Think Happy Be Happy

Little Armenia in Paris

2011-12-28T10:41:00.002+04:00

I know how this trips go - hectic and full with impressions and events. so i will try to reflect as things occur...

i arrived in Paris in the morning. had about 1 hour till the flight. it got delayed, then again. all smoking areas were closed. last cigarette was in atlanta. i walked to the end of the terminal and saw some guy who i knew was a smoker with the same problem. i questioned myself why i was so sure that he smoked then i realized he had a cigarette in his hand. i addressed him in english ready to switch to french. he just said "armenian". feeling of relief. he said he found a "spot". we went downstairs and smoked by some massage chairs. no detectors went off and that cigarette tasted so good... the forbidden fruit is sweet.

his name was Sahak, he was 38, has lived in Paris for about 20 years. he said it's a shame i don't have a visa or he would've given me a tour around the city. a couple hours later the flight was canceled and the crowd was told to go down to "air france" desk. transit passengers were to get hotel vouchers and visas if needed. everybody else was told "well if you are flying from Paris you must have some place to go to. so bye".

People had visas with 1 entry (so as soon as you go through customs at the airport your visa is annulled). People were calling other people, figuring it all together. those who were to get rooms were offering a guest place to others.

people were dead tired, hungry, thirsty (the terminal was shut down, there was no food, no drinks, not even enough spots to sit which we gave to older people). but people stuck together. eventually in 6 hours everybody got a voucher and was headed to the hotel. 90% of passengers on the bus were armenians which made it funny - if a local was to get on the bus they looked confused.

We got to the hotel at 10 PM. restaurant was to close at 11. we went in at 10.30. had food, wine, and conversations about personal lives and politics, about science and technology, funny stories and more wine.

i felt home. i was in a foreign country under such circumstances... but i felt home. at first i was starting to stir the waters and have a group go tour Paris at night and even thought that i could go by myself. but in a couple minutes i just knew i wasn't going anywhere. i knew i wasn't trading a piece of world-famous piece of metal for that company of people that circumstances brought together. kids, young people, middle-aged, old people... they had one similarity - they were armenian. which means no matter how bad things go each and every one of those people will help you, will do everything for you - from giving you a shelter to sleep and money with no return, no expectations, just because you are armenian and they CAN help you. they have been there and somebody did the same for them.

Sahak gave me his phone and i texted my mom to let her know i was fine. i went upstairs to his room to return the phone. he asked if i could stay for a couple. i considered going into some guy's room who i barely knew in a foreign country. a voice in my head whispered "he's armenian". i was almost ashamed of thinking what if he has bad intentions. i walked in with no hesitation. we talked for a bit then some other guy came in as well. we all smoked together in a non-smoking room, then i went back to my room and fell asleep.

even though it was unfortunate circumstances... i was happy. i was happy to be there and experience that. i was happy to see people be so nice to each other, do all that from an open heart. life is unfair and bitter too often and when you see human decency, kindness, something good - you have to value it, praise it, appreciate it... encourage it. i fell asleep with no doubts, no fears, no concerns. i knew i wasn't alone. i knew i had those people. it felt good to see people care for each other.

at 5.30 AM i was woken up by a phone call. the reception accidentally called me 1 hour earlier than they should have. i somehow managed to have a full conversation in french. it shocked me a bit. i haven't spoken french in years... but it all came back. in my mind i thanked all my teachers for giving me the knowledge, for teaching me.

i had a hot shower, felt fresh and rested even though i only slept for 4.5 hours. slowly people started crawling out of their rooms and having breakfast. some fruit some yogurt, cheese, coffee for breakfast. quite a few people asked me if i already had breakfast, made sure i ate well, and that everything was good.

we were at the airport by 9 AM. some guy left all of his stuff including his wallet with me. Sahak bought me coffee. i tried paying him back. i said i had american currency and asked how much i should give him. he laughed at me and asked if everyone was so crazy in america and that i must be joking.

the plane was to take off at 11. it was delayed for 1.5 hours because an armenian older lady was taken somewhere else by mistake and we said we have to wait for her.

at 8.30 i arrived in yerevan. 24 hours later than expected from the beginning of the trip. I know i added a few gray hair on quite a few people's heads due to lack of communication... but i would never trade this experience for anything in the world. my aunt brought me gorgeous bouquet of roses to the airport. i was home. my family expected me to be tired and upset.. not smiling from ear to ear and hyper-active. the rest is history as they say.

and now i have to get ready as i have a very saturated agenda for today. friends and family demand my time and attention and i am ready to give it to them to the last drop. Life is good. the day is sunny and i can put my hand on my heart and say i'm happy. viva Yerevan! (et Paris mon cher ami)

40 days of nightmare

2011-08-21T19:00:00.002+05:00

I was coming back from Edjmiatsin when it occurred to me 'that's the road'... and the curb... and the store. The black fingers clenched my heart and wouldn't let go. I could be wrong - could've been any other place but probably wasn't as the photos from the article were burnt in my mind as if I saw it yesterday. I wasn't looking for the place. I wasn't looking to find myself on that road - it was a last moment decision to stop by at Edjmiatsin church on the way back.

Then I remembered - I lit up a candle for his rest but when I was on the way out the wind had blown it out. It was not supposed to happen and I was not supposed to light the candle up. I lit it up again. I didn't pray for I had no words and nothing to ask for - I did it because it's something everybody does and it's just a... common habit?

It was a good day when I saw him last. We were hanging out at the usual place, joking, drinking and smoking. As always when it was time to part ways we said "well it's not the last time we see each other. will probably do it again before you go back to the States. But whatever happens we will "unconditionally" meet again the next time - here in Armenia or we will come to visit you in Ohio". I knew it was the last time... for that visit as it was my last day but how could I know...

40 days... so many things have happened in everybody else's lives and people got the ability of smiling and laughing again. To me it seems that I've been running away from the closure. Running away from all that has happened and just trying to live my life and pretend that everything is fine. I don't want this closure. Not now not ever. I still wake up and hope that it was just a bad dream and it's not true.

This trip has been so wonderful - so many new impressions and experiences, new and old friendships, and endless stories. But not for a second have I forgotten or fooled myself as far as what this trip was about.

Stars will shine forever

2011-06-03T10:32:00.004+05:00

Avag. I'm not sure what I can say. I know you're going to be fine I have no doubts about it. These 10 days are going to be one of the longest in my life. I'm not crying my eyes out because I'm afraid of what could've happened and I leave no room for "what could happen". I know there's nothing I can do or change but still... how I wish I was there. It would bring me some peace and ease for I feel guilty, guilty that I'm not behind the wall of your room. But I guess I'm not as good of a friend as I would like to be.

The day crawled to an end. People tried to distract me and make me smile. I did. But it was merely a smile on a doll. My eyes can't lie. And now I can stay alone with my thoughts and with myself. I couldn't believe it until I read your name in that forsaken article. They say I need to sleep. They are right... I can't go without sleep for 10 days and then some more.

I know what they are going to tell you - blame it on the bike and streets. But there have been plenty of dangerous activities that you did and that we did. You have a wild heart and thirst for adrenalin rush, for speed, for life. You don't like holding back and hitting the breaks. And that's how I know you, that's what you are.

The wait is the hard part. The feeling of powerlessness. We make fuss and haste to get ourselves busy and to feel that we can still do something, give some importance to little things but really it's just killing time. Approximately what I'm doing right now. We see it in movies and think "that person needs to go home and get some rest" yet when it comes to us we act exactly the same way.

Stars will shine forever... and I'm looking forward to seeing you and Niko at metroclub or irish pub this autumn and then walking home no matter how chilly it will be outside. And this all will seem so far away and it will feel like it was just a bad dream. I wish I could fast forward to those moments for right now the time doesn't want to move forward. I know you're going to be fine; there just is no other possibility. Maybe I'm far away but I can't think of anything else right now. Same goes without saying for Mary, Helen, my family. If only there was something I could actually do instead of grinding teeth and sitting in the dark typing all this.

I'm finally smiling. For real this time. I know everything is going to be alright. It's not even that i believe it, it's that I know so. There are so many people thinking and caring about you right now, and none of us have doubts. You are a tough kid, and you'll fight your way through, and shrug it off like it was nothing. I don't know how you are going to manage all the celebration that's going to come afterwards but hey you will definitely have fun and why not consider it sport extreme? I have no other words but "can't wait to see you!!!". Now get back on your feet, you, don't make me fly over there to kick your ass! Hang in there, we all are with you, Avag.

for those of you who still read this :)

2011-03-18T06:59:00.009+04:00

i'm a bad blogger :) i post so rarely here... but you all saw me in Yerevan not long ago so there wasn't much to write about.

Anyway. I don't know how this came to mind but all of the sudden a song was stuck in my head and wouldn't go away. It was from "Notre Damme de Paris" musical ("hunchback of notre damme" in english i think... i don't know who translated "our lady of paris" into "hunchback of notre damme"). I started looking it all up on youtube and comparing. The French version is the best of course, then I'd say Russian, and English... I didn't like. It wasn't as much the voices though I think the hunchback was just not suitable but more of a language thing. It didn't flow as smoothly as in the other two I liked.

The translations were loose compared to French but it worked. For instance in Russian it would be "I'll sell my soul to the devil for a night with Esmeralda" and out of nowhere "the beauty turns a man into a slave". I'm not saying I didn't like it it just was different.

Today I've been watching the French musicale from beginning to an end holding back my breath. It was amazing and resonating at a deep level. I was almost considering giving Victor Hugo another shot but then again I know I can't digest his excessive descriptional style (call me a shallow person I don't care).

And then all of the sudden it dawned at me. When I was on my second year in university I actually went and saw the musicale... It was around "the small park" as I called it as a child and what is now "the park of fallen in loves". Professor George told us and we went. As far as I remember it was the original crew too.. Garou, Daniel, Patric... How I wished to understand more French back then but even though I didn't it was mesmerizing. I think my favorites were "Tu Vas Me Detruire" and "Dechire" though it's really hard to pick... Anyway here are the videos of "Belle" for you to compare on your own :)

English (fail.. they put Bell instead of Belle for title)

(if it doesn't work click here... http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=KMrI-feHTyQ

Russian

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=b-iiPOaZRCc

French

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=KUXGVfmrEN4

2.5 weeks of Yerevanyan nights

2011-01-17T11:45:00.002+04:00

I have only a week left. Many people ask how is your vacation? it's a funny thing to say about me going home... it's been 17 days of hectic heavily saturated eventful time. I haven't seen all of my friends/relatives yet and for that i'm sorry. I still have a week left though and i'll try to see everybody at least once. I'm not sure why i am writing all this or if it's interesting... just today I woke up to the sunshine coming through the window and the 17 days I've been here passed in my mind. It's been a relief for me to see people still treat me the same, that they didn't change - their life did but they didn't. That their attitude towards me stayed the same - i couldn't be happier to be wrong. i thought since i moved with time friendships will start diminishing and sooner or later we will only have old memories to talk about otherwise it will be awkward silence. i was afraid of this and so nervous before seeing someone... but now i know it's not gonna happen. and as funny as it is some people were worried about the same and it was a relief for them that i didn't change at all as they said i was the same Irina they knew years ago - even the looks stayed the same. i guess i'm just feeling happy and lucky to have all the people i have in my life. to still have them by my side.

so far i had a wonderful time and if i was given the chance to redo these 17 days i wouldn't have changed a thing. even though some days were exhausting and i would just pass out on the couch sometimes... still - there hasn't been a moment i regret during my stay in Yerevan.

you ask me if the city has changed? not really.. i've noticed a couple minor changes towards the better but all in all it's the yerevan i know, it's the city i grew up in, it's the city i'll call home till the rest of my life.

god, my posts can be cheesy sometimes. i'll go bite a lemon to quit smiling in such a way before i say more stuff.

trip to Armenia 3 - part 1

2011-01-03T07:08:00.002+04:00

This has been hell of a trip. i hope you will be amused reading this.

Firstly, we got rescheduled to fly out 2 days later. The plane was to land at 2AM on 1st of Jan - but oh well.

So on the way to the airport me and Mike started arguing ho long we have in Atlanta. As it turned out, Mike didn't read his itenarary and was supposed to fly ouy 3hours earlier than me (the other 2 flights were the same as mine). We went to the aiport explained the situation. The lady said there was no room on my plane and they were gonna fly him to Memhis, TN, then to Atlanata and he was gonna have 30 mins to switch planes from TN to GA and from GA to London.

At this point I suggested him taking the netbook from me to enable communication but "everything was gonna be fine".

i arrive in Atlanta, let my mom know the situation, and get on the overseas plane. I arrive in London and the airport is empty. I let the corridor lead me, find a board with terminals and airlines, figure out where to go. Keep walking - no security no nothing. That door ahead leads outside??!! i don't have a visa... oh was that a bus? great goes to the terminal i need. i take it, go through customs, get my boarding pass... and find out my phone doesn't work (including wi-fi), the netbook has a pass i don't know and notebook is almost dead and the power supply for it is in the luggage. and there is no smoking zone in london...

i wait it out and go to the gate i need. i see armenian, i hear the language but i don't dare say a word. i don't dare let ppl know i'm of their kind because i might start crying. then i get on the plane which is half-empty, stretch accross 3 seats and fall asleep for pretty much the whole flight.

i woke up 1 hour before the landing and i see a loud fun company and ppl exchanging phones and facebook info. i was right about ppl meeting new year as strangers and leaving as friends. it made me smile even though i wasn't part of it. i really didn't have the energy to be social and fun... i just wanted it all to be over.

the plane lands and i'm thinking what else could've gone wrong? they could've lost the luggage... as i walk down the familiar corridors and tears roll down my cheeks. but i pull myself together as i know i'm still on my own and have to take care of stuff. last step.. need to pick-up the luggage. oh wait it's lost. fill in these papers. we will let you know on monday... it's 3AM ppl are gonna be worried... i walk out. my mom, aunt, her husband, and Hovik are waiting for me.

I wave and smile sheepishly as i walk towards them and say i lost my husband and the luggage on the way but it's ok i'm here happy new year. after they let me start walking and i light up a cigarette i explain the situation.

i walk out of the airport to see... it's snowing! you gotta be kidding me! it was 50 degrees until this very day! first day of snow... lol.

once i got home i found out from Steve that Mike's plane was rescheduled and he was to go through Paris and arrive at 8pm the same day.

then there was champagne, presents, jokes, and toasts. i was home. it felt like i never left, that i was here yesterday. nothing changed, nobody changed and it was so comforting.

I'm not a photographer.

2010-11-06T20:42:00.002+04:00

I've been pretty tired of photography lately as you know and I had my reasons for it. One of them being the excessive amount of "photographers". For some reason people think if they get an expensive DSLR that will make them a pro photographer. If the photos are still bad they will spend more money on buying lenses, filters, lights and god only knows what. Eventually they will take classes get a piece of paper saying that they took photography and some professor of photography (already sounds funny) taught them everything. Oh but it gets better. The photo is still bad? That's fine.. let's just turn it into black and white that will make it artistic and fix everything. No? Not enough? Eh no problem there are all kinds of effects - soft focus, focal b&w, tilt, tint, sharpen,... add a couple words by a famous writer or something in a pretty font, and so on. Well a 6-year can do that too. Oh another thing - if a photo is super crappy it can be classified as abstract and "you just don't understand it. this is how i felt. bla bla".

(My camera is peeking at me from behind the monitor with a sad eye.)

Anyway the point is... look at your photos. be truthful at least with yourself. are you a photographer? are you? maybe it's just a hobby for you?

I've seen photos of real photographers and well they were breathtaking amazing and memorable. And I've seen really crappy ones. It's just not fair that they are called the same. And flickr unfortunately is full of mostly the bad kind. (mostly)

So I'm thinking about starting a group called "i'm not a photographer" for those who *love* taking photos don't care about what others say or whether or not the photography is gonna make them money. for those who try their best to capture a moment in time but who are also truthful and not full of themselves. Sounds like a lot of work... I'll think about it for a couple days before i rush into it.

And now maybe I'll go take some shots.. it's first snow you know.

"Castle Ninja"

2010-07-07T21:34:00.003+05:00

I feel like I should make a bit longer post about this project than just a couple words on facebook especially since some people aren't using FB.

Me and Michael are working on a video game - it's quite a big project even for a small game. The game is for Xbox and after we are finished anyone can find it on xbox market place under Indie games.

Since there are only 2 people working on it one of us had to do the graphics... which is me. And Mike is doing all the programming part which I would gladly share but he can't share the graphics part so it will be a big waste of time for now, for this game.

Anyway.. it's a puzzle game where you have to collect diamonds which are all over the screen. however you have to avoid being hit by canon balls and can push a brick block in front of the canon in order to do so. There are gonna be 20 levels and level design is gonna radically change after each 4 levels.

Needless to say I've never done such a thing in my life - I stayed pretty far from "designing" stuff and mostly worked on pre-made images. or at most made some buttons and small design elements for websites. but doing a game from a scratch? opening a white paper and creating things from nothing? that seemed challenging.

But that was only smaller part. What really was a challenge was animating the ninja - making him walk, jumping happily at completion of the level, or making him disappear ina cloud of smoke. I NEVER did any work related to animation. Moreover I didn't even know the first thing about it :)) And I know that the civilized way of making an animation is in software designed for that. at very least i should've done it in some program that's good with vectors like corel draw or illustrator. but i went the barbarian way and did it all in photoshop :)) i figured at least i know that piece of software like the back of my head and to save some time will start there (and finish as it turned out).

