Blogs from West, Armenia, Asia - page 5

Geo: 40.1596, 44.509As you may have seen from the quick upload I did this morning of Mount Ararat it dawned clear and sunny and it stayed sunny enough and I was in- and - out of the car and then found I had walked 15 minutes in the sun and the factor 30 was back in the car, result - stupidly, a bit of sunburn. It stayed clear long enough to get some more pics of Ararat, first as we drove up to 2000 metres on the southern slope of Mount aragat (pay attention now, don't confuse your Ararat with your Aragat, there's a mount ara as well) to see a Fort and a church. On the way up Gregor said he could hear a funny noise from the car, I walked alongside while he drove ... read more

We originally planned to visit Armenia in the Easter break however when we heard a group of teachers were going to take advantage of the extended weekend due to woman’s day (which is a massive celebration is this part of the world) we thought why not. We will now have the chance to celebrate Easter Georgian style, which we are both looking forward to. We met up with the group (nine of us) who would be travelling to Yerevan via night train in Tbilisi on Wednesday. We had some time before the train left to meet the people we did not know and find out where in Georgia they have been teaching and living. It was quite interesting to hear everyone’s stories. Within the group there were people teaching in cities, towns and villages. All of ... read more

Thursday, September 1, 2011 - Yerevan, Armenia After 17 days and 6,800 kms on dirt roads through the mountains, combined with our final night celebration party, I'm exhausted!!! I was up at 6am, took Shelly to the Airport, and went back to bed until 11am, then joined the remaining Team members in the lobby. As you probably know, this whole Challenge was to benefit the Armenia Mission - an NGO that helps refugees from the war, earthquake victems, and the poor and homeless. Attila (our Leader) organized a visit to a refugee school in North Yerevan. We jumped into our cars and convoyed to the school. We entered to school armed with toys, clothes, school supplies and checks. There were about 30 children aged 5 - 15. They were very quiet and didn't quit know what ... read more

From August 13th to August 15th... read more

Wir hatten viel von Armenien erwartet und unsere Erwartungen sind nicht enttäuscht worden. Auf den ersten Blick wirkt Jerewan recht russisch, doch bald stellt man fest, dass sich armenisch und russisch doch stark unterscheiden. In der Stadt wird viel gebaut, die schwierigsten Zeiten, in denen die Armenier isoliert und mit Kerzenlicht auskommen mussten, sind definitiv vorbei. Aber es könnte besser sein. Die Blockierte Situation mit der Türkei und Aserbaidschan ist stark beeinträchtigend für die Wirtschaft (alle Grenzposten geschlossen), Armenien könnte unserer Meinung nach ein oder das Handelszentrum auf dem Kaukasus sein. Seit in Georgien die Mafia nicht mehr am Ruder ist, kommen die Transporte aus Russland wieder bis auf Armenien. Der Handel mit dem strategisch wichtigsten direkten Handelspartner Iran blüht und ist unverzichtbar. Wir fühlten uns wohl in Jerewan, obwohl z.B. uns ... read more