armenian life - background
armenia > life in the homeland > the diasporans living here	about cilicia | feedback | chat | ©

[ Intro | Background | Cast | Diaspora in Armenia Log | Diaspora Log | Expat Log | Hayastantsi Log ]

The first log on this site was the Diasporans in Armenia log, which quickly became very popular. Partly because it is interesting to know what life is like in Armenia for diasporans, and partly because of our curiousity about other people. So I decided the logs should cover the entire Armenian people, not just diasporans in Armenia, but also locals in Armenia and diasporans in the diaspora!

Who is logging...

Most of the loggers are people I have met in person and thought would have interesting things to share with the world. Unfortunately as far as the locals in Armenia log goes, I cannot invite all of the interesting people I have met, because internet is well beyond the affordability of the average person in Armenia. Most people have it through work or friends, and those are the only ones I can share with you.

Can I log?

If you are interested in logging, tell me about yourself. Age, location, background... I will consider it. I am trying to fill in some holes in my demographics to cover things fairly, so that is one of the biggest considerations. Right now some loggers from the Mid-East (Iran, Lebanon, Jerusalem) and Armenia are especially needed.

What else do I need to know?

Nothing really. We are logging to share the Armenian experience, whether or not we are immersed in Armenianness. So if you find it interesting, just start reading or logs...

Sponsored Link: SEARCH ENGINE POSITIONING

The following only pertains to the Diasporans in Armenia log... in response to common questions, etc.

But you're crazy! Everyone is leaving Armenia!

Well, not everyone, but anyways, its not that simple. Many people are leaving because of unemployment and other related problems, the cause of which I will go into later. Aside from that there is no problem at all here. The streets are safe enough for a 10 year old girl to wander around at 3am in the morning. That is not an exaggeration, that is the unbelievable truth. The cost of living for anyone making a few hundred dollars a month is incredibly low. The people can only be too friendly. There is no traffic. You can easily get around on cheap public transport, although an up to 15 minute walk is usually all it takes to get where you want. There are no electricity problems. A water tank will store hundreds of gallons of water if you only get water in the mornings. And if you choose the right apartment, you can have a wake up to a view of Ararat every morning. Of course not everything is honey and roses, but there is a ton of good to factor into the equation.

What on earth would someone do here?

Well there are a million things to do. Aside from the cushy expat jobs the 90 million dollars of US foreign aid to Armenia provides, there are lots of other things you can do. Travelling is a never-ending adventure here. I never thought there could be so much to see, but I am still not done. After over a year of serious part time travel, I still have a long list of places I have got to get to. The tourism section of this web site shows more than a hundred of the the places I have already been to. After all of that travel I was inspired to have a book published for tourists. That is the sort of thing I would just never do in the US. My diasporan friends here have started travel agencies, online Armenian products web-sites, volunteer programs, helped startup farming cooperatives, started new settlements, and many other things that make a real difference in peoples lives.

Why are you doing this? (the log)

For two reasons. 1) To show more diasporans that coming here to live, for any period of time, is not crazy, it is a good idea. 2) To convey to the entire world what it is really like in Armenia. I have heard the most incredibly wrong information that people spread about Armenia being treated as undeniable truth. Don't believe what people say, or write, unless they actually lived here... recently!

The land...

Armenia is a land-locked republic in the lesser Caucasus mountain range. That much you can find out from any almanac. What does it look like? The Yerevan area all the way down in a straight line to Nakhichevan is a flat valley, much like the San Fernando valley of S. California in the summer. Dry, hot, brown, not terribly interesting. In the winter it is a bit milder than the snowy winters of Boston, but again without humidity. This valley is at the approximate elevation of 1,100 meters and is surrounded by mountain ranges of higher elevation. That Geghama mountains behind Geghard form a ring in which the pristine Lake Sevan is found. A massive lake so large that it goes as far as the eye can see in length, you can cool off from the hot Yerevan sun during the summer. It is 45 minutes from Yerevan. North of Yerevan is a narrow valley with river canyons stretching up to Vanadzor, where you can go north or east to lush forests and milder weather. South of the Ararat Valley which Yerevan is in you find the Vayots Dzor mountain valleys, which lead to the breathtaking areas from Goris -> Tatev -> Kapan -> Meghri, or you can head east to the rolling green hills and mountains of Karabakh. Full of rivers, forests, and beautiful people, you can understand why people fought so hard to defend it.

The last decade...

The people have had a hell of a decade. In the years leading up to independence in 1991, they saw pogroms of their brothers in Azerbaijan and had to fight for their lives. Soon after this started was the catastrophic earthquake of December 7, 1988 in which between 25 and 50,000 people lost their lives. It was so messy that the death toll is completely unknown and the region has never recovered. The Azerbaijani/Turkish blockade had already begun at this point and people were under the weakening grip of a Soviet Union that is still greeted with very mixed emotions. Some people only remember that there were jobs, others remember the summer vacations on the Black Sea, and some remember lifetimes spent in detention and jail, or the relative that was taken away. Post independence was defined by extreme sacrifice by the nation. Without electricity and thousands of young men fighting in Karabakh, these years ended with the capture of most of Karabakh without a peace treaty and with electricity restored thanks to the nuclear power plant being reactivated. Now however, with a corrupt government, the continuing blockade from east and west, things only got worse for the vast majority who could not earn a living. Hundreds of thousands emigrated and only now do things show signs of changing. How fast that will happen remains to be seen, but the growing high-tech sector, tourism, jewelry processing, and a few other promising fields are developing quickly.

hmmm...

Just continue to the log, and read for yourself what it is like. The good, the bad and the ugly. We will present things to you the way they are. From the poor person giving you free food to be hospitable, to the jerk of a baggage inspector at the airport trying to get $5 out of you.

The Log!