I only had to do pictures for every frame of animation - the rest Mike did in code. So for example ninja walking to the right meant 3 images - 2 of him stepping with each foot and 1 in between. That was... interesting lol. Now I know what choreoanimators have to deal with. no offense but it's kind of dull and boring - i enjoyed designing levels a lot more.

Level-wise the sets are plains, forest, snowy mountain, volcano, castle. The only remaining is the forest but for that I have to wait to get actual puzzles from Mike as what I'm planning to do is gonna be individual for each level I think. The rest is easy - i just apply the designs I made to puzzles he wants.

My estimate is that we're gonna be done in a month or so. Even though we are pretty close on finishing the actual game there is a lot of polish that I'd like to add - stuff like fish jumping out of water, birds flying around in the forest and so on - just little decorative animations here and there to make it look finished and more lively. And of course the end-game clip - which is what I'm currently working on. It's really a lot of work... After this I'm gonna get a studio designed to make games and learn it and maybe even take a class or two on animation graphics.

The other exciting thing is that we're going to make the game work not only on xbox but also on iphone, droid, and obviously windows.

After this is done, we will take a little break to give me time to learn the animation studio and we will make a much smaller and simpler game graphic-wise - something like "lines".

Anyway. Here's the facebook album with game graphics http://www.facebook.com/album.php?aid=59095&id=1073925241&l=ee1db8c5f9
I really don't feel like reposting the photos here :)

I'll probably be making another post pretty soon as I have some things to say well to rant about :)) but it will be too long and a bit out of place for this post. But really what I should do now is close this tab and get on working :))

P.S. I have nothing to do with the game name or even the idea lol

Taekwondo

2010-04-09T07:31:00.002+05:00

Alright, time to summon it all up.

I just got my red belt with black stripe (which is the one before black belt) today as russians would say for "beautiful eyes" - no exam no nothing, just trying to do my best at each training. It's just so weird. In the first place i started doing taekwondo after such a looooong break of what 6 years? and i've gone for what 1-2 months? and i get a belt? that feels like i've cheated or something.. i remember how much of a big deal it was at home - exams were once every 10 months, and that meant 2-3 months before that we were in loooong trainings of perfecting our skills and doing poomsaes so many times that i swear if you woke me up at night and said do the 5th one i would do it. it just was part of me, giant part of my life. my test for a red belt lasted about 40 minutes of just me performing i don't know jumping spinning hook kicks, all the poomsaes until appropriate level, some stretching i think and some physicals, and stuff like what do you call palm in korean, which part of the hand do you perform this strike with etc... Now this just feels like a gift. Especially because of the way i got in the whole thing in the first place...

i was just sitting at home talking to my mom and Steve messaged me saying "hey i'm going to a taekwondo class. you said you did it before. would you like to come with me and see?" and just like a tiny sparkle can make a giant fire i got all excited and instantly decided not to just "go see" but to start doing it again. of course first training was horrible and i felt so bad for loosing my flexibility and some accuracy, skills. so to myself i decided "oh. i should either be demoted or i don't get a belt in a year at least...". and well i thought oh i'll just go for fun, not put too much into it, just light training-work out kind of thing. which turned to be a complete lie because i can't give less than 100% to something i'm passionate about. so here i am staring at the belt i just got and considering actually joining the local tournament. and it's so surreal to me. i thought those times were over and i moved on - got my BA in programming, work experience, got a different hobby - photography and well that was gonna be it for martial arts. i tried doing tai chi for a month while i was still going to university but i was too busy and tired by the end of the day to invest time into a potential hobby. it just feels weird and i get excited like a child and can't talk about anything else after the training. well though i often behave "not age appropriately" :)) by armenian standards.

anyway back to the getting the belt. in fairness i never had my 4th exam - i quit after wearing my red belt for a while which of course pissed my instructor... and well my current teacher knows better :) he's certified with Kukiwon (it's like korean version of Shaolin temple) and trained/trains USA Olympic team (yes he is that great :)) ). it's just a big change for me. the swiftness of things happening startles me a bit but i do like it :)).

and i especially like that we also work on self-defense stuff and hand technique and weapons. my hands were so useless and i felt like i was missing out on something big and felt uncomfortable with that. if i am to go in for something i need to know all the details, all the sides, or it will keep bugging me. i think this was one of the best decisions i ever made - to get back into martial arts. makes me happy, makes me feel harmony, i don't feel like i'm lacking movement any more, i don't feel bothered by spending so much time in front of the computer, just in general this gave me a big boost, and keeps me in good spirits. not that i am in bad spirits most of the time :)) but this way i can channel my energy and then feel like it didn't go to waste (yes yes energy is never wasted it changes from kinetic to potential etc but you know what i mean).

haha at first i wanted to just right a wall post on facebook but then felt like it would be a little bit too long for that. i'm gonna wrap up here and go see what my guild is up to in warcraft. that's another thing that has ben going really good lately. i guess what i'm trying to say is life is gooood! and while i was typing it Michael offered to have a glass of cognac (Armenian of course). Yes. Life is good. :D

"Rashomon" and a night out

2010-04-04T07:42:00.002+05:00

Today we went out with some people from the taekwondo group to see a film by Kurosawa and then were to go to a Korean restaurant later. I didn't know much about the film - just knew it was by Kurosawa. the title sounded awfully familiar but i couldn't understand why. "Rashomon". The film was in black and white and with English subtitles. In 10 minutes or so i saw a man and a lady walking through woods and thought of them as man and a wife. Then I wondered "wait! they never said they were married... why am i so sure they are? somehow i know they are though.." a bit later i started forcasting what was gonna happen and when it did go the way i thought it dawned on me. It was based on Akutagawa's short story "Rashomon". Rashomon gates! Then I got confused. I was absolutely sure the story was called something else but he also had a "Rashomon" story. I just looked it up on Wiki and yes sure enough the story is mostly from "In the groove". Kurosawa kind of joined the too. Here's a link Rashomon.
Akutagawa was one of my favorite writers, his stories were so .. different and kind of unexpected. I remember I liked "the nose", "spiderweb" (i think it's what it was called...), something about hell.. there was a painter who had a daughter and there was a bad king... i remember that one so well but can't remember the name.

Anyway. The other AMAZING thing is i looked through the films they were showing and one of the was "Parajanov. Requiem"!!! That's unbelievable. And should i ask why that one and not "Colors of pomegranates" but oh well. I seriously can't believe that here in Cleveland art university they are showing a film by an Armenian film-maker. I can't! Unfortunately i missed it - it was in the beginning of march but oh well i have on dvd anyway lol.

and the dinner was fun. it's the first time i had korean food and it was good. here are some photos i took. if anyone needs those in bigger size just let me know :)

the rest is here:

Think Happy Be Happy

off to Bumpers to drink some rum and coke :))

I don't get it

2010-03-23T22:58:00.002+04:00

I don't understand why here in America people put month/day/year for date instead of day/month/year. it just messes with my mind! it's so illogical! it's like russian dolls - day contained in month contained in year. if you don't like that comparison think of databases where for some interesting reason is how it's stored. i wonder why. Also, notice how you put the year at the end? it's because people tend to know what year it is now. also people tend to know what month it is, just are not sure on the exact day. ugh i just rest my case.

well i guess i won't get it as much as i don't understand why america holds on to hmmm what's it's called? their system of measurement? does it have a name even? instead of using such simple metric system. you don't have to memorize anything in metric system everything is a degree of 10. that's it! that simple! and names are intuitive - decimeter - 0.1 of meter, kilometer = 1000 meter etc. what's even funnier is that in American system the smallest measurement is an inch (=2.54cm or 25.4mm) however when you buy cigarettes they ask which ones? 100s? 100s means 100mm long cigarette. how funny that for such a simple thing people use metric here. well i guess they couldn't say 3.937007874015748 inch long cigarettes :)))

Well and here's a map of countries who don't use metric system:

i'm complaining because i so don't want to deal with.. what's it's name.. american measurement system. every time i have to use my phone converter or google converter to find out what's going on. it's really annoying especially for me who is horrible with memorizing stuff. I bet historians will love the american system of measurement - no logical algorithm - just learn by heart.

i should correct myself though it's the Brits' fault. but they apparently switched to metric :)) it's just so wrong to measure something in some diseased king's foot size. let me get this straight - every time a new king was elected (not elected but you know what i mean) did the measurement change? or they still used the One king's foot size? Also people's feet tend to grow.. so when they agreed on measurement did they specify king's age when his foot was measured or changed the measurement slightly in say every 10 years?

wow i guess i reached the boiling point with this issue. i was just posting a photo on facebook and when i put date on it i added (dd/mm/yyyy) not to make it too confusing for Americans. adding that little remark made me mad i guess lol.

one fun night...

2010-03-02T04:10:00.004+04:00

It's kind of funny. I was going to post today because I had something to say and Somebody asked me about this blog just today. this blog has undergone many changes and not only design-wise. it served me for different purposes and the contents kept changing. Right now it was turning into a too much family-oriented so that instead of telling people the same story over and over they would just go to my blog illustrated with some photos and find out for themselves. that by the way doesn't really work as people want to find out from you not from a web-page...

anyways. we went to the Irish pub tonight. I had very good reminiscences and memories from the last time so I tried getting all the people that were there last time together again and at the same place hoping it will be just like that time... Of course like Woland said "it will never happen like it happened before" which is true - this time was different but not less fun!

At first there were 7 of us - me, Michael, 3 of my childhood friends, 2 friends from work. Then more and more people kept showing up to see us... even people I never met before :))) just somebody would come with a friend of theirs or who would know somebody else in the company. The waitress had to join a second table to fit all of our company... that was quite an international company should i tell you. an american, armenians, an english-man, italian girl, we even managed to talk to some belgians... it was one big mix of people some of who barely knew each other but exchanged contact information very soon after exchanging some words. What only didn't we talk about - from flights to soccer, from politics to music, stories from people's lives and so much more. And of course add to that a lot of jokes and some alcohol. Michael said later was it in america a lot of people would be wasted which didn't happen there at all.

Now imagine this:

you walk into a bar you don't like but you are with your best friends. You complain about the bar but decide to stay. by the end of the night ask yourself "did you have fun" the answer will be yes. did you like the bar? no. did it matter? no.

During many things said it was discussed where it's better to live and be happier or more satisfied with things. To that i have a very definite answer - you can be happy anywhere in the world! It does not matter where you live because all countries have different problems of different scale and the grass is always greener on the neighbor's side of the fence. it's not about "where" it's about "with who". the moral of that little story is you can BE happy anywhere. Happiness comes from within, it depends greatly on how self-sufficient you are. even if you live in a country you don't like you can find little things that make you happy throughout the day, spend time with people you like hanging out with, and find joy in simple things. of course, the stress will always be there. sometimes things will happen and completely piss you off but that's a good thing for you feel very strongly about something, you are not indifferent, you care and that's good.

When people want to live Armenia thinking they will have a better life somewhere else it's very sad because they won't. They will find things about the new country that they don't like, start complaining about those, and then start crying about how great everything was in Armenia and how much they miss it. and well if they miss it so much they can always go back right? i was happy in armenia. very happy. yes i wanted to leave for europe or america to do my master's there but i think that's not the same as when people just think that America or Europe is some kind of heaven where people are waiting for them with open arms. and i'm happy in America as well. yes i miss home - my friends, my life here, the city, and a lot of other things but i'm not unhappy in america. i think people kind of purposely look for the bad things to have something to complain about and are unhappy. well they will be unhappy anywhere in the world no matter where they'll go. it's good to notice the bad stuff - not only to notice but also to try to do something about it, but one should also see what's good about a country and appreciate it.

the post deviated from the original idea but oh well. a lot of immigrants or immigrant-wanna-bes are that way no matter from what country. then they act like they have no choice and can do nothing about it. well if they really wanted to i think they'd find a way out and change their lives. i do realize it gets harder and harder with age and probably this whole post sounds a little bit silly and the reader will think "ah you are young, the life hasn't beaten you up yet". well that may be. maybe i'll change my mind in 50 years but maybe i won't. time will show :)

my office, and a black surprise!

2010-01-17T01:23:00.002+04:00

The living room has changed quite a bit - we got a new couch and an awesome lamp - but that will come later. For now I want to let you take a peek at my study.

starts with a reproduction of Dali on the door. Then we open it.

my computer corner to work. i got a website project from Dolbey which is due to feb 28. i have to do the design too.. which is ready. Anyways :))

that's where i work. a red rose, a cup of coffee, awesome beast printer from my mom, books, and photo stuff of course.

and a recreational corner - books, pirate stuff, and a place to crash after work :)) yes that's the footon we moved ;)

and that's to the right from the door - a closet to store all my craft stuff, halloween and christmas decorations and just what not!

and now the black surprise, Sparkle by the name!

We got a cat! She's 3 months old, NOT declawed, spayed, and absolutely black with bright green eyes. The photo isn't that good as i didn't want to torture with all that on the first day, so consider this just an illustration. She's fluffy and skinny. Curious by the character and playful. A bit shy but that will go away. We adopted her today from Humaine Society (adopted means payed 100$..) i'm so excited :)) yes we have birds, they'll be fine - she's not interested in birds at all. And i always have a bottle of water to spray her with if something.

"good" morning

2010-01-08T19:06:00.002+04:00

some people on facebook complain that there is only a "like" button and no "dislike". Well I'm gonna say you can't say "bad morning" you only say "good morning".

Here's what I plan to do today:

a) haircare
b) paint my nails
c) upgrade my flickr account to pro
d) install dreamweaver and web servers on virtual machine
e) coffee
f) turn the web-page into html
g) feed the birds
h) feed myself
i) take a photo of the rose on black background
j) photoshop several photos
k) update my flickr page
l) coffee
m) hiss at Mike when he comes home late (because he will come home late)
n) dinner & movie
o) check mail
p) go see Mike's dad
q) do the walrus daily quests on WOW
r) clean up a little bit
s) not kill the feathery quark-machines
t) chat with mom and friends
u) take my ID with me before going out
v) "Bumpers" bar
w) alcohol
x) coffee
y) wake mom up with a text message
z) finish this stupid post

now please note that being nice to people wasn't on the list and if you can't stomach Irina-meanny-ness shun me today.

point b) can't find my favorite nail polish. must have lost it while moving. awesome.

c) flickr refuses to accept visa card information. yay!

d) adobe disk that Mike took to work is still there. luckily for him i found dreamweaver 8 with a keygen on my drive.

done for now.

Christmas preparations, and our place

2009-12-11T09:57:00.002+04:00

It's been a year since i've been to America. and just like a year ago it's Christmas season again, and there is a Dolbey party this saturday :) just this time i'm not a tourist in a new world.. i was having fun decorating our place and giving it a Christmasy look. i'm not quite done yet - we have to set up a tree and get some other stuff, along with some furniture. so now that i took some photos soon i'll have to take new ones :)) anyway not to bore you..

we are on the second floor. so when you open the door, there is a small hall with a closet and the staircase.

welcome mat and shoe parade :))
then you go up the stairs..

and to the right is the living room.

the kitchen is connected to the living room and there are no doors separating those.

behind that french door is a balcony and right by it is a dining table.

the kitchen:

armenian stuff in the kitchen :)) magnets etc

behind those metal door is the washer and dryer.
now going back into the living room..

the futon (it folds out) and the new pillows.

now right above the little hall downstairs is this little hmm what to call it? space? originally Michael declared it to be his territory but doesn't use it for now. i moved the lamp guy back there for christmas season as we will have a tree to put up somewhere and move stuff around.

and to the left from the stairs is corridor leading to the rest of the apartment. (photos of all that will be in the next photo-report)

top of the counter

with one of my favorite trinkets i got for the wedding occasion

top of the fireplace..

yeah i just put all "nice, adorable, cute, awesome" stuff there. i'll have to reorganize it all later.

now here come photos of Christmas decorations!

and! mom ordered us gifts from amazon and told me to wrap it all nicely. i also got Michael's gifts shipped so i had to start the gift-wrapping process :)

now this is what i saw when i woke up today..

the best time is when i turn off the lights and only leave the snowflakes lights, the lamp guy, and the fireplace on. it looks so cozy that i just want to curl up by the fireplace, stare at the snow on the balcony and fade away. :)

trip to Armenia - part 3

2009-11-27T22:50:00.002+04:00

baptizing Michal

so to get married in Armenian church we had to baptize Michael first. But first thing we did on Sunday was shopping i think :)) with mom. just like in old days - we'd go to our favorite boutiques on Abovian street, then go sit at "Triumph" cafe, have armenian coffee and gin and tonic or anything else. for that matter i had martini because it's made differently in the US and i just missed the one i was used to. and mom would smoke but now we smoked together :))

anyways. then we went to the church where we were to get married.

my aunt Irina

me and Michael

everything was so beautiful there..

smb was getting married in that church so we had to wait. i was curious how it all would go and what i'd have to explain and translate. but there was a pleasant surprise awaiting - i didn't have to translate anything because the priests spoke very good english (among other languages).

Michael, mom, aunt, Sergey (aunt's husband)

Hovik (my mom's boss and a good friend, and Michael's soon to be godfather), and same people as in previous photo :))

baptizing

and it was over. we decided to take a small tour and show Michael the rest of the church, including the tomb of st. Hripsime

yes it's that bench again.. i just like the lighting on it.

the tomb. the room it was in was so tiny that i couldn't get a better point of view.. i was already squished into the wall.

then of course we went to celebrate - that is to drink champagne :) we went to "777" where our engagement party took place. then we went home. i don't think we did anything else that day - just had a pleasant dinner all together and talked for hours.

no time..

