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Dr Jenny - Jennifer Lyman | Read The Full Entry | Subscribe | 2 Comment(s) | 23 Photo(s) | 0 Video(s) | [diary=205811] | 2007-09-28 14:19:11
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Armenia prides itself on being the first nation to formally adopt Christianity (early 4th century). Despite periods of autonomy, over the centuries Armenia came under the sway of various empires including the Roman, Byzantine, Arab, Persian, and Ottoman. It was incorporated into Russia in 1828 and the USSR in 1920. Armenian leaders remain preoccupied by the long conflict with Muslim Azerbaijan over Nagorno-Karabakh, a primarily Armenian-populated region, assigned to Soviet Azerbaijan in the 1920s by Moscow. Armenia and Azerbaijan began fighting over the area in 1988; the struggle escalated after both countries attained independence from the Soviet Union in 1991. By May 1994, when a cease-fire took hold, Armenian forces held not only Nagorno-Karabakh but also a significant portion of Azerbaijan proper. The economies of both sides have been hurt by their inability to make substantial progress toward a peaceful resolution. Turkey imposed an economic blockade on Armenia and closed the common border because of the Armenian occupation of Nagorno-Karabakh and surrounding areas. To be updated
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By Dr Jenny
September 26th 2007
September 26th 2007
Cochineal Insects, Hikes, and the Queen's Birthday
Asia » Armenia » West » Yerevan
Tom and I have not been suffering from ennui in Armenia. . Tom is busy working with GIS data for the White Stork project, helping with our website, grocery shopping in the markets, and going to receptions, parties etc. Yerevan weather is still very warm during the day but the evenings are wonderfully cool. Cochineal Insects Last week, as Tom mentioned in his letter, we got up early to go with our entomologist friend to the Ararat Valley to watch the yearly emergence of the Ararat Valley Cochineal Insects ( that produce red dyes for manuscripts and carpets)—they spend thei [View Full Entry]
Today is our last day of the Global Village trip and a great had been planned for us. Melik, David, and Ani picked us up to take us to the Holy See Edminjistan. Being that it was Sunday, both churches we visited had masses in seesion- it was a great experience to see how the traditional Armenian masses were held as well as seeing the historic churches. It was very beautiful, and Ani and David did a wonderful tour of the campus. Afterwards we went back to Yerevan and had lunch at Square One, a restaurant that served American cuisine. While [View Full Entry]
Katie K - Katie Kowalski | Read The Full Entry | Subscribe | 0 Comment(s) | 0 Photo(s) | 0 Video(s) | [diary=203106] | 2007-09-17 19:33:11
Maliek, Gohar, and David (a HFH Armenia volunteer who is Armenian, grew up in Jordan but lives in Yerevan as he is going to the university to be a dentist), picked us up from the hotel to take us to our last day on the worksite. Since we finished moving the lava rock to the attic yesterday, our task today was to do some landscaping- leveling the front and backyard, filling with dirt, then covering with pebbles. As our team enjoys the "bucket brigade", we gladly accepted this task! When we arrived to the site, we were joined by Hamlet and [View Full Entry]
Katie K - Katie Kowalski | Read The Full Entry | Subscribe | 0 Comment(s) | 3 Photo(s) | 0 Video(s) | [diary=202415] | 2007-09-17 19:11:38
Today we headed straight to the worksite and started the highly anticipated "bucket brigade"! Our task for the day was to carry buckets of the lava rock up to the attic, and to bring enough rocks up to form a 5-6" layer across the entire attic floor. This was a nice break from plastering and painting and gave the team a different experience. Gohar also explained that by our team helping move the lava rock, we were doing something that would be much more difficult for the homeowner to finish by himself. Our team glady accepted the challenge! A pulley and [View Full Entry]
Katie K - Katie Kowalski | Read The Full Entry | Subscribe | 0 Comment(s) | 0 Photo(s) | 0 Video(s) | [diary=202168] | 2007-09-14 18:53:58
