As Spring is now with us, bloggers based in Armenia report that it brings with it both positive and negative experiences. Personally I’m glad that the snow has gone and the weather is warming up. Nevertheless, it has been a better winter than previous years, and Raffi Niziblian at Cilicia.com’s Life in Armenia puts the change in season simply.

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.

Yet, spring also brings its problems, and not least since with the outset of fine weather, what little of Yerevan’s green areas will probably disappear in the continuing (illegal) construction boom. Garo (AKA Christian Garbis) at Notes from Hairenik also says that it’s just another way to make money.

I was walking down Vasken Sargsyan Street away from Republic Square last night and turned right on Khorenatsi to discover that the trees along the sidewalk near the park there and those along both sides of the road on the stretch between Zakyan and Mashdots Streets all had their limbs cut down to the upper trunk. These trees were healthy, high, and green through the end of last year, as I often walked down the street when heading towards Mashdots simply because it was a beautiful area. Now the trees have been desecrated through a process known as pollarding, a feeble attempt to protect the trees from disease or decay, yet another example of Armenian logic but an excellent excuse to sell wood by Yerevan authorities looking to make money through any possible means.

On the other hand, as the spring also brings with it the mating season, it won’t be just the street dogs prowling the streets for female company. Melissa, an expat in Armenia, has already had her first esperience with one of what will soon be many male prowlers/stalkers on the streets of Yerevan. With skirts getting progressively shorter as the Summer approaches, it will soon be kerb-crawling season.

As I was walking up Abovyan Street, I passed a kind of sketchy looking guy near the cinema, and he looked right at me, totally giving me chills. Then he started following me. No, not coincidental following. He slowed down when I’d slow down. He’d stop when I stopped. He turned when I turned. I couldn’t believe he kept following even after I’d turn and look straight at him, the universal sign for, I know you’re following me, you’re pretty much fucked now. It was scary! So I ducked into a cafe, hoping he’d finally get the picture and leave me alone. When I finally left, I half expected him to be outside waiting for me, but luckily he wasn’t. I don’t know, it totally freaks me out. Luckily, I’m a lot more aware of surroundings here than I usually am back home. I told K about it this morning (I didn’t tell him yesterday b/c he had an exam and I didn’t want to worry him) and he suggested I get some pepper spray or something. Anyone know where I can get that here?

I suppose while we’re hinting at sexual “etiquette” in a patriarchal society we might as well look at the problem of sexually transmitted diseases and HIV/AIDS in Armenia. Because pre-marital sex among youth largely occurs away from prying eyes, there are concerns that risky sexual behaviour brings with it the danger of infection. The U.N. has already warned of a potential HIV epidemic in Armenia, and New Eurasia has more, although it is fair to say that the Republic is still more conservative than the West and Russia.

Armenia is more of a conservative country and it’s not having exactly the same issues as US does, at least not yet. Here, in my American school I see a lot of pregnant girls, or girls that are younger then me but already have a kid, so I guess it really is an issue and talking to teenager about how to protect themselves is not just a good idea, but quite a necessary thing . I think that talking about sex to students won’t encourage them especially if you do talk about STI’s as well. And once again, students are rather given proper information from their parents, or from school then from some random place, because they will learn about it anyways, so it’d rather be from parents or teachers and contain correct information.

Of course, while Life Skills classes included as part of the National Curriculum in Armenia do now deal with STIs and HIV/AIDS, there are of course problems with the educational system in the country. Armyouth covers this problem — at its most severe in Yerevan’s Universities — and quotes extensively from young local bloggers.

When speaking to my professor back in the U.S. about this topic, she was not surprised of such phenomenon occurring in Armenia. I inquired what actions must be taken in order to combat this and she responded that in the end time will bring about the change. Her comparison was interesting, she compared this problem with corruption in the university with a banana. As time goes by, those professors who continue these practices will begin to slowly peel away and out of the system. This takes time of course and once this occurs, then it is among the younger generation of professors who will no longer become tolerant of such practices. Yet on the other hand, this younger generation of professors currently working side-by-side with the older generation who continue these actions – how can they not be tempted to participate in such activities as well? To continue this analogy with fruits, if there is a bad apple among a bunch of good apples – will the bad apple not begin to have an effect on the good apples?

Even so, Zarchka from Life Around Me makes a very valid comment in response to Tamar’s post. Basically, because it takes two to tango, waiting for a new breed of young professors to emerge is not necessarily going to change the system in place. Firstly, it is youth themselves who are willing to pay bribes instead of studying, and secondly, while salaries remain low and the whole economy defined by corruption and nepotism, it’s not a simple as blaming the older generation when most people here jump at the chance to make money — legally or not.

In other cases as I said before, diploma is the necessary element of the dowry which is so common in Armenian. For emphasizing this I can say that nearly all my course mates need it for the same reason. They don’t care for learning and are so obliged when the professors grade them 3 for knowing 2 or 3 topics out of say 60. And they also buy course papers from the best providers, but yet they receive the same 3. On the contrary I always liked writing course papers, especially when they are assigned from literature, and that’s the most perfect way to enrich my horizon…yet… they prefer just buying it to sparing their “precious time” which is later wasted on sitting in some café and watching people over the nonsense chatting.