2009-11-09T23:55:00.002+04:00

It's been a month since we got back from Armenia however i made only one post about it. There were just too many photos to take care of, and on the other hand life has been extremely hectic up to today.

this post is just an update on what was going on with my life and what following posts will be about.

first of all, after we got back we started looking for a place to move. we were planning to be moved on 1st of november. also there was a halloween party coming up.

we found a place (which is our new home) that was absolutely gorgeous! it's a condo, with 2 bathrooms, and a gas fireplace. it has 2 bedrooms one of which is turning into my office-crafting space :D. Here's a quick link to the whole apartment complex http://www.forrent.com/apartment-community-profile/1000005983.php . i would take photos and upload them now but some stuff is still in boxes and we are planning to get some new furniture soon, and we need to pick some of my photos for me to make big prints and put on walls. in one word - the photos will be later, once everything is completely set up.

Now the Halloween party took place on 24th of Oct. we decorated the whole place and the party was absolutely great! i was dressed as a ladybug ( :)) ) and Michael was a pirate. the photos are on my facebook album and flickr (http://www.facebook.com/album.php?aid=36037&id=1073925241&l=2acbca2e74)

Also, an other exciting thing that happened was a trip to Pittsburgh, PA. That's where Michael went to college. he took me there and showed around and i must say it was huge! then we went on a boat ride from Carnegie science center. there was a trade district with a lot of stores where people of different nationalities were selling all kinds of stuff. Pittsburgh was beautiful - i loved it. on the way back we stopped at Ikea store and it was fun! now we're thinking of getting some things from there :))

ok what else? oh yeah i got a new hobby - painting on glass. it's really fun and amazing and i actually really like the results :D the cool thing is after you let the paint dry for 24 hours you throw it into the oven and bake for 40 mins. After that you can even put the glass in a dishwasher - it won't ruin the paint. i was taking some photos of what i made today but i'm not done yet..

Also i went on a photo hike with Kirk and took lots of foliage photos. and that's what i'm working on now.

so all in all, i think i'll just go on with my life and make current posts and then once in a while post some photos from the wedding and write about how we spent time in Armenia :)

trip to Armenia - part 2

2009-10-11T07:28:00.002+05:00

first day

Even after all this flight and lack of sleep i couldn't possibly sleep for too long knowing where i was. i woke up around 10-11 AM. And number one thing to do was to very quietly without waking the bear (Michael) up steal the suitcases into the living room and make a "mess grandiose" trying to find all the presents we had - at first for the family members then just all of them - to show. It was so much fun! i love making presents and love people who can receive presents. by this i mean people who immediately and impatiently open the present wrap up tearing it to pieces and express how much they like it and leave all the thank yous and "oh you didn't have to"s out or at least for later. I don't really remember all the stuff i got for my family. i just remember that it was a wonderful sunny morning full of joy and happy excited faces. Mom and granny liked their presents a lot and approved of everything i brought for all the friends and relatives. Aunt called around 12 asking to call her once i'd wake up. however i was put on the phone and 10 minutes later she was there. Mom and aunt took vacations to cook for us and spend all the time we'd be at home together.

Aunt loved her gifts too. I think with presents it can be something small and meaningless to other people but something very meaningful for the receiver. It shouldn't be a present you get for a tick in the list. you can try planning what to get for who but the best presents you see on spot - you just see this thing and it reminds you of somebody or something in their life. And that's what it is about - just a thing to say "hey while i was far away, i saw this and it made me think of you". anyway. too much on this :D

once aunt came home and after we were done with presents she said "well don't you want to try your favorite apple vodka?" i said "now? oh what the hell? let's do it" so we had a shot of 140 proof vodka early in the morning before breakfast. Then i went to wake Michael up to inform him the breakfast was ready. i said "and in general stop sleeping! your wife has just had vodka." he sleepily blinked at me and asked "already? oh god."

after breakfast which by the way was awesome and mom-made i tried demolishing the mess i just caused. as a result it seemed to me i was lacking 2 pairs of shoes. we all decided that they were taken out by the customs since they had bigger heels and there was a story of some lady having a bomb in her heels. later when Mike woke up me, him, and mom went up the street to get me new shoes and other stuff. later i found the lacking shoes - they were lost among the plastic bags with presents :D

i decided to spend the first day with the family and not to announce our arrival to the world. However i did call one of my best friends - Helen.i called from my old number which my mom saved (and which i will always use while in Armenia so yes don't delete it from your phones). Helen upon seeing my number on her cellphone display got overly excited she picked up and said:
- wait a second i'll go somewhere without people to scream... Meh my grandparents are in the living room. let me see the kitchen. OMG there are people everywhere! ok let me go to the bathroom.
i was waiting on the phone smiling and waiting for her. i thought she just wanted privacy. but once she got to the bathroom she really did scream on top of her lungs and i almost dropped the phone and had to hold it away from my ear.
-Woooooo-hoooooo you are here! OMG! i can't believe it! how are you?? how was your flight? how is Michael? when did you arrive?... and many other questions. when she stopped asking i already forgot what the first questions were :D

but it was so so sweet to hear all that to feel how important you are for somebody and how happy they are about your arrival. The funny thing with Helen is that she's actually a couple months older than me. but it always feels like i'm her older sister. we first met when we were 8. and nevertheless have a lot of differences maintained the friendship (with ons and offs) for years and now still are best friends. i don't know how she still tolerates my psychotic personality with constant adventures and troubles i ever got us both into.

All these thoughts were flickering through my mind during her tirade of questions and i was just smiling happily.

We set to meet on the next day (i believe). Right now the first couple days are kind of blurred together in my mind - i remember every detail every meeting and every face but i don't remember exactly when it happened or in what order.

Then i believe mom and aunt cooked dinner and laid the table. Grandma's lifelong friend who we all call aunt Liza arrived as well. i got her and grandma 2 absolutely identical soft blankets and both of them had such joy and excitement that it surprised even myself. Aunt Liza got me a very cute fashion jewelry ring which unfortunately was too big on my finger :( Also, aunt's husband arrived and we all sat at the table had a wonderful dinner with drinks (wine or vodka at choice). The rest of the evening i just don't remember. Probably that was it - just because of Mike waking up late the dinner was late too and lasted for a long time.

One of the things that makes such a mess in my memories is that i didn't take a single picture for the first couple days. i had my camera with me all the time but i was so busy with enjoying conversations and finally seeing people that i would remember about the camera only after everything would be over. So the next 1 or 2 posts will still be without photos. But i'm getting there - then you will have A LOT of photos from the trip :D

Anyway.. i'm wrapping up here and will continue tomorrow (not a promise but probability :D )

trip to Armenia - part 1

2009-10-06T03:58:00.003+05:00

The Flight And Arrival

So the day has come - a beautiful morning, cloudless blue-blue sky, and the joyful anticipation of a big adventure and a warm feeling about going home. We got up early and did last second packing of devices and small things and were all set waiting for Mike's dad to pick us up and drive us to the airport. We sat outside if the house and had a cigarette and saw Dave arriving. he helped us load the suitcases (3 main pieces and 2 carry-ons) into the car. i somehow fitted on the backseat with the carry-on stuff. Thankfully i was small enough to feel comfortable and have enough room.

I threw one last look and was ready to go. Michael asked what we had forgotten. i said "earrings" and laughed because i wasn't going back for that. However later as it turned out we forgot one more thing - toothbrushes; but we packed the toothpaste :D. oh well. Then as it was found out Michael didn't remember which rout to take to get to the airport and he called some people at work who couldn't stop laughing - Michael asking for directions how to get to the airport - it's the guy who goes there regularly twice a year at least! However it all was resolved quickly and we were on time. Mike's dad said bye and we walked through the airport gate, checked in the luggage and went through security. The security officer smiled at me and asked me to go through the metal detector. i did without pinging. then i turn around and see Michael standing in a glass camera being monitored with a manual metal detector and asked some questions. I couldn't stop but let out a giggle - of course why would they want to pay closer attention to an immigrant girl from a tiny country between Iran and Turkey? no, instead they should be very careful with natural born Americans!

Anyway. We got on board of a tiny plane where Mike had to duck down a bit not to hit his head. There were 2 orthodox Jews one of which was trying to fit his carry-on bag into a compartment that was twice smaller. He was trying to do so after he was asked to not take the bag with him - it should've gone under the plane. he ignored the girl telling him to do so, he ignored the steward repeatedly asking him to give the bag to the girl. i guess he had a Jewish treasure in it and couldn't put it away even for a second. It was annoying. Finally he was all set (he gave the bag to the girl) and we took off.

50 minutes later we were in New York. I was so happy to be off of plane with the Jew and to part ways with him. We had a 5 hour layover so could spend some time walking around and have some food. I got some sushi rolls which surprisingly were very good. then i got online and talked to mom and friends for a while. and then it was time to go! big airbus... long 9.5 hour flight (or 8.5 don't remember)... and 20 orthodox Jews on the plane!!! oh my god! that was horrible! it was a night-time flight so the staff turned off the main lights and tried not to interrupt passengers sleep. but all was in vain since the Jews were socializing, yelling something across the hallway and constantly running around. so no i didn't sleep at all (unlike Mike - lucky guy).

When we arrived in Moscow it was 11 am Moscow time and i felt really tired and beaten up. i felt sick to my stomach too and the thoughts of food seemed simply disgusting. I had great expectations for the Moscow airport... and was very disappointed with Sheremetyevo - one of the 3 international airports of Moscow. It was small, plain and boring; with a giant section of make-up and perfumes. perfume is the last thing you want at the airport - it made me feel sicker. i had a cup of coffee and Michael had some food. we sat for a bit and relaxed as much as that was possible. i only wanted to sleep and was calling myself names in my mind for not sleeping on the long flight. Moreover i slept for 3-5 hours the previous night - just was too excited and making sure everything was taken care of. at that point however the only thing i could do was hope that i'd sleep on the way to Armenia. Those 9.5 hours that we spent in Moscow airport were one of the longest in my life. There was nothing to do, my laptop died pretty soon, and the thought that the trip was almost over and i was so close to home was not making things easy.

When we just arrived my hands were shaking badly. but at least one good thing about Sheremetyevo (Shit-emetyevo) was that it had many many smoking sections all over the place. i stole a cigarette from Mike's pack (they are very strong - Marlboro blue) and could barely not cough. but i succeeded and by the end of the cigarette my hands weren't shaking and i decided to have another cup of coffee. then we sat together, trying to read and trying to get a tiny bit comfortable on uncomfortable chairs. yeah good luck with that.

Slowly it got dark and the hour was coming close. there started appearing various armenians and other people. the waiting area for gates 20, 21, 22 was the same. it was packed with people who all had black hair and dark eyes. suddenly it was announced that the plane to Istanbul, Turkey had arrived. Michael giggled and reminded of that Turkish restaurant with the waiter suggesting ME TURKISH coffee. i started saying mean-ish things about turks and azeris, how none of them have no culture and whatever ancient stuff they have on their territory was built by others (not only Armenians). I said Greeks hated turks too... i said "huh i wonder why azeris need an airport? to fly sheep from one end to the other?". i was just killing time not thinking about what i was saying and feeling comfortable about bold statements since i was among Armenians... or so i thought. then half of the hall got up to get boarded on the plane that was leaving for Istanbul from the other gate. and most of those people were turks. i felt really ashamed and uncomfortable. i was making jokes at their expense and oh well being overly grumpy about them since i was so tired... yeah i just wanted to be swallowed by the ground. Michael couldn't stop laughing of course.

Then we got on board and again those were loooong 3 hours of flight. i was going home! i was on my way... didn't sleep again and didn't eat.. again. kept peeking out of the window. Then i saw the lights of the city i was born in. i got thrilled. i knew what was going to happen soon. i turned to Mike and said, "you know, at the airport when i see my mom and aunt i'm going to cry." the reply was:

- oh i'm sure! that would be weired if you didn't but i'm sure about one more thing - that you are going to cry a lot earlier. actually for example how about now?
- zzvanq..,- was the only thing i could whisper and turned away. 2 tears came out of my eyes and then i was fine - i pulled myself together. then we landed. i WAS at home! as soon as we left the plain and started walking towards control i suddenly (even for myself) started crying. Very silently - just tears kept coming out of my eyes. i wanted to smile but was crying instead. the corners of my lips kept going up and down at an enormous speed which should've looked funny. I was so happy that Michael couldn't see it as he was walking in front of me and we were in a rush. then one of the girls who was working at the airport almost jumped at me asking "what happened??? what's wrong???" i waved hands at her meaning "no nothing i can't talk as i'm wining like a baby" she somehow understood it all and was like "oh.." and stepped aside. And then.. when i thought i was about to stop i saw black and yellow colors of Beeline (one of the cellphone operators) on the wall in front of me. There was one word on that wall - "welcome" in Armenian. And then i lost it. i started crying so badly and couldn't stop. Got to the passport control and the guy in military form starred at me. then peeked at the girl in the distance behind me and pointing at me with his thumb informed her "She's crying". it was funny i would laugh if i could. then he glanced at my passport and said:

-oh.. you're armenian.. and have been in the US for 9 months. awww don't cry if you want we will send you back.
-what? where?
-to America
-are you laughing at me? i came here for only 2 weeks and then will go back anyway! don't send me anywhere!

that's where he realized that i was actually crying about Armenia. i think he thought i was crying because i was deported from America or something. he probably couldn't understand why such a young girl leaving in America would cry so badly about Armenia. Well, i really didn't think i would cry or at least not as bad and not as soon as i did. I thought i'd cry on seeing mom and aunt. probably it was worse because i was lacking sleep and food and underwent all that stress of a 29 hour flight (with layovers). but oh well. the rest was quick - we got our luggage (nothing was lost surprisingly) and walked through the door...

and there they were - my mom and aunt and probably other people. mom's first question was "what's wrong? what happened?" i managed to explain that everything was fine and nothing bad happened during the trip. Hovik was there too. And aunt's husband Sergey. When we were introduced i said "very nice to meet you" while i was still crying which was really funny.

then aunt said "hey really stop crying.. oh by the way remember you wanted that apple vodka (140 proof)? i went to the regions and got it for you! it's awaiting you guys in the freezer!" my reaction was "really? oh that's great" and i smiled and i stopped crying. no no i'm not an alcoholic :D just the question and interaction helped me snap out of being such a cry-face :D

(I'm finishing, be patient)
then we got home, i saw grandma, and my birds. i accidentally set one of the birds free :D but we caught her quickly. Then i took a shower and changed, after what we sat by a coffee table, had the best Armenian coffee in my life, Armenian cognac with toasts like "welcome" and "good to see you", and some candies and cake (i think). then i went into my room and noticed a new glass table there. then i glanced at the wall and saw that the wallpaper had changed, looked up and saw that the old lustre was gone and the ceiling was redesigned completely! (the next morning i realized the window got smaller and was replaced too). Mom redid the whole room making it so much nicer and more comfortable. she kept all my books in the same order though and it all looked different but all the same at the same time. Then we went to bed and i finally got some sleep. peaceful sleep. i was at home...

WHAT a day!

2009-09-12T07:27:00.004+05:00

oh god this has been one of the craziest days in America. i woke Nicole up as she asked at 9.15 and went back to sleep. in an hour i suppose she knocked on the door and asked if i was ready. we were supposed to go shopping and get her a cd player for her new Volkswagen car (with a manual shift which she is trying to learn to drive now..). but i thought i was supposed to go only shopping with her! well i got ready as quickly as i could then we got moving. i was glad to have my seatbelt on during that ride hehe :D.

then we went to World Market which is a nice store with all kinds of stuff from different countries where Nicole works. However the store is closing soon and they have a big sale now.

then! we went to bakers square for breakfast... and oh my god! they had some new stuff.. and new crepes! (crepes are pancakes for what we know them..) but those crepes were with cream cheese and Nutella topped with strawberries and banana slices. this was the best combination ever! they were really delicious mmmmmmmmmmmmm!

so in very good spirits after that we went to the mall.. and.. i saw this purse.. that was 140$! that store was great but we left because it was pricey and i didn't want to spend money before the trip. however i decided to actually go nuts and get that purse :D. Nicole said we'd stop there again on the way back. and we went to bed, bath and beyond. i got some oil, lotion, and a really beautiful oil warmer.

then we went back and i got that purse :D oh my god i'm horrible :D right before the trip! ugh.. anyway...

when we got home Nicole went to clean the bathroom, and i started doing the dishes. then Mike arrived and said he called me but i didn't pick up. as it turned out i lost my phone!!! we called the mall but they said it wasn't there. so i decided that i lost it at Target (where we went to after the mall). and i decided to drive there. i messed up once or twice, there was a pedestrian J-walking in front of me who almost got hit by me! then there was a car who did pretty armenian thing and cut me off.. it was a horrible drive about one of my worst and one of the longest and more complicated ones.

However i found my phone, and when we were getting into the car.. i opened the door... and scratched the door of the car standing next to me! then we just took off :D i just said oops! and started backing up :D.

Now the day is still not over - we are about to go to Bumpers, i'm gonna drink and dance :D. this is the last day of going to the bar before our trip!

i'm soooo excited! i can't believe we're leaving next week! i probably need to start packing :D:D. alright off i go!

Change change change...

