The Good Life "A toast to our beautiful lives." That's Suesue, the Persian-Berkeley Architect-Archaeologist toasting with David's special cognac. We had just finished a miraculous Persian feast she and some of the other girls had whipped up in honor of my visit to Erebuni House. That's the mansion on the far side of Yerevan where the Erebuni Seven (i.e., the Berkeley team excavating Erebuni) are headquartered. I had been invited to Erebuni House ostensibly to fix Felix's new laptop. He was trying to install Microsoft Office. Each time it prompted him for the product identification number, he typed in the number [View Full Entry]

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Dream #115 Although I no longer need to take melatonin for jetlag, I still have weird dreams. I dreamed that I had a disease. The recommended treatment was that I be shot on Tuesday. I had a final conversation with my ex-wife, but she was speechless for one reason or another. Even in my dreams I can't invent words for her to say. On Tuesday I wasn't nervous about being shot. When the doctor pulled the trigger I awoke wondering if waking is death to the dreamer. The Diggers David Stronach made an appearance at the University earlier this week. He's [View Full Entry]

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On the flight to London I have strange melatonin-induced dreams. I dream that I awake to discover that we have all been transferred onto the Chunnel. I didn't remember the transfer, perhaps I slept through it. But it strikes me as a brilliant idea because the train travels at the same speed as the airplane. Teasingly, the train dips into short tunnels that might confirm my Chunnel theory. Beneath the elevated tracks I see the detritus of Britain's WW II effort—old bombers, folded camouflage tarps. Heathrow is its usual gray, timeless haze. Zombies shuffle from one terminal to the next. I [View Full Entry]

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The rest our journey was more precarious and I gazed at the broken guard rails strategically placed beside the worst curves. Some good they did. The snow fell furiously, Axel Rose screamed “Welcome to the Jungle!” which was remarkably appropriate for the chaotic traffic we kept engaging, and I watched the world drift on. The mountains are intoxicating in this region, not that we needed any more intoxication, and you really feel close to the earth. It is comforting. We made the final turns off the mountain and descended into the basin that cradles Yerevan. It was Genocide Day in [View Full Entry]

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It’s been three years now since I departed my life from deep behind the Iron Curtain: Uzbekistan, Kazakhstan, Kyrgyzstan…and over a year since I departed my life in the Balkans….they seem like only distant dreams to me now. But it took roughly three seconds to revert to the behavior necessary to survive in this place. My first sign that I was back was the contingent of soldiers waiting for us at the bottom of the air-stairs which allowed us to de-board the plane—despite the presence of unused jet-bridges just 300 meters from my now parked 737. The deplaning Czech Airlines [View Full Entry]

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It's Genocide Memorial Day. You know, remembering the 1.5 million (exact amount disputed) Ottoman Armenians killed during their deportation in WWI. 92 years later, and there's still a pretty big turnout; an unending throng of people bearing flowers or wreaths to the Memorial to be placed around the eternal flame as dramatic music is played on loudspeakers and the whole thing is broadcasted live on TV. It's April 24 and if you think that means it's warm and sunny you're very much mistaken. It's snowing heavily, giving the whole thing an even more dramatic and eerie atmosphere. Not the best time [View Full Entry]

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Wow, wow, wow! Can't believe I'm in another country and have to tackle another language / alphabet / exchange rate! The road out of Tbilisi was as roads are out of capitals - quite uninspiring. But from Marneuli onwards the road cut through a beautiful valley. Add to this heavenly blue skies, puffy white clouds, a gentle tail wind, a mild temperature (finally below 30C - yay) and you have a perfect cycling day. Although I had actually planned to stop near the border of Georgia and Armenia I decided to cross instead. In fact, this part of the country, on [View Full Entry]

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My husband and me, we traveled to Nepal last autumn. We trusted an internet recommendation and chose Sherpa Paseng Dendi trekking company while still at home in Luxembourg. We were so pleasantly surprised upon arrival in Kathmandu as Dendi Pasang had succesfully organised everything starting from airport pickup, city tour, friendship dinner, hotel arrangement, plane tickets to Lukla etc. Our trekking guides for the 2 week trekking tour into Khumbu Everest region were Furwa Lama and Karma Gyalzen and we could not have wished better companions for that! Apart from ensuring smooth functioning (incl. carefully chosen lodges and menus) of the [View Full Entry]

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So what is Armenia all about...? Well, there are a lot of old beautiful monasteries and the nature is fantastic... But be warned it is also a country where you are constantly fighting with waiters, taxi drivers, marshrutka drivers and store clerks... Non existing drinks are put on the bills in restaurants, the taxi drivers always grossly overcharge you and nobody seems to be happy with your business... When you enter a shop you get the feeling that you have disturbed them from drinking coffee or the fine art of staring at the wall and that they rather have you leave... [View Full Entry]

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Each morning I pull myself out of bed, shuffle into the kitchen, and light a burner. I can usually do this without opening my eyes. This morning the match burned down to my fingers before I realized something was wrong. No gas. I'm good at thinking under stress. It must be from my days working as an orderly in the ER. Even in my half conscious state my mind quickly mapped out plan B: Art Bridge. Every Third World capitol has an Art Bridge. In Colombo it was Deli France, in Harare it was Italian Bakery. This is the cafe where [View Full Entry]

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