It’s [Armenian] Christmas in Hayastan today, and time for another Letter from Armenia even if it is only a day after starting the column. Now, you can’t really tell its Christmas in my part of town at least, and I suppose that’s the same throughout Yerevan. Maybe the centre is a little different if some events are being staged, but close to the Mergelyan Institute at the start of Komitas there’s nothing going on.

This marks a complete change from previous years when at least a tree was erected at one end of the park opposite my apartment building. Santa Claus and a dozen of Armenia’s pop singers used to be bussed from district to district to mime to their own songs, and the kids in my neighbourhood at least got a few evenings of fun. Hell, even I used to enjoy the sound of the zurna and dhol that announced the start of proceedings.

However, like I said, this year there’s nothing, and it’s anyone’s guess as to why. Given that parliamentary elections are scheduled for May, it’s especially weird as we’re used to all the stops being pulled on the New Year to get voters in a more sympathetic mood to the local powers that be. I can only guess why that’s not the case this year. Is it because they’re spending too much money for the same purpose in other areas, for example?

For sure, the number of roads being repaired — something that always happens when elections approach — is considerable throughout town, but even so, missing out on providing local residents with communal festive events seems a little odd. Potentially dangerous for the year ahead, I’d say, especially as there’s really not much else to do at this time of year. If that’s the situation in Yerevan, I can only imagine what life must be like in the regions.

Anyway, as you can guess, I’ve been out today. Since giving up smoking, there’s been less of a need in the past month. Amazing to think how much my life used to be governed and actually controlled by need for the dreaded cancer sticks. It’s incredible how “liberated” I feel now that I can resist the temptation to desperately satisfy a three packs a day habit as if nicotine was more important than the air I inhaled in-between drags.

Anyway, I did go out today to return some DVDs I rented yesterday. Nothing special, really, although The Departed was okay, I suppose, even if Leonardo DiCaprio certainly didn’t deserve to die at the end. The guy in the shop — or kiosk if truth be known — recommended American Pie 5. I remember one guy from the U.S. arguing that the availability of such films in Armenia was a sign of increased sexual activity among youth here. Maybe he’s right, but I think it’s not as simple as that.

To begin with, although the beginning was quite funny, the film struck me as simple titillation and soon established itself as typical of a myriad of poor quality, badly written and mediocre films meant for teenagers in the U.S. who aren’t as sexually experienced as they’d like others to think themselves to be. Certainly, the reality here is that most young Armenian girls don’t buy into such lifestyles even if most guys wish they would. Lots of contradictions here, especially when it comes to sex.

Tradition is still very much alive in Armenia for many, even if the ways the girls dress in the summer lead you to suppose otherwise. Interestingly, many girls would rather not the restriction in terms of freedom imposed on them by their future potential husbands, but it also depends on what circles you move in. There’s the “progressive” crowd, of course, but they’re a minority of the population – or at least until they reach the age of 24 when hopes of marriage start to diminish from thereon in. Each to their own, I say.

Today, though, I wanted to rent some films I’ve always wanted to see, but never did. Managed to find one of them, The Shawshank Redemption, but Heat was only available in Russian. Now that DVD players are available for as low as 18,500 drams (about $50), the number of DVD shops has mushroomed in Yerevan. Of course, they’re all pirate copies, but there’s no way many people could afford to buy anything else.

I remember when the first DVDs were available for sale in Yerevan for 7,000 drams. Now they’re available for 2,000 AMD, and while it used to easier to find English-language titles, it’s getting harder and harder now that even at such a low price it’s more common to find collections of four, eight or even ten films on a single DVD, but in Russian only. My local ISP, Armilan, even has a hundred or so films for free download at six megabytes per second over their Komitas district-wide Local Area Network (LAN).

Again, they’re only in Russian apart from three in English — Not Another Teen Movie, Scary Movie 2, and Fight Club. The first two were crap, no doubt, but Nessuna will be happy I finally saw the third. She gave me the film on DVD a while ago, but it froze on three DVD players I tried to watch it on half way through. Well, Nessuna, you’ll be pleased to hear that I finally saw the film and enjoyed it, although the twist at the end was kind of weird and certainly unexpected.

Incidently, for all you Borat fans out there I can confirm that Cultural Learnings of America for Make Benefit Glorious Nation of Kazakhstan is available, albeit in Russian, on DVD in Yerevan. Zarchka at Life Around Me saw it recently, and when I paid her family a visit just after New Year, I took a look at the first 20 minutes. Really, so weird to hear Armenian spoken in that film, but I can say that the Russian overdub appears to be done well.

Zarchka says that the Pidgen Russian used for the soundtrack was well done, so I guess local audiences will understand the point even if the newly opened Kazakh Embassy in Yerevan might not. Zara says she found the film funny, if that’s anything to go by.

Anyway, I guess I can at least be thankful that I have some kind of service that allows me download at broadband speed for 30 drams a megabyte. They even offer 24-hour internet radio and were planning to offer online TV such as pumping BBC World over their LAN into people’s homes as well. However, even though dialups are about the same price for near constant use, the reality is that it’s still too expensive although a typical example of how Armenians can adapt when the need arises.

According to the guys who run the service, they have less than 50 subscribers. Probably that isn’t so surprising given the state of the non-corrupt economy, and that an internet cafe costs most people no more than a few hundred drams. Also, there are now a variety of cards available for temporary internet access which I too had been using. However, once you’ve experienced 30k/sec upload and download, it’s not the same going back to dialup.

Anyway, back to DVDs. The poor girl holding fort at the kiosk probably erected illegally outside the HSBC bank in Komitas had her work cut out for her today. Guess there’s exams looming for many as there seemed to be a mass of customers all needing photocopying done. Most students still can’t afford to buy textbooks here, so copying the necessary pages even at your own expense is the only option available to them.

I’ve never been any good at guestimating ages, and today was no exception. The girls were still at school, for sure, because after they heard me ask for films to rent with an English soundtrack, they started practising theirs in the corner. It was kind of like, we’d like to practise our English, but we’re too shy to come out and start a conversation. Sweet, and so I had to oblige, didn’t I? They want to go and study English at Brusov, AKA Yerevan’s Harem, but I forgot to ask them when. I’m guessing next year.

Anyway, that was probably the highlight of my day. Still got a bit of a bad back and along with the general feeling of needing to hibernate, lying in bed to write more blog entries is the order of the day. Hope your Christmas was livelier than mine. I’m sure that the parliamentary elections in May will give me a new lease of life when the campaigning and illegalities really start to get underway, but until then, Merry Christmas. Let’s enjoy it while we can.

UPDATE: Just seen that Artyom over at iArarat has posted a link to a NYT article on why Armenians celebrate Christmas on 6 January.