how token.

Along these lines, I just noticed an interesting article in RFE/RL last week about the US urging the return of Azeri refugees from the Karabakh conflict. It didn't say anything about any other preconditions, etc, just that they should be allowed back. Some of you will say I am crazy, but I have thought for a long time that IF Armenians are not going to keep the lands south of Karabakh (in other words, I am NOT talking about Lachin/Kachatagh or Kelbajar/Karvajar here), which they do not appear to be trying to do in any negotiations, then there is no reason not to announce to the refugees from there that they can return to their lands - unarmed. The logistics would be messy, it would be a bit of a headache, but I think well worth it in the end. Simply because it's the decent, human thing to do, as long as a way could be worked out to allow it without any security concessions, etc. In the end, we have to be neighbors with these folks, and they have been short ended by their government and leaders. Again, I don't think this idea is a popular one, but I think it should be seriously considered...

The Times, They Are Changing--Quite Literally

The recognition of the Armenian Genocide is no longer a secret hidden away from the public eye in the name of disinterest and political correctness. It is front and center. Read how the LA Times is welcoming the Turkish Defense Minister to Los Angeles this week. Bravo!




EDITORIAL

It was genocide
March, 22 2006

JOHN EVANS IS THE U.S. ambassador to Armenia, as of this writing. But he probably won't be for long. Evans, a career diplomat who was selected to receive an American Foreign Service Assn. award last year for his frank public speaking, irked his superiors at the State Department by uttering the following words at UC Berkeley in February 2005: "I will today call it the Armenian genocide." For that bit of truth-telling, Evans was forced to issue a clarification, then a correction, then to endure having his award rescinded under pressure from his bosses, and finally to face losing his job altogether. What happened in Armenia in 1915 is well known. The Ottoman Empire attempted to exterminate the Armenian population through slaughter and mass deportation. It finished half the job, killing about 1.2 million people. Yet the State Department has long avoided the word "genocide," not out of any dispute over history but out of deference to Turkey, whose membership in NATO and location between Europe and Asia make it a strategic ally.

It is time to stop tiptoeing around this issue and to accept settled history. Genocide, according to accepted U.N. definition, means "the intent to destroy, in whole or in part, a national, ethnical, racial or religious group." Armenia is not even a borderline case. Punishing an ambassador for speaking honestly about a 90-year-old crime befits a cynical, double-dealing monarchy, not the leader of the free world. Turks point out that their Ottoman ancestors considered it treason to side with Russia at the outbreak of World War I, as many Armenians did. But the massacres were also fueled by Muslim animosity toward a Christian minority. When then-U.S. Ambassador to the Ottoman Empire Henry Morganthau protested the bloodletting, he received a telling response from Mehmed Talaat, the interior minister in charge of the anti-Armenian campaign. "Why are you so interested in Armenians anyway? You are a Jew, these people are Christians," Talaat said. "Why can't you let us do with these Christians as we please?"For Armenians who escaped the killing and came to this country, inadequate recognition of their history is crazy-making. Rep. Adam B. Schiff (D-Burbank), whose district includes the heart of the Armenian diaspora, keeps introducing a bill to officially recognize the genocide, only to see congressional leadership quash it each year, under pressure from the State Department.Some nations, thankfully, are stepping where Congress fears to tread. The European Parliament last year passed a nonbinding resolution asking that Turkey acknowledge the genocide as a precondition for joining the European Union. The Turkish government, typically, was infuriated, yet it still desperately wants to join the EU. One day, the country that was founded as a direct repudiation of its Ottoman past will face its history squarely, as part of a long-overdue maturing process. Some day before then, we hope, the State Department will too.

Tbilisi, Friends, Cafes, Food...

I actually caught an interesting program on Armenian TV today, on the Georgianization and destruction of Armenian churches in Tbilisi. In the late 1800s there were 26 Armenian Churches. Today there are two. They were interviewing Samvel Karapetian, the amazing guy at RAA who has documented and recorded so much of our heritage before destruction by Azeris and Georgians. Alright, now I will try to get off the subject of Armenians getting treated like garbage for a bit, though it keeps coming up.

I also caught an ad for "Friends" (the sitcom) coming later this month on Armenia TV, dubbed in Armenian. They made a really fun, splashy commercial, but I must say the short clip of actual dubbed programming they showed was absolutely unwatchable. Der Hova had logged about Friends coming and I was actually rather looking forward to trying to watch it in Armenian. Now, I still may give it a shot, but I am already disappointed.

The great weather keeps up, and the forecast looks good. It's amazing, though I don't want to jinx it by gloating. Melody Cafe at Opera has once again taken the prize as the first to open their outdoor seating (they also always take the last to pack up prize). They opened a week ago and nobody has followed suit yet, even though Melody already has some customers.