2009-08-31T10:31:00.002+05:00

So, we finally moved out of the apartment and moved in with Steve and Nicole. We will stay here until we go to Armenia and then once we are back as soon as we find a house that we like we will move there for good. Which will be in this same neighborhood though :)

we've been packing all day yesterday and got really tired and sick of it and went out to "Bumpers" (the bar we always go to) to have a drink or two with Brian. We had a great time and it was so good to take a break from all that packing-moving stuff... yet we returned to our apartment full of boxes to sleep there one last night.

And then today was the big day. Mike's dad and Brian came over in the morning to help load the furniture and boxes into a truck and take it to their parents for storage. Then we came back for the second load, threw it all int eh truck and went to Steve's. While moving in i suddenly realized that on accident the box with gifts for people in Armenia was gone to the parents' place instead of here. and what was worse there was no indication that the stuff in the box was fragile and i didn't even pack it for moving! i just threw it all into one box so that all those gifts would be in one place instead of being spread all over the apartment. We will get it tomorrow.. oh god i hope everything's fine!

That's a little thing my mind is focused on right now.. just because i don't want to think about unpacking some stuff tomorrow and having to deal with everything related.. i'm just tired at this point - like everybody else.

The most excited creatures were the animals - my birds who got to travel in the car and et moved to another place... and Steve's cats (he has 3) - they suddenly got birds in a cage within the reach of their declawed paws. Smokey and Chanel were just starring at the birds from the floor, while Charley the hunter wanted to meet them more closely and kept jumping on the desk were the cage was.

.. Anyways. now our next step will be cleaning the old apartment (our rent is until the end of september), wrapping up with trip related shopping and finally going to Armenia. Then after we are back we will find a place, move in, replace some furniture and get more stuff. There is also the Halloween party coming up which we should take care of... busy days in one word.

Hmm speaking of Armenia.. I wonder where we put Mike's wedding ring :D i'm waiting for mine to be resized so at least that one doesn't need to be found hehe. Mom, when you read this please calm down we will find it :D right now i don't know where my camera is, so don't panic :D hehehe.

i should probably go to bed.. yes at this ridiculously early hour for me - 2 am. but oh boy i need some sleep and rest..

this is a very boring post with just some random information and i'm not happy with it.. i'll write about something interesting the next time :D

anticipation of the trip

2009-08-10T19:22:00.005+05:00

oh my god i just can't wait to go back to Armenia! there isn't much time left and a lot has to be done both here and there and needless to say that it's stressful. we also want to move after our trip so we are looking for houses, setting appointements, ... oh god i just want to be on a plane past the point of taking care of all the little and big things.

i can't wait to see my family, my friends, my relatives - all the wonderful people left in sunny Yerevan. now it's a different world to me - bright, colorful, and warm. it seems like i will be awakening from a long dream and living for 2 weeks a crazy hectic social life. i'm just wondering how to make ends meet time-wise - each and every one wants their own bit of our time and attention. seems to me i'll be up early in the morning every day and going to bed late late late.

my aunt is taking a vacation to spend some time with us, my uncle is coming to visit from Russia with his wife and their daughter who i'm going to meet for the first time! and yet there are little special things - almost like traditions that need to be done. for example going out shopping with mom and then having a gin-and-tonic at an open-air cafe. just us two, just like it used to be every saturday. then there is going to "Jazve" with Mary for morning coffee and waffles. then there is going to the swimming pool with aunt, which can be substituted with a spa. though i still need to go to the swimming pool.. i promised to my trainer i will not just leave and never be heard of ever again :)) then there is hanging out with Alex, Ira, Anya, Vahick at Alex's office with a couple beers, and hanging out with them at the "Texas" bar. then if Alex has a concert obviously we will go. if we are lucky and there will be a latino party (with latino dances) that we will go too. and i do need to walk around Yerevan at a later hour with Mary and take some good photos... well i guess not only in the evening. there is a hike to go to with my aunt's and mom's friends... and oh there is so much more! and i'm not even counting the amount of visits we will have to pay.

and oh god! i need to hang out with Helen have some girl talk with her while walking around Yerevan! we have to share all the latest gossips and things! geeze i haven't talked to her forever!

i'm ready to start packing :))) we are going through moscow.. it doesn't sound great on one hand yet on the other it's so interesting to me. last time i was there was in 1996 and i don't remember anything about the airport. i hop everything will go smoothly and we won't lose luggage :))

and haha there are smaller things i can't wait for.. mom said she will make us breakfast every morning and aunt said she will make us dinner every day. i don't know how about every day dinner at home with all the visits it sounds impossible but mmmmm i'm in a great anticipation of aunt's thai chicken. usually Michael loses weight every time he goes to Armenia.. i don't know about this time - everybody will be feeding us :)) and you can't decline home-cooked dinner because people will think you don't like their cooking and will be very very sad :))

this visit is not about showing Armenia to Michael, it's about people...

i think i will actually want to go to my university too, to see my crazy math teachers, funny informatics lecturers, and whoever else. i hope Mary will join me on this quest and we will giggle and have fun!

poor Michael in one word. it's gonna require a tremendous amount of energy from him :)) he will need a vacation after our vacation :))

i can't wait can't wait! sooooooooo excited!!!

Movies

2009-08-02T01:55:00.003+05:00

There are all kinds of movies that touch you in different ways, however as time passes you sort of get them out of your head. And when later somebody brings it up you'll say "ah it's a good movie.." and that will be it. Some movies however are so strong, so shocking in a way, that will keep you thinking about them from time to time. When you go to sleep you will rewind a part of it in your head and reflect on it. Sometimes you will start thinking about them and will discover new things for yourself that you didn't notice in the first place. Those kind of movies are equivalent to "100 years of solitude" and similar books - books that can't really be turned into a movie. The same way these movies would lose a lot were they turned into a book. Yes! we always say that the book is better than movie but the opposite happens as well.

That kind of movies become a part of you, open up new point of views and new horizons, influence the way you percept the world... I sometimes imagine that I have a treasure chest in my head where i put those movies and other keepers... And there isn't that much stuff in it - because only the best of the best remains there.

So what are the movies? It's "The color of pommegranates" by S. Parajanov, it's "Mulholland dr." by Lynch, "The Wall" by Roger Waters, "The butterfly effect", "Amarcord" by Fellini, etc. One can watch these over and over again.

I just watched "The wall" that's part of the reason why i'm writing about this :)
_____

i stopped right there as me and Michael had to go to Dolbey corporative party-event-outing. that's a different post, i just didn't get to finish what i was saying...

i think i'm going to make a photo for each of that film. it's an idea right now... also i want to make photos on my favorite songs, books etc... i don't think i'm the first one to come up with this but oh well :)

update on what's going on :)

2009-07-27T11:01:00.002+05:00

1. New car / old car

Steve likes changing his cars... and it was time for him to do so. he suggested Michael take over the car payments and get his car, which we did.

then i got to test my driving skills on it and oh my god that's a "beast"! the car is very sensitive to every turn of the wheel, slight change in pressure... and that's exactly how i was trying to drive the old car! Michael was surprised how good i was doing at driving this one. And it had been a while since we practiced. The car has 2 doors, is small, and the wheel is of Irina-size :)) i'm very comfortable driving it... so we will definitely keep this car! We will keep the previous one too in case both of us will be going in opposite directions the chance of which is pretty low but it could happen.

2. "my first american birthday"

july 24th.. me, Armine, and Armen were all born on that exact same date of the same year. the funny thing was that me and Armine were discussing it 2-3 days before and none of us felt like doing anything at all.

so what did i do? well i received my gifts from Michael at 12.01 am :D he got me a very elegant bracelet and... a huge crafting book by Martha Steward! i got so excited that.. went to bed at 5 am. and got up around 7. because mommy transferred some money so that i can go get a gift on that exact day. she has and is continuing to spoil/indulge me :)) then we went to dunkn donut (yum-yum donut's american variant) .. to get hot chocolate and our favorite donut. then Michael went to work and i tried going back to sleep and i couldn't! i watched a movie, played some, did girlish stuff and felt that i was tired but just couldn't sleep. after i talked to mom i made myself go to bed and finally fell asleep for an hour i guess. Michael woke me up when he came home and we went shopping for craft materials and clothes.

3. Quilling

then we came home and i finally got my hands on crafting! i'll make a separate post about know-how of this new craft that i'm fond of. it's called quilling. you make stuff out of paper... here's the final result of the project:

it's EASY and FUN to do! and there are so many creative ideas! like i said i'll get back to this and make a detailed post on the other blog. i'm sure when Nicole comes back from France it's what we will be doing :)

4. yeah Nicole went to France - her college organized a 10-day trip for photographers. i was very excited for her! and she LOVED a lot of things there! she's getting back on tuesday and i just can't wait to talk to her and look at all the photos she took, and listen to all her stories!

yeah getting back to the birthday thing - Nicole's not being here was one of the many reasons why i wasn't in a particular mood of celebrating. Brian and Linzy left on that day too i think - to some ocean beach somewhere :) so going out will be on the next weekend. and i think i know what's going on... i asked Michael to go to a certain place but he told me not to ruin surprises and that he was already planning exactly that :D hehe so i'll pretend i have no idea :D:D

5. yesterday we went out with Dave and Pat. they took us out for dinner as a birthday present and Dave drew me a cute birthday card with colored pencils. Janet gave her gift to Pat to give it to me - i didn't know but she actually makes bijoux - she made earrings for me. when things like this happen i remind myself that people are full of surprises :)

6. another long-lost buddy and me got reconnected. Rolen Romanes. not many from my friends know him because when i was talking to him i was hanging out with other people which was sad but oh well. He is from Philippines and moved to LA as a kid. he is a comic book style artist, and we used to be best friends. he even drew a couple pictures with me :)) here's one

and while he was drawing i was helping him with math :))

his illustrations are available on his facebook here

7. with friendships it's funny how people say "friendship tested by years" yeah i think now i know what it means. there are friends who used to be so close and then for some reason we went different ways and then several years later met again and resumed from where we left.. it's always wonderful when this happens. sometimes when it's a childhood friend you think it is what will happen when you meet again and it doesn't. you find out that it's a completely different person, or that you are a completely different person and that you 2 are strangers and have nothing to share except for the years of childhood friendship. disappointment.. i'm lucky, really really lucky to have all the great friends that i do :) and in the great majority there was no disapointment or separation.

8. while making this post Armine was asking about it and told me to add one or two lines from her. i asked what? she said she was kidding but i insisted. so she said

-graaaa pulimyotchik! :D

if you have questions, address HER with those and not me - i'm as much surprised as the reader is :)))

okay that's enough :D i'll make a new post soon :D everybody have a nice Monday and don't hate it :))))

the beach

2009-07-20T09:57:00.003+05:00

last weekend we went to the beach the first thing in the morning. we went with Brian and Linzy. they weren't going to take a swim so all we did was lay in the sun and relax. there is more to the beach than meets the eye.. it's one of the best places to watch people... then me and Mike took a short swim and went home.

Mike managed to get a sunburn :)) then later around 5-6 pm Nicole messaged me asking if we'd join her and Steve on the beach :)) i was in doubt and then decided to go.

we went to a different beach and it was so different! we actually stayed in water almost all the time! and the beach itself.. it didn't get deeper and deeper as you went further but instead it stayed the same! i felt more confident and started regaining my swimming powers :)) the other thing was.. there were no big waves so we could swim uninterrupted across the shore.

Earlier Mike showed me how to flip in water. i somehow managed to do it right.. it felt weird though - for a moment i couldn't understand where my head and where my tails where :)) then later as if it wasn't enough Steve was teaching me and Nicole to stand on hands in water. the couple of times that i managed to do it sort of right i just touched the sand underwater! then we were throwing american football ball to each other and it was fun!

those were 2 different kinds of beach activity and both were fun in their own ways... but i personally prefer the second one :)

Put-in-bay

2009-07-15T08:00:00.005+05:00

and finally here is a post from me, and this is gonna be a post about one of my best days in America, about new experiences and adventures...

9.00 am. me and Michael arrived at Steve's and Nicole place. they were doing last minute preparations.. well Nicole was at least :)) then we got into Steve's car. Me and Nicole were on the backseat. we adjusted the seats and could relax and just watch the clouds and enjoy the drive.

at some point i fell asleep. when i woke up i saw a lot of boats around, and places renting boats. but we didn't slow down. so i figured it wasn't the place yet and went back to sleep.

and then we arrived... and i found out that we are going to take a ferry-boat to put-in-bay which was on an island! i had never been on a real boat or on a real island before! cedar point doesn't really count - there was a bridge and it was too close to the mainland anyway. i got so excited! and then i got a little bit worried because i felt underpacked. Me and Michael left the place free as the wind - without any bags or basically anything except my cam bag, sunglasses, and money :))) i was wondering if we'd need swimsuits. but then i decided that we would be fine and would find a way out of anything. Meanwhile it was our turn to get the tickets to the ferry. While we were waiting for the ferry itself me and Nicole were playing with cameras and taking photos... while our boys had to tolerate our buzz :))

and then! i walked on noard the ship! it was amazing and exciting! we waited a couple of minutes because some people were also taking their cars to the island (not to walk i guess). and then i experienced what it feels like how the ship rocks on the waves! i loved it so much! there i was with the wind in my hair, staring at the horizon.. there was our boat, the lake, and the sky, and occasional little islands of land here and there which seemed to be a joke in this vast water space.

there were a lot of people around but i felt detached and peaceful. well and over-excited i suppose. There were some "wave-riders" around our ferry. one of the motor-boats was carrying 3 girls who would scream every time the motor-boat would jump up-and-down.

Then we arrived at Put-in-Bay. i felt a little bit sorry that i had to go off the boat already but curiosity and the itch for new experiences and adventure made me forget about everything else once i set my foot on the island.

the first thing i saw was the lighthouse. those still make me happy and make me aww but i guess i'm the only one to do that. everybody else hass seen them so much that their eyes slide right past them... then me and Nicole ran into the first gift-store. there was a lot of interesting (and waaaay over-priced) stuff there. the one thing that stole my heart was a sail-boat made of shells (big ones). it was amazing... while we were in the store the guys were figuring out the transportation issue. the bus just left, and we didn't want to waste time on waiting. we looked around and saw a taxi-mini-van... with parrots with "parrot party" name on it. we picked inside and yes! there was a parrot there! one though but still! we were the first passengers, but in a second the mini-van was full!

the parrot was an african gray with clipped wings. so anybody could get it to sit on the arm and feed it with sunflower seeds which the driver would give out.

the driver was Dan. he gave us his visit cards which read "Dan-The-Man" :)). we were the last to get off and he gave free beads to me and Nicole - purple and green respectively. it was sweet of him.

Then we went to another gift-store and i saw... shark tooth necklace! but i ended up getting the other one - with a pirate sign on it.

then we bought a ticket for a so-called train. for armenian readers it was pretty much the same as the one carrying you from Mashtoc prospect to Kids' Railroad park. it worked as a route taxi and you get a sticker which you stick to your shirt. and you can ride that train as many times as you want during that day. also the driver tells facts about the island and some of its history.

so what was there on the island? oh god! a LOT! wineries, caves, crystal caves, butterfly house, chocolate factory, a tower, hotel, restaurants, and even an airplane line! i wish we could go to all of these.. but oh well - we will definitely go back there and will probably stay overnight!

the first thing to see was cave under the ground with stalactites and stalagmites! the entrance was through a little shoppe were you could get jewelcrafting supplies and basically what miners could find :) and of course some other stuff... pirate stuff for example.

so we went down, under the ground...

it was cold and damp there... a place that has never seen a ray of sunlight.

why does the sign say "Lion"? they say when you stay in there for long and stare at the same spot for a long time your imagination will find shapes... a better example was the owl.

The stalactites disappointed me.. they were tiny.

here are the photos of 4 adventurers :))

Steve's photo is from the other cave - the crystal one. that one was smaller and more interesting and beautiful...