I was just shocked when a friend said that his professor assigns writing a course paper, then lets the students know that he also writes such papers, but sells not for 8000 drams, as is the average price, but for 16000. But later he never grades 5, but 3, in better cases-4. It’s so outrageous! Whether he doesn’t appreciate his knowledge, or … I don’t know…

What concerns banana theory. Banana never peels by itself, someone is needed to peel it. And that must be the student. And if you put two apples of different sort together and add another putrefied one, it will spoil the one closer to its own sort.

Talking of Zarchka, March also brought with it International Women’s Day, and the young female blogger posts something she wrote for her mother in Armenian. Thankfully, Oneworld’s Nessuna translated the writing and left it in the comments section of Zarchka’s post, although I of course had words with her as to why she didn’t post it here first for the weekly Notes from the Armenian-language Blogosphere. Just kidding Nessuna…

If I would be a painter…

If I would be a painter, I would take a brush and I would paint my mom’s eyes. I would paint the blue depth of her eyes, that of a sea, the chirping of birds, that of the sky, and the green meadows, those of the spring.

If you would look into my mom’s eyes, you would want to be a painter yourself, if only to paint the melancholy in her eyes, which is present in her joy, kindness and softness.

But wait… I’m sure I cannot find the colors I need. I would choose to do a simple sketch instead; those gentle, dreaming, hoping and smiling eyes do not need color anyway. I would take away all the little wrinkles that cruel years left as a trace on her face though. I would also get rid of the tear bag so that her eyes will never get wet again. I would erase the melancholy, and I would add an eternal smile to those profound eyes. I would bring back to her eyes the fire that once was there lightening my way. I would breathe love into her already loving eyes.

But that is not all. In the deepest depth of her eyes, I would leave a little corner, and I would fill it with hope and faith. As for kindness… No, I would not need to add any; the kindness she possesses would suffice me and the rest of the world.

No, I am not a painter, but I will paint my mom’s eyes, I will paint them my way and add at the end. “Always smile, mom, smile, laugh forever, infect the others with your laughter, and infect me. Let me embrace you and find happiness under the soft cover of your laughter.

I love you, mom”.

In the Diaspora, the blogs are varied, but of note is The Artyom Reader’s mention of Armenian victory in a chess competition while Blogian posts a letter he sent to Google protesting the inclusion of a web site about Talaat Pasha, the main organizer of the 1915-23 Armenian Genocide, under its sponsored links section.

I am not sure whether it is Google’s policy to advertise hatesites and offend the memory of over one million people who were killed by Talaat Pasha (who is usually referred to as the Turkish Hitler), so I hope that it is lack of knowledge of Turkish language that has led Google to advertise the sponsored link.

I very much hope that the “sponsored link” will be immediately removed from Google and followed by a letter of apology.

Incidently, next month will see the 91st Anniversary of the Armenian Genocide and I expect a lot of blogs, including this one, to cover the events in Yerevan and the Diaspora extensively. Until then, Life in the Armenian Diaspora features a number of posts by Yeraz Art Executive Director and Pomegranate Music founder Raffi Meneshian on location in Greece for a photo shoot.

In order to capture the best CD imagery possible, it was decided that I would go to Athens, Greece with photographer Kevork Imirzian to do a weeklong photo shoot on classical guitarist Iakovos Kolanian. We left on the 24th of Feb to Athens, Greece via Amsterdam and had no real expectations what we would encounter. Most CD’s are hastily put together and it shows. With Pomegranate, that is not the case because I believe that these are documents that will be referenced for years to come. I can’t have the thing look terrible. Thus, the extra expense and gamble to do a high end production is made.

As mentioned on this blog previously, I shot some local classical musicans for Raffi at the Aram Khachaturian house-museum last week. Raffi also posts about the musicians in question on Cilicia.com.

Right now, the YerazArt young musicians will be in the States on March 24, 2006 to be performing at the Armenian Assembly Gala on the 27th in Washington, DC. Their Boston area debut will be on April 8, 2006 at the Longy School of Music. If anyone in the DC or Boston area would like to host the kids for a day or two and get to know the fantastic talent of tomorrow from Armenia, please email me at yerazart@gmail.com For those who have always wante to get involved with projects IN ARMENIA, this is the best way to start and I can guide you through the process of how and where we need the most help.

To end, its only fitting to come back to Armenia and to mention some excellent posts by Myrthe at Life As I See It. In particular, in a country where image is everything, the Dutch expat pays a visit to the hairdressers, but resists the temptation to become like local women who under enormous pressure to look their best.

When I told him how I wanted him to cut my hair, he suddenly asked whether I wanted to color my hair. I said, No thanks.

He: “But you have grey hair.”

I: “Yes, I know. But I don’t care.”

He, after a silence, slightly longer than necessary: “You don’t care?”

I, decidedly: “No. I don’t care.”

This obviously was not the answer he expected and the guy was dumbstruck. He had no idea what to say to this. The thing is, I have had some grey hairs for the last eight years or so, but I decided not to care about that yet. I refuse to give in already to coloring my hair for the rest of my life!

There’s more posts at Myrthe’s blog so check it out here.