I had already mentioned the Malkhas Jazz club which opened not far from my flat, I hear it is good, though not cheap and certainly not smoke-free! I also saw that Mark, Yerevan's Thai guy who's been around for at least 5 years and been involved in more ventures than I care to recount has opened a new Thai place also close to my flat, which is quite cool since the food options near me have been a bit limited. There is a huge new place actually as well that has opened from a perennially abandoned space which they've put a lot of money into. I want to give it a shot. Here, a rather fancy place doesn't necessarily cost more than any other place. While I'm on the subject of food, I was also turned on to a great khingali (Georgian dumpling)joint here that I've seen, but never entered. The khingali is by far the best I've had, and I've had it in it's famous birthplace in Mtskheta. This place even has cheese khingalis, which are fantastic and they offer to fry the khingalis instead of boil them if you prefer, which end up tasting much like beoregs. I will give the Georgians credit though for the best khachapuri I had, right next to the Marjanishvili metro entrance.

Jugha Khachkars gone without a trace...

According to photos and reports from Armenia's foreign ministry - the cemetary in Hin Jugha is now completely wiped clean of any trace of khachkars. It is now a shooting range for soldiers to do target practice. Not to play the part of the perennial victim, but how on earth is Armenia supposed to take the world, international law, etc seriously when it keeps getting trampled by the Turks, Azeris, US State Department, and argueably the Georgians...??? It's very draining and sickening, I'll say that much. That Turkey is fighting it's own victims 90 years later, keeping it's border sealed and still not establishing diplomatic relations FIFTEEN YEARS after Armenia's independence, Azerbaijan still destroying traces of Armenians presence in Nakhichevan, threatening war, refusing to allow self-determination for Armenians who clearly cannot live under their rule ever again, that the USA allows all this crap, and even gives these brats foreign and military aid while preaching democracy and justice, then firing a US Ambassador simply for speaking the "G" word... mind boggling. Just incomprehensible...

Rien Long - NFL player visits his homeland...

Last night I had dinner with Alex, and some others living here as well as... (drum roll) Rien Long, his mom, aunt and 2 others travelling around Armenia with him. It was great to see that once again, visitors were having a great time, meeting really interesting people, seeing great things... Rien is 1/4 Armenian, and has a great Armenian spirit to him. In addition, he has some very prominent Armenian tattoos, including the Armenian flag with the superimposed Է on it, an eternity cross-knot, and another Armenian tattoo. So to see the millenia-old eternity cross-knot carved in stone here again and again was pretty cool for him as you can imagine. They all plan to return for different reasons at different times, and bring other relatives along with them. Shad cool! Peter Musurlian and Dr. Arbi Ohanian are preparing a little clip being about his trip, which will be screened at the Alex Theatre in Glendale this June.

third abortion in two years

When I first moved to Armenia almost four years ago I was dismayed to learn that the average woman in Armenia has numerous abortions in her lifetime. Many older women have spoken to me openly about the more than 20+ abortions they've had - why? because their husbands refuse to use any sort of protection. Sadly, I recently learned that a friend of mine just got her third abortion in two years. She's in her mid-twenties and refuses to go on birth control because she "prefers" not to ingest any sort of medicine. Odd how abortion is okay yet medicine is not...

Ambassador Evans may be fired

I was revolted to learn that the State Department has most likely made the decision to recall Ambassador Evans, simply because he made statements openly acknowledging the Armenian Genocide. It literally causes my stomach to churn when I think about it. This man finally did what the state department and US government should have officially done long ago, and instead of thanking him, they first prevented him from getting an award for it, and now seem poised to dispose of him. Harut Sassounian wrote some excellent columns on it last week, and this week which will bring you up to speed. Armenians everywhere are pissed.

It seems like everywhere we turn, Armenians are being trodden on, in this case we are being trodden on by not even being allowed to have a decent, honest American Ambassador, who stood up for what he believes in, stood up for justice. I doubt this will be the last time I will write about this, but folks, if you are half as angry as I am, take 2 minutes to write an email about this to the State Department (Click on "contact us" and then click on "send a message to the Secretary of State.").

This man stuck his neck out for doing the right thing, and now, as Americans as well as Armenians from around the world, we owe it to him to make sure the US government knows our moral outrage. Their complicity in genocide denial was bad enough, but making the pronouncement of the words "Armenian Genocide" cost a man his job is unbelievable...

At a recent rally in Yerevan...

said Armenian style ...

winter wonderland - sunny spring

I really enjoyed winter this year what with all the snow.

My family and I actually took the time to go with some friends and their families to Dzaghgatsor… this was the first winter I had visited this “winter resort”. It was Beautiful! There was a winter fest with a rock fest to boost it up. Greatly renovated ski lifts (closes at 6:00 p.m. – no night skiing??) They have a nice indoor pool and fitness center there too.