Right after that cave we went to the winery. the tour wasn't really interesting - too many details on how and who makes those wines. then everybody got one free sample. we all got different ones to taste 4 kinds. the wine i tried was really good - it was semi-dry. Michael got a really, REALLY sweet one. it was impossible to even try it :)). Steve got a semi-sweet one as far as i remember and that one was pretty good too.

and there were interesting souvenirs there:

in between we went to the store of the butterfly house but didn't tour it as we were running out of time.

the last thing we saw was this tower..

me and Michael didn't go up and just sat down in front of it, right on the grass. it was nice to take the sandals off and just let the feet rest. we were talking about boats, islands, and pirates. after all those experiences it suddenly hit me - the pirates! i was never really interested in them and didn't care, but oh my god! i suddenly understood sailors and pirates... well pirates are mmm let's say more interesting. i know i am romanticizing but what's the big deal? i would make a good pirate and keep a scrapbook and put a little trinket from every person i killed or robbed. just kidding. :D

when Steve and Nicole were back it was time to leave. i didn't want to go but on the other hand i was to get on the ferry boat again! but as soon as we set sail i started missing that wonderful place called put-in-bay. the sun was setting, and it was a beautiful end to a wonderful day.

for more about put-in-bay you can visit their official website

for more photos you can go to my flickr, Nicole's flickr and my picasa album

me, Nicole, and CRAFTS

2009-06-29T10:08:00.005+05:00

okay from what you readers gather, me and Nicole LOVE crafts and get together for it several times a week. and to tell the truth she is the first person in my life who i know who goes for all those different crafts and stuff - like we try everything! from decoupage to painting on glass, photography, cooking, making pots (or Eiffel tower in Nicole's case), etc.

now we have just opened a new blog about our crafts and cooking and that kind of stuff. we will keep it together so probably it will be updated more often than this blog or hers :)) Here's the snapshot for you :)

and oh god! we picked a template for the new blog, and i set everything and it seemed fine and looked great. Nicole made the first post while i was offline. and when i saw it the date was messed up :( instead of displaying proper date it was saying "undefined undefined". i thought the problem was with the template, so i went ahead and changed it to one the default blogger template - minima. no luck! i started thinking it wasn't the template problem but one of the blogger bugs. i tried hiding the date from the post and editing the html of the template - again no luck - it still displayed it as undefined.

i went ahead and created a test blog, copied the template code... and what? the date was displayed nicely but the title of the blog and the description were messed up! oh i was so pissed. i wouldn't sleep at night if i didn't fix it. so i started googling for the problem. and the answer was to change the date format and timestamp format to the "right" one for the current template which is GHEY! either the template or the blogger should've taken care of such things! anyway... now everything's up and working :) so i can go to bed :))))

oh and p.s. this is a really nice template site:
http://btemplates.com/

Cedar point and 3 ride warriors

2009-06-27T05:08:00.004+05:00

on the very first day of june which is the very first day of summer in Armenia and Russia, etc me, Michael and Nicole went to Cedar point which is an amusement park situated on the island.

approaching the island. lake Erie to our left and right.

the weather was not promissing at all - it started raining once we got there. and the wind was a killer. but oh well nothing could stop us from having fun!

the first chill (or thrill) ride we went on was this thing.. which was swinging from left to right and the circle was going around at the same time.

it was pretty horrible :)) but it was a good start because the next one was really giving you chills.

if you think they are going straight you're wrong. they're going down.

and now... here comes the worst one. seriously no other coaster and no other thrill ride was so terrifying as... the power tower!

as you could have guessed that thing drops you down so that you experience the free fall. but it wasn't the worst part. it was slowly crawling up and with every inch realizing how high you are. and then when you reach the top and can observe the whole park, you know that you're gonna be dropped. you just don't know when. oh god you had all kinds of time to think "why? why am i doing this to myself? what i hate myself? i could be on the sofa all cozy and warm..." and then you scream at the top of your lungs and fly down :))

then we took a break, had a lunch and walked around.

Snoopys everywhere!

at the stores we saw some dragons, pirate treasures.. and more fun stuff :))

However, everything was way overpriced and you can get that stuff from various stores in the area anyway.

anyway. and then! we went on real rides. we started with a small one - the cork screw. which had 3 loops and so seemed pretty terrifying to me.

Michael said it didn't even count as a coaster. then we went on Raptor... i can't tell you much about it because i had my eyes closed for the most part and screaming at the top of my lungs. oh dear god. however once i stepped on the ground i said "it wasn't that bad! i'm still alive and can walk straight!"

Iron Dragon. this was a very fun and ride that didn't make me scream or Nicole scream "hell yes!" as she usually did at the most crazy parts of the coasters. Michael refused even going on that one and went to have a smoke. but it had a part where you go through water powder! and it looked very neat and beautiful! especially later in the evening.

after that came Mantis. in which you were actually standing. it was a really crazy one but i really enjoyed it and screamed in appreciation not in terror. Michael was surprised :D he said it was much worse than the raptor! but the thing was raptor was the first big roller coaster in my life (actual roller coaster, not speaking figuratively :)) )!

After that we took a break, had some food. sorry don't remember what it was called. some kind of cake.. ask Michael or Nicole :D other than rollercoasters there were various little fun places - one of which was this little watch tower which looks absolutelly like ones in "Age of Empires" (the strategy game i loved and used to play).

also there were various farm animals who you could play with. of course i could be found with the goats :D

then we went on the coaster i loved the best - the maverick. it was situated right on the lake, and it was simply amazing. at a certain point it seemed that you were falling right on the lake! i really enjoyed it and the line we waited for it was worth it.

i can't really describe all that with words, so i'd highly recommend going to
Maverick link and watching the "point of view video" (it's on the right).

and in general just check out cedar poin't official site and the coasters right here!

then Michael and Nicole took me to what they called an old wooden rollercoaster. it seemed it was going to break any minute and the seats were not comfortable at all. you weren't fixed in it and were being thrown against its walls which wasn't nice let's say :D.

the next one was Magnum XL-200 which has the biggest hill in the world. it was pretty bad :))) after that we want on some little fun carouselles or whatever. Then i said that nothing in the world will make me go on Dragster Hill which made Nicole try to dragg me there. i ended up not going :)) and sent Mike with her. he said i sold him out easily. i said he is not afraid of heights. what? do you know what that thing was? you just fly up and down!

then it was time to leave as the park was closing. my throat was hurting... but it was a tiny inconvenience especially compared to the amount of fun i had :)) it was a wonderful day... and in the end i was happy to stand firmly on the ground!

for the rest of the photos go to my flickr and here's the picasa link

cedaer point

p.s. the title of the post has to do with the park ad on TV.. there some teenagers ask "are you a ride warrior?" and that they are ready to ride on coasters and stuff :))

"mount Ararat"

2009-06-15T04:44:00.002+05:00

first of all i'm sorry for being off blogging and flickering.. me, Mike and Nicole went to "Cedar point" - an amusement park situated on an island. it was awesome and it's a separate post. i just took more than 50 photos and i still have to go through them all, find the best ones. the other reason was my notebook adapter broke and while i was waiting for a replacement i was on Mike's notebook, and well i didn't feel like blogging from it :) anyways..

Steve found out about the existance of an Armenian restaurant! he read an ad in a newspaper! so we got all excited about it and went there today...

we got into the car and Mike put on the radio which made me stare at the player. i couldn't believe my ears - the music seemed to be armenian! i though it only seemed to me and that maybe some radio station put on some authentic music. once the artist started singing there was no doubt left - it was armenian music!!! it kind of freaked me out - it seemed i was in the wrong car or not in america at all! then Mike explained that on sundays from 5 to 7 there is armenian radio on!!!

so yeah we were listening to it all the way to the restaurant (15 mins). we arrived and it seemed small and just appeared out of nowhere. we went in - tables with white tablecloth, glasses with white napkins, chandeliers, red velvet draping... classic restaurant. the only customers were 3 people who were speaking russian. then this young girl approaches us - and she looks 100% armenian. however i spoke english to her. then she asked if i spoke russian and she immediately switched to it. we ordered some armenian food and wine (not armenian :(( ). the food was very good and homely, and there was lavash (flat bread kind of thing). we really liked it all.

the other lady who approached to check on us seemed to be the girl's mom and we got the feeling that the restaurant was run by a family which explained why food was so "right". and only when we were done eating and asked for the bill i asked if she was armenian (which was an obvious question but i was just startled that she kept speaking russian to me).

girl: yeah i'm armenian...
me: yeah me too..

at that moment her face literally got lit up, her eyes grew wide, a very wide surprised smile appeared on her face and she said "what??!!" and so it started... we switched to armenian, then she took me to the restaurant kitchen and introduced me to her mom. i was gone for good 20 mins as Mike says :)) and i didn't even realize that! they were so nice! her name was Lilit and her mom's name was Nana. Nana got married to an american man and moved here. she asked some questions about me and Michael and said he was very sweet-looking guy. Lilit had been here for 2 years already and was excited about a new girl who doesn't know any armenians around here. then we even seemed to find some people we knew in common - from my university. no need to say that we exchanged numbers, and made plans for hanging out together.

it was funny to be there in the kitchen - there was this old woman there and i didn't know if she was armenian. Lilit and Nana went out to take care of some customers and i was waiting. the woman looked at me, i smiled at her. also there was a young american guy Nick working there. must be funny for him to constantly here armenian and russian buzz :))

later it turned out that the older woman was armenian too. it was so strange to be there and see 3 women of 3 generation speaking armenian and making some food. didn't feel like america at all. later me, Lilit and Nana went back to Mike and switched to english. Nana said Michael was lucky to have an armenian wife... which made me smile :D:D then she asked us to come over to their place for dinner someday. and then she said "don't even dare to pay!" Michael was surprised by such hospitality and well like i said they were very sweet. Nana looked at food that we didn't eat and asked "didn't you like it? why didn't you eat this?" which made Michael smile - he says only immigrants do that and that it's something nice.

and the other thing was it was a lot cheaper than american equivalents! so we will be going there very often now. and we're going to take Steve and Nicole there :) i hope they like it :D

but yeah it was so much fun! so tomorrow i will go out with Nicole - we will have a breakfast together at our fav. place - "the Baker square", then we will go on a photoshoot, then will clean around some and probably craft (another thing i haven't blogged about yet). and on tuesday i will go out with Lilit and she will show me around. i'm really excited now!

i'll stop here and i will try to catch up and make more posts soon :)

the beach

2009-05-29T19:35:00.004+05:00

Saturday before the canoe trip

Finally it was sunny and not only - it was also warm! so we packed quickly and went to have a breakfast at macdonalds which i actually really like for several reasons - their burgers are of a good size and are not giant as in other places, their french fries are the best, they have a good fruit salad... and they have the apple pies. so now it's one of my favorites :D and for breakfast i had the fruit salad and a pie... and some stolen french fries from Michael's plate. haha.

and then we rushed to the beach. the water wasn't warm enough to swim but at least it didn't feel like melted ice. a week or two and i'll get to swim there :D we didn't put any sunscreen on though we had it in the bag. i didn't want to because we got a treally strong one and the last time i was at the beach i didn't get ANY tan at all :D and i don't know why exactly Michael object to sunscreen. maybe because he likes red color hehehe.

at first we both were reading. there came out this watchmen comic novel which everybody was talking about. so we got it and that's what Mike's reading.

it was one of the top-rated books on new york daily or something which was surprising. i haven't decided yet if i want to read it. i was reading Dashkova's latest novel. Dashkova is great - one of my favorites, and in her books there is always a second story about Russia before revolution, nazis, kgb, Russia today, wars, and other things. when i get to read one of her books (which aren't that many - she has about 10 only :( ) i get completely fascinated and imerged, and can't do anything else until i get to the end.

however something made me close the book. i heard some music. which my mind classified as "oh nice now we have music" at first. then it was "wait! we are at the beach.. is it smb's radio perhaps?" so i looked around and saw this guy walking around with a guitar and pinching strings.

looks like i wasn't the only one enjoying the music - see the flock of seaguls behind?

and yes as i took this photo i also started looking around for more photo-objects.

these guys were rather interested in that black clacking thing i was holding, so they came very close staring at my camera :D

and then i kind of got carried away watching the beach. different people, different stories, different situations..

i need a lense with more powerful zoom.. at the beach i didn't draw that much attention with my camera - everybody was relaxing and enjoying and not looking at a girl with a cam, which enabled taking photos of people :D i could always pretend i was taking a photo of the beach or of the lake.. which i actually did take anyway :)

this one looks like a flag. i cropped it later when i noticed. if you don't look at the boats but concentrate on the color or look at the thumbnail you will know what i mean. then i played with desaturating a bit:

and then i asked Michael to take a photo of me. which always makes him sigh :D he likes my photography and photos but he doesn't like being part of it or taking part in the process hehehe.

but he did take what i wanted!

say hi to Michael:

and then we went to the ice-cream place (marojnianoc :D:D) i was somewhere in the heaven:

later Michael had practice, and i had to practice maneuvrability - which i did good at - last several tries would be a pass at the test. at practice guys were auditing a new guitarist (they need a second one) and looks like they were happy with him.

we didn't go to the bar since there was the canoeing trip and we had to get up early, so we just had a relaxed evening. it was a good prelude for sunday :)

sunday - canoeing

2009-05-26T21:01:00.005+05:00

i'm gonna skip saturday for now as i uploaded photos from canoeing trip first.

we arranged to meet at 9.45 in Madison. somehow we were the first to arrive :)) i met with Tasha's dad Rich who was the organizer of the trip. he was a very nice and funny man. the company was big - and i didn't know the majority of people. there was us, Tasha and Jason, Gregg and Cathlene, Tasha's sister Tara and her friend Randy, and that was it for me. the other's were mostly Rich's friends - older than us.

once everything was ready we drove to the place - something like a little camp. from there a van took us to the starting point at the river. everybody got into canoes and we started off. it was cloudy and rained slightly which wasn't fun and everybody hoped the weather would not go worse - and it didn't :)

(Jason and Tasha, Tara and Randy)

it was very relaxing - slowly moving down the river, socializing. every so often several canoes would stick together and nobody would row - just float. sometimes canoes would bump into each other. that's how people would get accquainted - "hello my name is... and this is.. and we are about to bump into you" :D

we would make little breaks - to have some snacks or to rest a bit, or for other needs :D

this was the first break - and this was when my camera was discovered. some people made comments, and then were wondering if it's waterproof. they decided i was a brave girl to take such an expensive camera without protecting it from water (i did protect the lense - i had a UV filter on so that water wouldn't get on the lense itself). to the question "what if you fall into water??" i replied "i'm just not going to :)". i wasn't because i had a camera on me :D and well if you don't do this:

this will not happen:

i did want to wrack our canoe though - so that Michael would end up in the water - even though i would to it would be worth it. but oh well then next time - when i don't have a cam with me :D

then somehow it turned out that all canoes stopped at the same place. and somebody called "camera girl! take a photo". i said okay.. and i stood up in the canoe which made people go "oh my god she's standing up!!!" but it was safe! canoes were sticked together so tightly and Michael was holding ours stand completely still, so it wasn't that crazy.

we were in the middle so i didn't end up getting one picture of everybody :( but oh well.

at one of the stops there was a tree almost parallel to the ground. i liked Tasha's attitude "let's climb that tree!!!" so we did. then i passed the camera and we starting showing off. this is Irina the tourist, Tasha the cougar, and Catlene the model :D

this lady fell when she was getting out of the canoe (the tricky part).. and i instead of going to help her started taking pictures. yes maybe you're right and i'm a paparazzi.. bad girl anyway :)

and of course there was alcohol - beer, wine, and a cocktail Tasha made for us the girls:

then we got tired and tried to make ourselves more comfortable:

it was so nice to let the guys do the rowing part and just chill out. i was eating an italian sub (long sandwich) at the time and Michael said i could imagine myself in Venice - on a boat, having somebody row, and eating italian food :D however sometimes it was the vice versa :D

and some random illustrated facts:

what a woman can do for a kiss:

trip organizer Rich

somebody got a bad sunburn

my sweet captain of the canoe:

it was a very nice day - got to know different people and talking to them was fun. me and Mike had to retell our story several times :)) and in case somebody reads my blog here's a wiki link about Armenia: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Armenia and a link to photos http://armeniaphotos.info/.

warm night

2009-05-22T09:51:00.002+05:00

it was a hot lazy day. didn't do anything important, just lingered time, waited for Mike to come home. we watched an episode of star trek and then "me, myself, and Irene". then i remembered i needed some cash since me and Nicole are getting together tomorrow. Michael said we could go now (passed 10). i just changed and we left. it was strange for me to leave without doing anything about the hair or make-up - just like that. we decided to go and we left within 30 seconds. it gave a feeling of freedom in some way, indipendence from small routine.

the night was so nice and still that we didn't want to go home and Michael started driving around. we were talking about something, just enjoying the night and the empty roads. Cities at night look so alike and "faceless" if you are not walking by a particular sight of interest. just the bulk of the city in the darkness and lights.. at some point it even seemed i was in Yerevan - on Kievyan's bridge and to the right was the Swallow Fortress park...

we were talking about copyright.. not a very romantic thing to talk about i guess and i don't think you could find many other couples that would choose that as their topic :) it's funny. but i don't imagine having long usually meaningless conversations about romantic stuff. those themes will die off quickly..

anyways. Mike went to bed and i was going to read a book or do something else. but i felt like staying outside more. i went to the balcony to breathe some air. then decided to take photos of stars.. which was just an excuse to stay here longer. i dragged a chair to sit on and wait for the camera to finish processing (when you set a really long exposure your cam's processing the result is long too).

and then i saw him! the bandit in a black mask! he was by the garbage dumpster.. there was some white thing on a video stand that smb threw away. the bandit pulled an end of that white flat rectangular object and it fell on him :D it was really funny to watch - he pulled back and froze. then pretended he had no business there and walked away. who was he? a racoon :)) it was the first time i saw one just like that and not at the zoo. there are a lot of them here - just like squirrels they are not afraid of people, and they find food in garbage.

nothing good came out of the photos and i decided to try some other time. for now i just got my laptop and started blogging. and again it brought memories of Armenia... how once i was out of town with mom. it was summer, we were on a one week hike or so. after she went to sleep i sneaked out to the balcony and started writing in a diary (yes i kept one back then).

am i becoming overly sentimental? small things suddenly evoke some memories and it happens let's say not once or twice but a lot. you can laugh all you want but i have photos of Armenia on the wall in front of the bed (i blogged about it and posted photos) and one of the photos shows.. Ararat. i guess so many people from diaspora hang pictures of Ararat not because they care about the mountain in particular but just because it's a symbol of Armenia, something familiar, something.. from home.

and please, don't think that i suddenly started liking Armenia more or less after i left - no, it's a different thing. it's not that from far you start loving something more as long as you don't have to deal with it in your every day life. it's about people, about special places, and little things. it's not tourism - i'm here for long so probably not many of my friends will understand what i'm saying. but were they in my situation they surely would - at least deep inside their heart.

oh and from the balcony i saw the ursa major.. just like form my room in Yerevan on a summer night. creeped me out for a moment :)

i'm wondering if that racoon will be back.. i'll wait here a little bit longer. i'm not sleepy anyway.

driving, photography, cinema, etc

2009-05-19T19:17:00.004+05:00

and as usual i'm falling back - still am missing one post because haven't taken photos for it yet. anyways.

on saturday it was my 4th day at the wheel (of Mike's car :D ). and what did Michael have me do? drive to his parents!!! the road included a freeway.. which was the easiest part just kind of scary at first since i was going 65mph. i love driving :D. but i'm far from being on my own.. i'm so used to being in passenger's seat and looking at all the trafic, traffic lights, turns and stuff with complete indifference - i just see them but don't really notice. and suddenly all those road signs and lights and lanes are so important and i can't skip any.