This morning we traveled to beautiful Lake Sevan, about a 45 minutes from Yerevan with Maliek and Ani. As we were driving, Ani was telling us many great stories about the Armenian culture as well as tales about Lake Sevan. Lake Sevan is the biggest lake in Armenia, and has many vacation homes. Two churches from 900 BC sit atop a hill that is surrounded by the lake, we parked the minibus and climbed the stairs to look at the churches. As we were walking up about 200 stairs (counted by Sandra), an older Armenian gentleman serenaded us as he played [View Full Entry]
Katie K - Katie Kowalski | Read The Full Entry | Subscribe | 0 Comment(s) | 0 Photo(s) | 0 Video(s) | [diary=201874] | 2007-09-13 19:12:17
Before we started work today, Gohar, Meri, and Maliek took our team to visit some of the families who are in their homes, including 2 families that were supported by Habitat Detroit and Masco. It was an absolutely amazing experience. One of the homes we saw that was sponsored by HFHD and Masco was a beautiful home and an experience I will never forget. The family has 3 children- 2 girls and a boy. The 2 girls had drawn a picture of their house that read "thank you Detroit", they gave this to us as a gift and I will be [View Full Entry]
Katie K - Katie Kowalski | Read The Full Entry | Subscribe | 0 Comment(s) | 0 Photo(s) | 0 Video(s) | [diary=201882] | 2007-09-14 18:39:41
Gohar, Maliek, and Lilita (HFH Armenia staff, corporate donors) picked up our team at the hotel to take us to Hamlet and Amalik's house to do more work. After instruction, we continued on with plastering, finising both bedrooms and working on the main room. With the practice from yesterday, and new tips from Hacob and Maliek, our team felt much more confident doing the plastering work! Timing was perfect as we finished the main room and was ready for the lunch break. Amalik prepared a wonderful lunch, having potatoes stuffed with spiced ground meat, ground meat rooled eggplant, fresh cucumbers [View Full Entry]
Katie K - Katie Kowalski | Read The Full Entry | Subscribe | 0 Comment(s) | 0 Photo(s) | 0 Video(s) | [diary=201302] | 2007-09-13 15:44:56
Hi all, As I was preparing this blog, Dick Walton wrote to ask me to encourage bloggers to visit the website that has been created for the Pryor Mountains in Montana. There is a great need for civil society in Montana to contact the US Forest Service to encourage a rational travel plan that restricts the movement of off road vehicles. The website presents the issues in a clear way and with beautiful photos. Enjoy: www.pryormountains.org Fall has arrived in Armenia. Women in our apartment yard are busy fluffing the sheep’s wool in their mattresses and airing out the bedding to [View Full Entry]
Dr Jenny - Jennifer Lyman | Read The Full Entry | Subscribe | 7 Comment(s) | 15 Photo(s) | 0 Video(s) | [diary=201507] | 2007-09-18 06:33:00
Sept 9th- After over 24 hours of travel with a 9 hour layover in Frankfurt (which turned out to be wonderful break as we were able to leave the airport and take the Bahn to Maktplaz for a nice walk in the marketplace and lunch at a cafe) the team arrived safely to Yerevan! Our team was warmly greeted by Gohar (HFH Yervan staff-Global trip coordinator) and Maliek (HFH Yerevan staff-driver and construction supervisor) at the airport at 1am Armenian time to take us to our hotel, Hotel Shirak. After much needed sleep, Gohar and Maliek as well as Ani, (a [View Full Entry]
Katie K - Katie Kowalski | Read The Full Entry | Subscribe | 2 Comment(s) | 8 Photo(s) | 0 Video(s) | [diary=200747] | 2007-09-10 18:01:34
Marian and Tom in Armenia Marian and Tom have been here since August 16 I think. Their journey was one for the books—it took them almost 2.5 days to get here—this included a 12 hour stop in Vienna where they went to a spa and slept on lounge chairs in a city park until tune to head back to the airport for the flight to Yerevan. One of the first activities for us was to attend the presentation of the Armenian Apostolic Church’s highest service award to Dr. Haroutine Armenian (can you believe his last name?), the President of the [View Full Entry]
Dr Jenny - Jennifer Lyman | Read The Full Entry | Subscribe | 0 Comment(s) | 25 Photo(s) | 0 Video(s) | [diary=196880] | 2007-09-02 15:15:13