Besides that, Yerevan was more awake this winter than in previous years as shops and restaurants were open a little later and people were actually roaming around which is always pleasant to see.

Personally, I have been submerged with work. I thought that after 6-7 months of the opening things would become more regulated. It seems that the field is just getting more complex and competitive which is demanding more of our time.

Lara and Vayk are in Canada and will return on Monday. I was alone with the 2 girls (babysitter helped a lot). This gave me a chance to bond with the girls since for some time I had been working late and almost never seeing them. It was a nice 2 weeks but I miss Lara and baby Vayk.

Spring is here with sunny days and clear skies. Many of our repat friends are having babies which is really nice. Can’t wait for the summer to regroup with these friends and their new additions to the community.

Back in town...

It was a long trip this one - 3 months in Australia. I really enjoyed it so much, there are definitely things about the old lifestyle that I miss - the pools, the beaches, the casual dress all around you, the non-smoking environment... it was also nice to spend so much time with relatives - here I have zero. I did learn during my trip that I have some distant relatives in Tblisi, but I'm not sure if I'll be able to get the information to track them down or not. While I was there I entertained thoughts of staying there - thoughts I always have when I go there, in fact thoughts I think most visitors to Australia seem to have. If it wasn't so far from everything else, and if it had more Armenians, the temptation would be greater. While I was there I did meet some Armenians, and while I was spending time with the Armenians I know they'd point out other Armenians they know in shops, cars, public transport... so I wonder how many there actually are there. I went to a friends birthday party where there were a good number of young Armenians and Australians. A young couple in Sydney who read my logs were nice enough to take me around one night. We dropped into their local agump and then headed to a new Armenian owned Lebanese restaurant which was reaaally good food. They've come to Armenia a few times, picked up a home here and have a solid plan to move here in a few years. It was good to meet some of the ppl there who do visit here, and are changing the old misconceptions about Armenia...

I'd like to share a lot more of my trip, but it was so long and I saw so much and met so many people, including fellow travellers... I'm afraid the post would go on forever. So I'll let the whole thing sink in a bit more and see if there are specific things that come to mind that I think would be interesting.

So arriving back to Yerevan without luggage for the first time after such a long flight was frustrating - though they assure me it will show up. I knew I shouldn't check it all the way to Armenia! To get to my apartment and find out I had no electricity was even worse... it was 5am and dark. No fun at all. Luckily the weather was warm, my gas heater was going regardless, and I had some candles. I figured I'd sort it out in the morning, but of course everybody knows March 8 is women's day right? And it's an actual day off! Well of course I didn't know (not that it would have made a difference) and that meant nothing could be done. So yesterday I found out why the electricity was turned off... I don't know if it's an official policy, but my electricty usage was zero one month and so they just shut it off in order to prevent power from being stolen by neighbors. In all the time I've been here I'd never heard of this, and I'm sure I've had zero usage before... but that was what they said.

Well it is good to be back, although things like the smoking are bugging me even more than usual. There are in fact some new smoking restrictions which came into effect this month, but those - and last years restrictions are being ignored, as there are no fines for breaking that law. I was just speachless when I read the quote of Vazgen Manukyan in RFE/RL last week saying that he was categorically against the non-smoking laws (as he puffed a cigarette), adding that anti-smoking campaigns can only work in Western democracies. Now this guy was almost president in 1996, and is still a reasonably big opposition figure. What an idiot.

Bedroom View

We've all been complaining about the fog and haze that has been haunting Yerevan over the past few months. Well - gijh (crazy) March seems to have brought warm 50 degree weather and clear skies. Here is the view of Ararat from my bedroom window... I only hope one of these new buildings they're constructing won't block it down the road!!

On February 28 Republic Square was home to one of the first protests of the year. Thousands (some news agencies are reporting up to 100,000) of government officials, students, and adults gathered to protest about the current anti-Armenian policies of Azerbaijan and to pay tribute to those who perished in Sumgait.

As I'm not able to attend these sorts of rallies, all I noticed were the crowds. During my five minute walk to work I literally had to fight my way through the streets of Abovian and Tumanian. I was amazed first by how many youth were involved and second by how organized the march/protest was in general.

Around Yerevan thousands of posters line the walls calling for further attention to the massacre of 88... one of these days I'll try to get a picture.

In other news Yerevan has become a city of mud. With all of the snow slowly melting, it is impossible to walk anywhere without encountering obnoxious amounts of mud! Pushkin - near North Ave construction - is by far one of the worst streets. I won't even mention the three open manholes that are terorrizing the poor jigoolies who dare drive by.