Michael says i'm doing pretty good, and that i'm driving like a guy - girls are believed to be all over the road and slam the breaks at the last minute.. which i don't do. i mess up other stuff - like stopping earlier then necessary. but really the worst thing is parking backwards. and the second part of the test to take is maneuvrability - i have to park twice (once backwards) without hitting any cones.

SMILE = Seatbelt Mirrors Ignition Lights Eyeglasses
i have to adjust everything after Mike.. and he has to adjust everything back because he just doesn't fit in the driver's seat when it's adjusted to me :D like the wheel is in his mouth :D:D:D

so much about driving for now.

now what were we doing on saturday? well you can see for yourself!

you can check the date and time of photos - they were taken minutes apart - so yes Michael was vacuuming while i was playing world of war craft. ok ok i'm not that terrible - i cleaned both birds' cages on friday which was an incredible deed for me :D and somebody had to vacuum after... i hate vacuuming. and the vacuum cleaner is heavy for me (that's a lie but shhhh).

then we went to have a dinner at "Steak'n'sheak":

i liked the place and their food was great. i had a milkshake afterwards and mmmmmmmm it was so good...

then we went to a movie thater across the street. it was different than the ones in Armenia - there was a corridor with doors above which the names of the movies were lit up. every room was approximately of the size of small hall of Nairi cinema.
We went to see Star Trek and it was very very good. we are thinking of watching the old Star Trek show now :)

Sunday

this is when we went to Michael's parents. they are staying with Janet and Erik now. Mike's mom told us that they have a new pet - a turtle. they just saw a turtle walking down the street and it almost got hit by a car! they picked it up and are trying to find the owners. we went to their backyard to see the turtle and oh god! it was huge!

then i stayed in the backyard to take some photos:

i don't like this one. it was the best from the bunch but if you want to see a really good photo of dandelion go to Mary's photostream:

this is one of her best shots!

when i walked around the house to actually go inside i saw Tess. he decided to run away from my camera but it never happened:

yes very smart

and some photos from the front yard:

Eric with cones

the cones are for me - to practice maneuvrability.

then we came home but i felt like taking more photos. so i went to the Garfield park. sometimes you don't know what you're going to shoot and have no specific purpose. and it's never disappointing - there is always something to take photos of :D

this time it was.. birds. i'm so used to sparrows and wild pigeons, and ravens at maximum. here there are all kinds of birds all around:

the birds were too far and i don't have a powerful zoom... yet! hehe i'll get a new lense eventually..

there were geese with their chicks! i couldn't get closer because the parents started hissing at me :(

they decided to cross the road

the cars stopped and waited

these happens all over the place - geese constantly stand in the middle of the road - they know they won't be hit and that cars will stop in front of them. they feel so good about it.

anyway. then i decided to take photos of some ducks. they were a bit far. suddenly i heard some noise behind. i turned.. and there was another pair of ducks. the boy got interested in my camera. he walked really close and inspected my gear.

my cam setting were too light but i forgot about everything and was shooting the duck while i had the oportunity. i tried fixing images later but oh well. when a photo is over-exposed, there is practically nothing you can do about it :(

and then i was shooting seagulls in the flight:

it was such a nice day... now everything's green and the weather is warm.

some guy was fishing in the park...

...but he wasn't the only one fishing

okay i think this post was too long and i overused photos here... i need to learn to make smaller post and blog more often.

braids, glasses, photos of Armenia, and other craziness

2009-05-09T05:22:00.004+05:00

there is one post i skipped for now.. i need photoshop to edit the photos. so i'll just go ahead and post this one first ;)

yesterday i found this calendar my aunt gave to Michael on one of his visits. 12 photos of Armenian landscapes (one with Ararat of course), and a photo of a rose with a poem by Vahan Teryan (who is probably my favorite Armenian poet). I couldn't hange it as it was for 2007... but then i found scissors and cut the calendar up. then i got equipped with scotch and went to bedroom. the walls are white - just plain white - and this has been bothering me. so as you could have guessed i put all (!) of those photos on the wall in front of the bed - so now when i wake up i will see the beauty of nature and many many bright colors :D i love it. my granny would say "vonc vor sapojniki budka lini" (means: it's like a stall of a shoemaker! (shoemakers decorate every inch in their stall with posters)).

when i woke up i felt like doing something unusual. what was it? look at the following picture. do you think it's a macrame curtain?

you are wrong... what about this picture? do you get it now?

haha yes i made many-many braids :D no i wasn't going to go out this way... you will see what purpose it had (other than me having fun). Here are some photos.. i took way too many - as usual when i get excited about something :D

all that trouble was for..

crazy curls :D i used to ask mom to braid my hair like that so that in the morning i would unbraid it and get the extreme curls. it was back when i was at second year at the university... but it was so time-consuming and tiring that i gave it up. i guess my mom was happy about it. but now i discovered that i can actually do it myself.. so maybe i will do this from time to time :)

anyway.. the other thing is i've got my glasses! yay! i can't use them inside the apartment simply because i can see things well enough and with glasses on my eyes will hurt. but if i look into far distance... it's approximately like zooming things up with my cam :D yeah i feel like an eagle looking for its prey. there is no road sign that i won't see now :D

so i guess tomorrow i will take my test and hopefully will get my learner's permit :)

the driving quest

2009-05-05T11:06:00.002+05:00

in world of war craft (the game we play) there are characters that give you quests. at first they say for example "hey! take this letter and bring it to this other guy in this nearby city. you will receive 80 silver". you think ah i'm going to that city anyway, will do.

then you give the letter and the guy says "oh thanks now please find the box of supplies i lost and i will make you this dress to wear". you think it's great. you go do what he asks then return to him expecting to get your prize... but instead he sends you to 5 more locations with 5 other things to get. it's annoying. and is called a chain quest.

driving test quest:

1. i'll need an ID (american one) and social security number

to get social security i needed that same ID. so we applied for social security once i got the work permit. they said it would be ready in about 2 weeks and gave us a paper stating that we applied for the card. and they told us it will be enough for getting driver's permit.

2. we go to take the driver's learner's permit. they tell us that the paper doesn't have the future number and that without it they can't give me the permit. i can take the test but the permit will be given only when i get the social security number. then they test my vision and tell me to get glasses (i'm pretty nearsighted as everybody knows)

3. so we go to get glasses. instead we get an appointment on monday to get my vision tested and get the prescription of glasses.

4. we get the social security card and go to the appointment. now... there wasn't just a piece of white paper with black letters on it that they were testing my vision on. i was asked to sit down in a chair which looked like "one-sided squid". the doctor tested every bit of my vision and eyes, and finally prescribed glasses. he was a very funny older man, and nice to talk to :D i was giggling all the time during the procedure. and at the end we DIDN'T get the glasses. they will be ready within 2-3 weeks. :( so the driver's test is postponed.. again! NENAVIJU (like Mary says)

i wanted to make a very different post but i accidentally shut the workstation down which closed photoshop... so now i'm without it yet again. i need to upgrade vista to service pack 1 to install photoshop and finally make the post i wanted to. it's gonna be colorful!

meanwhile Michael started actively training me on c#. het got me a new and very fun book. and i swear it is what they should've taught us at the universities. made in a really fun way - instead of long boring texts for summies they make fun comments, pictures and even crosswords. my home assignment for today was the first chapter (yes a whole chapter) - design a small program working with a database. which means the first lesson in the book wasn't on how to write IF ELSE conditions or FOR(;;) loops - it was a very practical lesson on how to create a windows application, create a database and how to make those two interact with each other. made me one more time mad at our university...

the other fun book is "Photocraft: cool things to do with your images" ... the name pretty much tells what it is about ;) :D i can't wait to get started on some things from there! but for that i either need a photo-printer.. or i need to be able to drive to some photo store with printing services... but yeah that will be fun. and most probably me and Nicole will get together and started making stuff from this book and from the other crafting book we got her on christmas. i can't wait for it to happen :D and Mike and Steve probably go crazy about that idea too... in a different way :D and in general - me and Nicole hanging out together usually means trouble and ULTA (which are equivalents anyway) hehe.

okay i'm off to sleep...

a flower thief.. and a nice evening at the lake

2009-05-01T07:39:00.004+05:00

the days have been warm and everything is covered in flowers! not only the trees are blossoming, but also a lot of people plant flowers in front of their houses or apartments... which makes me go crazy as i love floristic photography. yes this is a confession :)) flowers have so much color that it always draws my attention especially when they are back-lit by sun and the colors are extremely vibrant. what can i do? i'm a color-maniac :D but the problem with that is - i can't trespass other people's property and especially i can't be sneaking around their houses and taking photos... it will be very suspicious and they will call the police. seriously :D so what can i do? i remembered that fable by Крылов - "the fox and the grapes". citation: Хоть видит око, да зуб неймет (though the eye can see, the tooth cannot try). and even more like that fox i'd convince myself that i don't need another photo of yet another flower.

then i saw this amazing and geometrically perfect and absoluttely symetric narcissus right between 2 of our apartment blocks... just like in gangsta movies, Michael stopped the car in front of the flower, i jumped out (as a bullet from the gun [russian saying again]) and in a ducking down way got to the flower in 2 long steps. picked it up and jumped back to the car and we were gone as the wind.

and you know.. it was so bright yellow, and so sunny looking, that every time i'd look at it i'd be in a better mood. it wilted in 4 days... and seriously for the first time in my life i felt kind of guilty for throwing away something that was beautiful and brought me so much joy.

end of this part

like i said - days are warm. i'd even say it was terribly hot lately - it felt like the afternoonish heat in June in Yerevan. and so people were going to get some tan at the beach! we went there too! and it was great! just laying in the sun, reading our books... it makes me so relaxed that it seems to me the time stops. and when i play with the sand i think of a giant sand-watch :)) i was really surprised when Michael said we've been in the sun for an hour! and i hadn't even turned on the back to tan :D well i had medium sunscreen on so i just got no tan at all. but since some polar bears are very white we have to get their skin get used to the sun slowly. hehe

it also made me think of Sevan and the last trip i made there with Alex, Anya, Vahick and some other kids - when at the end of the trip we were just laying on the beach and didn't want to go home and it felt like we just got there and the adventure was only starting...

anyways. the other thing the beach is awesome for... is watching the sunset (yeah i can't get up that early to see the sunrise) and eating giant ice-cream which never ends :D

unlike Sevan you can see the lake and the sky meet - no mountains, no shore... nothing in between. it's a different beauty and a very different feeling. looks like a giant desert in some ways. no more words - see for yourself:

here just like anywhere people like cooking outside on a summer day/evening, so there is a special barbeque place:

ah and also there are squirrels all over the place! they are so cute! we saw one and it didn't mind modeling for me at all :D

also there is some stuff for kids... well and not also as you can see:

okay i think it's time for me to go to bed... really... i have one more post coming up soon. just need to take some photos for it.

and i'd like to finish this post with a photo of a happy Michael who is still doing good even though i live with him :D

awesomeness

2009-04-28T10:46:00.002+05:00

i got my work permit! yay! so now i could apply for a social security card doing which would enable getting driver's learner's permit and driver's license in the future. so we had to apply today as they weren't working on saturday. however i thought it would be after Michael came home from work. so i woke up, and went directly to my computer, yet my eyes were half-way open. i messaged Michael to tell him something and he said:

- hey! for lunch i'll come get you and we will go apply for the social security and then have lunch together.

to my question "what?.. oh... when?.." he basically replied i'll head out now but i can leave in half hour to give you some time. i said i could be ready in 10 mins which was a lie and he knew it :D then i started getting documents together and talking to mom.

she was all alarmed and flipping out about a new swine virus found in Mexico. which isn't the best thing to tell to a person who just woke up and already found out she had to get ready NOW().

now people i don't know what you have heard but here is the situation.

the virus started in Mexico and whoever got it died THERE. but people there also die from a hnormal flu and a lot of other things one of the simplest reasons are that they don't have clear water to drink in a lot of places. so that's Mexico. here in America there have been registered 40 cases as i'm typing this. yes you have heard that Ohio is among the states with registered case of the virus. there was only ONE case - a 9 year old boy, who just came back from Mexico. his school is closed now and he is fine after spending some time at the hospital. do you know how many fatal cases have been in America? NONE. so calm down. what for government declaring emergency situation - oh god it's America! they have to! at the airport the security level is ALWAYS orange which means everybody is on alarm. Obama stated that there is a need to be cautios but there is no reason to be scared or panicing!

that much on the matter. then after i discussed and investigated all this and told mom to calm down Michael came and we left. later as it came out my social security card will be ready within 2 weeks. we still went to see if i could get the learner's permit. we were told the paper stating that we are waiting for social security was enough (which we had), but i also needed to take a written test on traffic laws, but the place to do that wasn't working on mondays. so we got the book on traffic laws and left for lunch.

Michael pretty much thought i could take the test without reading that manual because it's a multiple choice test and there are questions like:

-if you see a speed limit sign does it mean
a) you can't drive faster
b) you can't drive slower

so yes if people are not complete idiots they can pretty much handle that :D

however i'll read the book and we will go this week. so then i got home, talked to mom and played WOW.

then Michael came home and in a very excited voice said "hey come here!"
i showed up in the living room and saw Michael going through some mail.

he read the paper to me... which said "welcome to America". thanks guys! you are greeting me kind of early - i've been in this country for only 5 months! you should have waited a year at least! wow what a speed. anyway... the paper said

"congratulations, your process of adjustment of status is finished and you will get the permanent residency card (green card) within 3 weeks".

and the next letter actually contained the CARD!!! it was unbelievable :D!!! i got my green card!!!

the ridiculous thing is... i haven't gotten my traveler's permit yet... which i also don't need now along with the work permit :D i needed those only while i was waiting for the card :D:D

so now we're done! and we can move!! we already looked up some very nice houses and if there are any for rent we will definitely go for those. but that's a different story :)

weird days

2009-04-19T17:01:00.005+05:00

Saturday
seemed to be a nomral day, nothing extra-ordinary. just the head was kind of heavy. When Michael arrived from work and we went to have dinner, it appeared to me that i really didn't havy any appetite and that food as a general concept seemed disgusting to me. and the head started really hurting, so we went home. Michael went to an electronic store to get a movie, and i stayed at home to "pray to the porcelain god" (new expression i added to my vocabulary, it's expressive and i really like it :D ). when he came back i didn't feel any better to my surprise. i retook the medicine, curled up on the couch and we watched "21". oh God i don't remember when was the last time i felt so sick... and it touched me how sweetly Michael took care of me :) my big bear is the best :D

Saturday

i woke up around 10, as i went to bed around 12 last night. i stretched, got up to look at myself in the mirror. i got really scared at the sight in the mirror :D so i went to take care of it, even applied a mask (!). the mask was blueish, and i thought if Michael woke up on accident and went to bathroom, it would've been really funny :D "walking sleepily... opening the door, and a blue face stars at you" i started giggling as i was imagining all that. then after i was done, and checked myself in the mirror i was satisfied with what i saw.

i went to play WOW a bit, then woke Michael up to say "I'M HUNGRYYYYY". we went to "Rolly Polly" where you can have a normal-sized normal salad (which is not just chopped lettuce with some rare tomatoes). Michael calls it Irina-sized salad :D.

the day was sunny, the weather was good, and every creature, every little bug, and even programmers wanted to go out and spend some time in the sun. we went to the beach first. Some people were flying kites, and some crazy people were getting a tan!

then Michael took me to a park. we went to Hidden Valley this time. it was a far ride and on the way i saw a lot of blossoming trees and flowers in people's backyards. i'm sorry i couldn't take pictures of those as we couldn't park the car in the middle of the road :(

However i took some photos in the park:

Bear on the tree, and a cat on the tree :D

This I took through the windshield:

then we went home tired from walking. i changed into a dress, and we went to Steve and Nicole. they were ready, and Nicole looked great in a skirt. then we got into the cars and went to... restaurant Europa which we usually call "the russian restaurant". For Steve and Nicole it was something interesting and so foreign i guess.

the waiter approached us and from his first words i knew he was Russian or so. i told Michael.

- how do you know?
- from the accent.
- his english is good, don't be mean.
- i'm not being mean :D you will see ;)

then when we were ready to order food, i asked:

- "Russian salad" is "Olivie" right?
- Da!
- Khorosho!

but that was practically whispered so nobody heard. and on me saying see? he speaks russian. Steve said i didn't hear anything. i said fine fine.

then the waiter was back with some bread and butter (which was awesome), and he said:

- you are russian right?
- partly :)
- oh! i'm ukrainian.
- oh i'm partly ukrainian too :D
- where from?
- Armenia :D my mother is half-russian half-ukrainian (i omitted the pollish part not to confuse the poor guy even more)
- oh great! i'm from Odessa.
- ahh that's great!

(later when i told mom about this she asked "Odessa is great! what is he doing in Ohio??" on which i said "hehe and what am i doing there? :D:D")

Michael admitted his defeat. and i explained to him that it's like... Russians recognize each other at once. it's something like an instinct (or accent i'd say), or it's like every Russian sends waves of Russian frequency which only other russians can catch :D:D

the food was good. Steve and Nicole seemed to enjoy it too. and they loved "russian salad" very much. Michael wants me to get recipie... for him to make it i guess :D:D i gave up on kitchen activities. seriously it's not my thing...

then we went to the vodka room. the waiter insisted on girls wearing the fur coats (which were by the way very nice and i'd say expensive) and there was also one russian hat to wear which was given to Nicole :D she looked cute and Russian in that outfit :D we drank the vodka shots and went to sit at the bar. by bar here i mean the bar stand inside the same dining hall we were at. the bartender was the same as last time. he was really funny again.

Michael and the bartender whose name is Michael too :D (in the background :( )

Steve hiding his face as always. Nicole with thumbs up as always. that lady was very nice and sweet. the bartender said "it's my fiancee. she just doesn't know yet" :D

Michael and vodka :D he is happy about the size of that bottle :D

the bartender asked what ladies would like to drink. and then... it seemed to me i saw cognac. i asked if they had it. they did - of several kinds. Mike suggested Cavassier. i agreed, Nicole chose that too. And ohh that was good. it was good to have some cognac, i almost forgot how it makes you warm, and what it smells like. The taste reminded me of Armenian cognac i liked. it was kind of cheap back then, but now mom informed me that the price went up. i think it was called "tonakan" and produced by "Ararat".. anyway. Nicole didn't seem to like cognac that much and she ended up giving me hers. so it was the second glass of cognac after a vodka shot. bartender was walking around, making jokes. when i was done with the second glass, he looked me straight in the eye and said "you are being a pain the ass" and poored the third glass for me!!! i started screaming "no no no!!" on which he said "yeah sure after i poured it, she started saying 'no no no!!' but not before i did!" but really he did it quickly and i didn't expect him to! so by the time i realized what was happening he already poured it!

but it was cognac... and mmm how could i leave it there? so warm and lonely. so yes i drank the third glass. which by the way came free. After that we left. Brian and Linzy wanted us to meet with them at some bar. i was like "nooooo more alcohol! i'm good already!". we went home, and it was obvious to me that i wasn't going anywhere even without drinking. i told Michael to go, and went to try to pray to the porcelain god... but i decided that cognac was too good, and changed my mind and went to bed instead. the lights of my mind switched off immedeately. i only remember i told Michael to go see Brian and Linzy, and to let me sleep :D it was 10 PM.

Sunday

woke up twice last night to go drink some lemonade. my body knows how bad it will be in the morning after drinking in the evening so i always wake up to get something to drink. too bad we didn't have orange juice, but i decided lemonade will do it.

the second time i woke up was at 6.30. i went to bed and was trying to fall back to sleep for half hour. i failed. Michael started tossing and opened his eyes for a moment... to see my eyes staring at him. at first he just closed the eyes but then opened them again and stared back.

- jeeze! somebody is wide awake!
- mmmm yes actually..
- what time is it?
- 7 AM..
- wow!!!
- when did i go to sleep last night?
- 10 PM...
- that's why...

so i got up, with some hangover. after a shower i checked my mail.

to find a message from one of my best friends. the subject was "i'm not well" so it was like a cold shower to me. i opened the email... to find out that person was missing me badly and had desparatelly fallen in love. i got another set of emotions, which was like a hot shower :D i'll assasinate that person someday. what's wrong with you people? falling in love is a good thing! be happy! so i'm charging my phone to talk to that person (who will assasinate me if i give any details here) to find out WHO has stollen the heart.

p.s. hehe found out! that's cuteeee!

photo progress

2009-04-17T11:11:00.002+05:00

i remember how in Armenia i was running from one bookstore to the other looking for books on photography and photo-magazines. the books were rare and expensive, the magazines... there were none in fact. i only knew this book-exchange place where people could resell books and magazines, and obviously some photographer was reselling some of his stuff.

now here is the other problem - there are shelves with books on photography and shelves with photo-magazines! and at first it kept startling me and i couldn't decide what i really want and how to choose from that at all! however with time i found out that good books are rare anyway and most of the books is for beginners or kind of intermediates. Authors fill the books with their portfolio photos (printed large of course) and there is basically not that much of a text in that big book... so i started looking at smaller and thinner books, or rather books not on photography but on some part of it - like composition, exposure, filters,... and most of them were great!

i think it's the same way with many subjects - programming being the other example. the majority of those thick books will give examples of code, exercises, detailed explanation,... and the authors consider that the readers are not only newbies but also are dumb. Michael can tell more on the subject :)) i have him instead of the book and the internet :D

speaking of which, he restarted teaching me programming. it's fun! i love both photography and programming, but what i especially like is switching between the two. that way once i get tired of any i can spend some time doing the other thing. oh and what's fun about him giving me homework is when i don't do it it's very easy to get away with it - i just give him kisses and make "big beautiful eyes" :D hahaha

OK, to the point... i don't know how it is with other people, but when i take several photos of the same thing i can't decide which i like the most later on! and it gets worse when i try using photoshop, combining images, creating "the best". before i was torturing mom, showing her all the variants and having her choose, now i'm torturing Michael sometimes. and the funny thing is they both usually chose the same picture as the best. but i feel like i need to be able to evaluate it all by myself - because showing several variants ruins the general photo impression...

for this and only time i will ask the audience which is the best?

and this series...

hanging out with Nicole - part 2

2009-04-14T10:17:00.003+05:00

excuse my laziness... that's the only reason why the post came so late.

so after we were done with Nicole's college, ... and ULTA (which is an evil evil place of... make-up, hair products and just anything the girl might want), we went for a walk in the park. met some people with dogs, saw some squirrels. right as we entered the park we saw flowers! and of course we took of our cameras and started crawling on the ground around these tiny first spring signs... here is what i've got:

and from the side it looked pretty funny. i guess me and Nicole made some people laugh - whoever saw us on accident :D

I'm not a flower but Nicole took a picture of me too :D

oh no! she saw a bird! just kidding :D

then i believe we came over our place as i wanted to show her some photoshop stuff... and then it started. we found this indiana-jones-lego game among x-box games and started playing. oh god... we played for several hours and still couldn't get enough of it :D it was so fun!

and the other day Nicole came over to show me her new hair-color (on which i commented: so what color did you dye your hair?.. :D ) and we sat down to continue the game. and what did we find out? somehow we didn't record the game!!! so now we have to start from the beginning :(((

p.s. happy Easter everybody! by the time i get to it in my postings it will be too late :D

hanging out with Nicole - part 1

2009-04-02T22:36:00.002+05:00

Me and Nicole wanted to go out for an outdoor photosession. she picked me up and we went to her college first. There was this exhibition - all works were done by women.

It was mostly about colors - all works were very bright and their strongest point was supposed to be the color. to tell the truth, i believe a 5-year old kid could have drawn some of them. but it's considered art, so i'll shut up :D.

oh and prices were ridiculous. it the ones that actually had a chance to be bought were priced realistically - from $100 to $200, and the overpriced ones were just pretending to be so expensive to say "it's high art, you are ignorant if you don't get it." of course, this is my opinion. here are the works that i liked at least a bit, and ones that i loved.

$3500 (only the painting)

$695

$1800

$200 (i liked this one)

$200 per piece (my second favorite)

my MOST favorite - i loved this one, it's something i'd consider buying really

the package

2009-03-23T09:12:00.003+04:00

i finally got the package from mom! we went to the post office on Saturday to pick it up. then went to Michael's parents to Madison to go somewhere for breakfast together. it was a 30 mins drive from the post-office i guess. During all that ride i was trying to open the package. if americans did everything with such professionalism, quality, and diligence it would be a perfect country. the way the package was taped was crazy - and i had no sharp object in the car, so i had to simply untape it (if i can use the word simply about that situation). anyway, right as we were on the last turn i managed to finally open the box and get rid of all tapes (which formed a ball bigger than my fist).

mom sent me 21 dvds with programs/music/movies, absolutelly adorable comfy capris (a bit longer breeches), a shirt, and a hair-barette. also she found my one-of-most-favorite cat earrings and one of my lion key-ring charms. She also sent a long-sleeved shirt for Michael.

As you see me and Anoki are of the same colors now :D

i recognized the barette. i had seen it at the cosmetics store where me and mom bought all girlish stuff - "Paris". almost all of my barettes were from there, and this one i liked for the design but it wasn't matching any clothes in my closet so i didn't get it. Mom somehow remembered and bought it. THEN she got the outfit for me. That's what i told Michael - i thought mom bought stuff in that order. later when she called in the evening she said "Irina but i must confess in something.." and i said "that you matched clothes with the barette and not the vice versa?" mom said "YES!" and we laughed. and oh well i once got a swimsuit to match my slippers, and the apple doesn't fall far from the apple-tree :))

It was 21st of March when i got 21 DVDs.. that number is haunting me. 21st of march is also Helen's birthday. i called her around 9 my time... to realize tat it was kind of late night in Armenia :)) then i kept messaging her from the bar but she seemed to be asleep. i messaged mom with a songle word (in armeninan i mean) "are you asleep?" she called back and said

- you! why did you wake me up?? it doesn't matter that you are over the ocean on the other side of the planet, you still give me a hard time! it's 8 am sunday! couldn't you wait until 9 at least??

in my defence i forgot that Armenia hasn't shifted to daylight saving time, so i thought it was 9! hehe.

macro lenses and filters

2009-03-20T00:58:00.007+04:00

i got it! i got my order! i was all excited and going crazy :)

the package included 4 macro lenses, 3 filters, and some cleaning stuff. i tore everything down, created a mess all around me, and was sitting happily among photo equipment and computer wires when Michael arrived at home.

he however had to leave for practice with Kevin, so i grabbed my new stuff and ran out to the park. here are some test shots:

last image is taken with +10 and +4 macro lenses mounted on my cam! that plant was really tiny and i had to breath carefully not to cause the slightest movement. for scale, i'd say the diameter of the 'flower' was 2.5 mm.

but of course it's not only plants that i took photos of:

hissing at the camera

i focused on his eye and you can clearly see the reflection in it

i'll speak about filters separately as the test shots i took were really boring, but the filters are awesome anyway! as soon as i got the package i said "oh my god! this is awesomeee!" about 5 times a minute :D

and now i am looking forward to new discoveries in the macro world and i guess it's exactly what i'm going to do NOW!

bear VS bird, and a pie place

2009-03-18T22:39:00.003+04:00

Once upon a time there lived a bear whose name was Michael (Mishka ;) ) and a bird - George by the name.they had nothing in common and declared war to each other:

however during these military actions both realized that brutal force doesn't solve anything. and so they declared truce and lived in peace from then on:

p.s. however when Michael read the story, he said they are still on war... so i guess the truce is over :(

end of this story

now right across the street there is the "Baker's square" place ...

... especially known for their pies. we went there with Brain and Linzy.

i had a lemon miringue

sitting there kind of reminded me of how i would have a breakfast (or supper or whatever) with Mary and we'd have some waffles with a coffee or a cocktail; or how i would hang out at Alex's office, have some beer (which in fact i hate and which was good only in that company) with some fish snacks and sometimes fast food; or how i'd go out with Helen and we'd have a pizza at "Tashir pizza". All three companies were so different but they all are called friends and it's one of the things i miss the most here. i guess i can't connect to some place, or objects - i can live without it. but people are what i trully connect with and build my associations with places on. so i can't say i miss 'Armenia' - but i will say i miss the people there instead.

biometrics, rock hall of fame, x-box

2009-03-15T23:00:00.004+04:00

on friday Michael took a day off from work since i had a biometrics appointment at 1 pm. what is it? it's next step in the loooong process of the adjustment of status and all the bureaucracy.. they had to take my fingerprints (as if they didn't at the US embacy in Armenia), and for i-don't-already-know-which time i had to fill out my name/surname etc. then the fingerprints will be sent to FBI to make sure i'm not a terrorist. anyway, the whole thing took about 20 mins only.

and then... then! Michael took me to one and only rock hall of fame! yep it's in Cleveland, OH. unfortunately it wasn't allowed to take any photos or videos inside, but they have an official site and a flickr account:
http://www.rockhall.com/
http://www.flickr.com/photos/rockhall

no need to say it was awesome. it was more of a music museum where you could see how rock'n'roll was born from old blues and how later all kinds of derivatives up to metal and rap originated from it. i saw costumes, guitars, cars (!), guns, letters, and other stuff of Michael Jackson, Elvis Presley, David Bowie, U2, Pink Floyd, etc. at every step there were wide-screen TVs built into walls showing some old news footage, interviews, video clips, etc about rock'n'roll and musicians. also at every corner there was a music machine (or sometimes a little screen built into the wall) with a headphone set. each machine had a collection of one band/artist songs, or sometimes had a collection of songs from some time-span (e.g. 80s). last 2 floors were closed and from what i figured are open during summer only. however we spent about 3-4 hours, and i had completely lost any track of time. there was also a gift-shop were you could buy CDs, books, clothes, cups, and just anything. we got some CDs (the only thing that wasn't overpriced way too much).

i think some people will like the rock hall of fame and some won't, but one thing is certain - if you have a chance visit it al least once if you care about music at all. you will be emerged into the music world... and will walk a lot! my legs were hurting me for 2 days :))

then we headed home. suddenly i remembered that we needed to get more RAM for the workstation, so we stopped at bestbuy which is a huge electronic store. other than RAM we got a western digital passport for me to back-up all photos primarily. it's an external hard drive which connects to PC through USB. the smallest one was 160GB. so it's my new "flah drive" :))

and! we got an X-box!!! it's a playstation for video games, but it also allows you to hook a PC to the TV set enabling watching videos, listening to music and looking at pictures on a huge wide screen! also now there is no need to have cable TV. we signed up for Netflix account (which is about 25$ a month) and now we can watch ANY movie or a TV show without any adds, without the need to run to a store or a rental place. x-box is really awesomeeeee!

though it was such a long day we still went to "the bumpers" - the karaoke bar we go to almost every friday. Julie, the bartender, made us some very good long islands... which were also very strong. so we went home at 1 am - earlier than usual. when Michael was about to park the car in front of the apartments block, i saw something in front of the car and we stopped abruptly. "something" was 2 geese! the fat bastards didn't consider it necessary to move out of the cars way. only when we stopped they made some noise and lazily moved aside.

me: Michael! everybody's asleep, let's go kick some bad goose ass! nobody will see! (there is a law protecting animals here)
Michael: haha vicious girl. be nice to birds :)
me: nice to them??? they just ask for trouble! they think they own the world and are superior to humans!

but Michael wouldn't let me touch the precious representatives of the wild life, which are untouchable :))

Rain

2009-03-12T10:55:00.002+04:00

i was geeting ready to go to bed. and it started raining heavily! i couldn't miss such an opportunity.. so i grabbed the camera and started trying 1-minute long exposures. it was 3am (and oh i need to reset the cam clock because of the daylight savings)

through the glass door. i was afraid that the rain will get on the lense. but i realized it won't be the true color...

... so i opened the door. this is the true color

concret of the parking lot and garbage cans. during the day nothing would make you even think of taking a photo of this. but at night and in the rain things change..

through the window with a mosquito net

without the net

photos that are smaller are uploaded to my picassa. i just want to keep my flickr for good photos only and upload "illustrational" photos to picassa or elsewhere.

daylight saving time doesn't work for me. i used to go to bed around 2.30 am, now i go at 3.30 am. which doesn't matter now but i will have to switch eventually...

never enough

2009-03-10T11:01:00.004+04:00

i feel like i'm always not satisfied with the amount of:

time

chocolate

my skills

colors! (in my photos)

light! (in my photos)

organization

movement (need to move!!!)

time time time!

but i'm trying to do my best and make the best use of what i have... time is the worst because if it was good i wouldn't be posting at 3.00 am... anyway :)) i wanted to share this sunset. there is a story connected with it...

(not edited colors)

i was in the 'hobby' room probably flickering. George was on my desk. then i noticed the light changed. and i realized a sunset was about to happen! i knew Michael would come in a moment but oh well it couldn' take me too long to soot a sunset! so i simply grabbed my camera and rushed outside.

the sunset was about to start.. so i had to wait. i went out a bit too early as it turned out. when the sky finally turned pinkish i realized it wasn't going to be an awesome sunset. when it seemed to me it reached it's culmination i turned to go. but then i realized that it was getting more and more beautiful. so i went back and stayed until the last rays of suns died. i went to the apartment.. and a car started off. i looked in that direction and it pretty much looked like Michael's car.

i went into the apartment. definitely Michael had come from work and now had left.... where??? i was hungry! :D George was in his cage... i found my phone and called Michael.

me: heyyy! where are you?
Michael: i'm looking for you.. i thought you were at the bookstore..
me: noooo come home..

and then when he came home and we talked this was found out:

Michael came home and saw that the bird was out and i was gone. no note from me, phone was left at home. however the camera was gone too. so he decided maybe i was at the park! he went out, walked all around the pond without noticing me and came back. he thought maybe i was kidnapped! hehe who would kidnap... *me* :D.

i wasn't hiding or anything - i was just standing perfectly still not to shake the camera. in fact i wasn't even far away - just 10 steps down the path right by the pond - at my favorite place :D:D i couldn't stop laughing and Michael said i was a bad girl :D i guess he expected me jumping around the pond performing some tribal dance :)))) hehehe

cookie pants, nail polish, remote control, and dirty pigeon

2009-03-02T22:24:00.002+04:00

i wanted comfy pants, but not ordinary ones! i wanted cookie pants - so that when i'm wearing them i don't feel guilty for eating too many cookies :D

the other thing i was dying to get was this nail polish... i wanted to take a simple photo of my nails - just like an illustration but it turmed out to be too good so i processed it some and i really like the result!

also i have registered mom at amazon and explained how to use it. so now she won't have troubles finding people going to America to send us gifts for different occasions :D haha. and the first occasion that showed up was March 8 - women's day. so mom got me the remote control for my cam from the wishlist. and oh god! i can't wait to get it!!!
and oh my god! i actually received it today!!! it's tiny and there is only one button on it unlike the remote of sony dsc-h7, but who cares? there is a "bulb" setting in shutter speed, which means i can let the photo be exposured for as long as i want! and i don't have to hold the camera's shutter button shaking the camera all the time and blurring the image... i'm sorry probably this all doesn't make much sense to many people... but well i'm happy :D

ah and also - i made peace with George.

his nickname is "dirty pigeon". currently he is sitting on my monitor and is staring at me. sometimes he tries to see what's happening on the screen and sometimes gazes at the sun until he falls asleep.

after i took these images and offloaded them into the computer i started going through them... and George was very much interested in seeing him as a model. he probably decided to continue his career as a glam model... so soon you will see more of him.

he is crazy. he uses his wings once a day - just to fly up and float at the highest point right under the ceiling and then falls down on the floor. when i try to catch him he either tries to run away or hisses at me. when he sits on my desk i am not allowed to move the mouse - he starts chasing my arm. or he will just climb on my arm and sit there... and oh god his nails are sharp!

and i am sorry probably this post hurt your eyes.. too much of red and black :) but i took so many photos that i couldn't decide which ones i liked the most from these (believe me there are many more that i haven't posted :D )

365, cooking, computer room, and me

2009-02-27T10:25:00.006+04:00

first of all i must say i quit the 365 project. i reached number 144. there were several reasons to stop... it stopped being fun and became a burdain; it was taking the time i wanted to spend on learning new stuff on photography or practicing it; and i ran out of ideas. so i realized that day after day i was stressed because it was so difficult to come up with a new and fun idea and then implement it. and i didn't want to add crappy pictures to the project (i already added some that were bad so didn't want to add more). 144 isn't a small amount on the other hand it's not even half.
_______________________________________
so today i decided to make dinner... first of all there was a frozen premade cherry pie in the freezer. so i decided to deal with that and bake it. there was a tiny and easy instruction - with steps.
1. preheat the oven to 400F
2. make 4 1-inch cuts on the pie
3. put the FROZEN pie on a baking sheet and place that in the center of the oven.
4. bake the pie for 60-65 mins
5. take the pie out of the oven. do NOT touch the pie pan with hands! the contents is HOT!

at this point i thought "what kind of idiot would touch it anyway?"

so i followed the instruction and put the pie into the oven. then started making mashed potatoes for the first time in my life. i also wanted to bake chicken breasts but decided that Michael can do that part when he arrives. i had already 2 things to keep an eye on!

so it was time to take the pie out. i got the special thing to hold the pan with - the one that looks like a glove and is made of tissue... i pulled out the pan with left hand and started carrying it... but the pan felt heavy-ish so automatically i helped myself with my right hand. yes i grabbed the hot pan out of oven. i don't know what i did first - put my hand under the cold water or imagined my head turning into that of a donkey like in many cartoons. one thing is sure - i had that image in my head and also i remembered the instruction's step 5 and replied to myself "that instruction was for idiots like me." now it's not that bad - the burn - i just burnt one finger in several places and there isn't even a blister. but i keep walking with a coca-cola can out of fridge. holding it in the right hand. or jumping up and running to the bathroom to put the hand under icy cold water. much fun...

the pie was good too! anything cherry is good ;)

anyway. other than that mashed potatoes came out really good. i was surprised - i liked them! and Michael was surprised - he liked them too! i guess he just didn't expect anything good from my kitchen skills :D and he was right - this was an accident :D
______________________________

the other day i decided to do around in the far room which was used as storage of electronics; books; and just anything. it was a waste. so i cleaned it up, moved not working/unnecessary electronics onto small table, and left only 5 dynamics and a printer on the desk. put some pillows on the ground. this will be my night retreat. i stay up late usually but can't sit in the living room since there are 2 disgusting birds who start squarking if i turn the lights on.

Michael was very happy about me cleaning this room. he said he'd bring a workstation home with a nice 19'' monitor, G15 keyboard and razer mouse. and so he did! so now we just connect our notebooks to this stuff and enjoy ourselves - Michael in the morning while i'm asleep and before he goes to work, and me at night when Michael is asleep :D

G15 keyboard with a screen

razer mouse

______________________________

and also i created a wishlist! so now you know what to get me for any occasion :D i will make it much bigger in no time ;) :D

new pet

2009-02-25T10:47:00.005+04:00

meet George. what a sweet bird will you think? definitely no. in no way. he is bad. extremely bad. he hisses if you come close to your cage or put your hand into it. he will try running after your hand to bite it. he will scream on top of his voice in the mornings...

as an experiment i tried putting Anoki into his cae. Anoki felt himself like at home, but George got scared and aggressive :)) he almost fell from the perch flapping his wings and just kept on hissing.

i hope people won't complain and George won't get himself and us into trouble. he is actually extremely fun to watch since he has quite outsanding nasty personality :))

___

i found this tiny camera today. it's a key-chain camera which is something between a camera on a mobile phone and those old shitty film cameras everybody used before digital ones. the little rectangle above the "lens" is the viewfinder through which you have to look. there is no display on the back.
___

me and Michael are reading "Master and Margarita" now (in english... but it's a very good translation), so i decided to include that into my 365 project :)

still one of my and my mom's favorite books..

what's happening

2009-02-13T10:45:00.003+04:00

the other day Michael took me out and basically drove me to the practice place - which is Jason's grandpa's property. since it's private property... people without license can drive there provided there is somebody else in the car who has the driving license.

so yes! it was my first driving lesson - on parking and turning, and backing up.it was fun and a lot easier - no manual shifts. and it was fun! no i didn't hit the car. Michael said i was doing pretty pretty good. but i never expected my first driving lesson to take place at night :)) and i had to adjust the seat quite a bit in order to actually see the road and not to ride the car like Bichakhchyan was doing (for American readers: Bichakhchyan was the rector of my university, and he was quite short, and one could not quite see him from behind the wheel - only his hands).
____

also Tasha had her baby and we went over today. i think it was the first time in my life i was actually holding a baby... it was a strange feeling and the baby was a lot stronger than i thought. they named her Harper.
____

and the biggest news is that my auntie is getting married! with the chief of medicine of a hospital whose name is Sergey. it's really awesome news and i am really excited for her! on this valentine's day he will propose to her, and on april 12th which is her birthday the ceremony will take place. i couldn't be happier for her.
___

big things are happening in a big world :))

saturday - part 3

2009-02-10T11:09:00.007+04:00

after the theatre we went to a restaurant "Europa" which later on will be referred to as Russian restaurant.

seriously - waiters spoke english, pole, and russian - well were supposed to speak :) our waiter looked very american so i decided not to give him a hard time. as we entered the atmosphere was anything but american. the music, the design, the attitude of the staff. at first we had to wait for a table so we sat at a bar. the barman was funny - older man. i decided to have some wine. he said "cherni?" (which means 'black' in bad russian) i said "no. krasnoe" (means red). he said he doesn't speak russian but speaks poll. i said my grandpa was poll but i speak russian. he said he was actually italian :))

then we got our table... and ... mmmm i wanted this so badly - especially after i read Mary's post about.. pelmeni. oh god especially since she posted photos she got me soooo envious.. and they had it on the menu! then i looked for "olivie". couldn't find it but found "russian salad" on the menu list and gave it a shot. good girl - it turned out to be olivie itself :D :D which Michael liked too.

now pelmeni part wasn't so good - the meatball inside was really tiny, and the sauce was not just sour-cream but some sauce with tiny pieces of meat. but still better than nothing. however i told mom to make real russian homely pelmeni when me and Michael will go to visit Armenia :))

also there was a big russian company celebrating some girls birthday and they definitely felt at home. and i definitely felt like in a movie or a book. the ladies were all dressed up, had the "fur coats", and in general felt at home. they had perfect russian without the tinest bit of accent. i can assume that the whole company was from russian mafia. honestly. later on Michael talked to his boss about it and Bob said there was a huge Russian community on that street.. and that some were in mafia :)). anyways. i can say i saw that too :D

then there was a guy singing old russian songs and a girl. the girl tried singing Pugacheva's song. which was ridiculous, and she simply remained silent for great lengths of time when she couldn't pull the sound. i later showed some recordings by Pugacheva to Michael (i mean her old recording mind you, not the crap) and he was impressed with her voice (me too by the way).

then! we went to "vodka room". basically you feel like you go into a fridge, and a small window opens through which barman gives you a glass of ice (i guess they put glass into water and freeze it) filled with vodka - normal vodka - icy cold. that part i loved. the only "wrong" thing was they didn't give any pickles to have after vodka :(

we both loved that place and are looking forward to going there again. Michael wants to take Steve and Nicole with us the next time :) which will be great :D i'm looking forward to it.

it was a really great day full of everything - all three parts were exciting and i needed time to take it all in.

saturday - part 2

2009-02-10T10:41:00.004+04:00

sorry about the delay. i'm a bad blogger and neglect posting... i'll try to change that.

part 2 is about theatre.

so right after Michael picked me up from the hike we had to go to a theatre to see a performance - "i love you because". we didn't have time to stop at home but i thought since it's a local theatre and local performance it should be okay to go in jeanse. in america at least. not a big deal.

the theatre was beautiful inside out. the first thing i noticed however was that people were dressed up. even more - i think we were the only people in jeanse! i felt uncomfortable. also the people were... old. we probably were the youngest couple there. also a thing to note there were many old guys with rather young model-like girls in cocktail dresses and on 11 cm heels minimum. americans are funny.. they can dress up.. and wear sneakers (crossovki). it all just gave me mixed feelings. then we went to buy tickets - that was the second astonishment - it cost 100$ for 2 tickets. at a local theatre! and Michael explained that "theatre" was an entertainment for "the rich" and that not many people have ever been to one in their lives.

that kind of stroke me. i remember going to theatres in Armenia - they were full of teens, older people, even children from middle school. some people would be dressed up. some would be in jeanse. if it was a local show a ticket would cost somewhere from 2$ to 16$.

so it was kind of sad - i think theatre is fun and people should attend a real play at least once in their lives! but yeah here also by saying "theatre" people usually refer to "cinema theatre".

anyway. i was not allowed to take any pictures and promised to a security officer to keep the camera in the bag - he was being nice and let me actually have the camera with me instead of leaving it in some room. he completely understood that if i left the camera somewhere else i would be nervous during whole performance and that cameras are expensive to lose :))

now the show itself was very nice and i liked it. BUT. it was more of a musicle kind than what i expected it to be.

one thing is certain - we had fun and it was unforgettable experience. but it's not all. soon part 3 will come out :D

Saturday - part 1

2009-02-02T04:45:00.003+04:00

it was a busy day, so i will break it up into 3 parts.

we got up late. Michael had to update his plates in the car as it was the last day to do that. he thought the place was closing at 1. as we found out on the shot door it had closed at 12. hehe. Michael will drive illegally today and will update his plates tomorrow (by plates i mean that piece of paper they stick to the windshield card with a year on it).

so we went to have a breakfast/lunch at RollyPolly. as we entered the lady said:
- ah the newlyweds! you must be Irina? i've heard much about you.

i could only smile and say "mmm" but i liked the place a lot - the food was good, and they had some nice salads which were of a normal size. usually if i order any kind of salad anywhere here, the portion will be so huge that i will actually not finish it and will be too full to have a main course.

and then! then it was photogrpahy time! Kirk and his friend Lou wanted to go on a hike and decided to take me with them. i was very happy because i would try out my new camera. the meeting point was at some state park. Michael said it's not really a hike and that the park is tiny and that we will probably just go to the beach of the lake and take some photos and be back.

so we met up with Kirk, then Michael left. and in a moment Lou arrived. he was wearing light clothes which was a surprise for me. but then he just got a pair of socks, put them on ones he was wearing, then changed his coat to a warm one, and got fully equipped. we started off. the snow was a bit higher than my knees, sometimes reaching to my hips. but once we got out to the beach it changed.

we were out in the dunes. it was a white desert with some dead plants. the sky was gray... it was a very lonely and sad picture all in all. we started walking towards the lighthouse. the wind was terrible but it was blowing from behind so i didn't even feel it at first. i was so warmed up by the walk that didn't feel cold at all!

Lou found a dead seagull in the snow. at first i didn't realize what it was. then he started scrapping the snow off of something and said "see? this is a beak." i quickly turned away and practically ran away. it only added something desparate to the landscape - how severe the winter is, how helpless living beings are...

once we were done with the photography we started walking back. which means we had to face the wind! i did my best not to leave out even an inch of skin - but i had to see where i was walking. the next time i will follow Kirk's example and put sunglasses on - that was a bright idea! and i'm so happy to have long hair! i won't have it cut until warmer times!

anyway. here are my favorite photos from the hike and link to the rest of them:

My other photos from the hike

Kirk's photos

when Michael arrived he started walking towards us. only then he realized we actually didn't go just to the park, but we went out to the dunes. he said it was a really crazy thing to do and that we walked a hell of a distance :D

new camera

2009-01-31T19:31:00.005+04:00

it happened!!! after figuring out for a month or two what camera to get i stopped at Nikon D90... which i've got yesterday!!!!

i'm a happy girl now!!!

it's my first DSLR!!! the decision was tough - i want this camera to serve me for long, so i was deciding between sony alpha A350, A700, Nikon D80, and Nikon D90. I turned away from Sony only because the Sony lense choice is very poor, and Minolta lenses are difficult to find and very expensive.

so i got down to D80 and D90. D90 also shoots videos (which i didn't care much about) and was more expensive and i really couldn't tell if i needed such a fancy camera. i couldn't understand the difference just from reading specifications online (i'm not THAT pro :D ). then Kirk explained to me in normal terms what was so special about D90, and sent some reference links. The thing is the chip inside D90 is the same as in D300 and next models and there IS much difference. like starting from D90 technology changed, stuff inside got much better, so really it makes more sense to get D90.

here is the reference that also convinced me:
http://www.flickr.com/groups/nikon_d90_users/discuss/72157610811218121/

i can say it's completely different from my old Sony H7. first of all it's much heavier! second of all there are so many buttons and wheels and things to control! besides since i was used to sony i constantly had to start flipping camera in my hands trying to find the right button. but once i got used to it, it was awesome! i tried to take same pictures with the old camera - needless to say photo quality was of no comparison. I can set ISO to 800 and there won't be any noise meanwhile on the old camera noise appears at ISO 200, so now i can take photos in less light and they will still be good!

here are some test photos from yesterday:

America

2009-01-18T03:52:00.002+04:00

some more differences to list.

the way people dress
so no matter whether somebody is going to a bar, out shopping, or to a birthday party, he will wear jeans. and no matter what season most of the people are wearing shoes. people here consider that somebody who likes dressing up, first of all spends a whole lot of money on unnecessary and unpractical stuff, and wastes much time on the way they look, meanwhile "it's better to keep it simple, be more practical, and down-to-earth". there is nothing wrong with jeans i mean, but gah! that's boring :D that way you always look the same, which can be boring not only to others but to you yourself! i don't know. it's not just about having a certain style in your clothes - it's about creating an image of yourself. sometimes i want to look romantic, sometimes professional, sometimes just comfortable, sometimes gorgeous. and it makes the whole dressing and make-up thing fun for me. and that way neither me nor people around me know what to expect from me or how i will look. and what's the difference whether you're pulling on jeans or a skirt or slacks? it takes the same amount of time :) and it actually will cost aproximately the same to have skirts and slack and jeans, or to have all jeans.

i'm just surprised with this kind of attitude because i would be stiff-bored of myself in the mirror was i the same looking character day after day. especially being a girl.

what people eat and drink from
again same attitude - "keep it simple, and down-to-earth". the cups and dishes are just of some color, and are made of very thick glass, so that if you drop them, they won't break. again, to me it's boring because it has to have some nice design that will put me into better mood or just make me feel better when i look at it. and besides! cups should be made of finest and thinest glass so that when you lift it, you will feel the weight of your drink only. though i'm speaking about coffe cups. here in general people use these huge mugs for anything hot. the rest they drink from glasses.

now at a bar when you are doing shots (shot is like when you drink vodka - when you have to swollow the drink at once) you will be given plastic cups, which will be thrown away afterwards. or if you are having food at a fast-food place - like getting a burrito or a hamburger or whatever you won't actually be given a plate. no matter whether you are going to have your meal there or you want to take it with you, it will come wrapped in foil. if you are going to have it there, you will just use foil instead of the plate.

----/\---\/---/\---\/---/\---\/---/\---\/---/\---\/---/\---\/---/\---\/---/\---\/----

now the point of everything said is not to say it's wrong or bad. it's a way things are for people here, and that' how they have known things and how they expect them to be. however i personally believe that it has to be a fun part to anything you do, something meaningless and irrational but just nice! let it be a waste of time or money if it is, but it will make you feel nicer, so it's worth it! if you use things that you really like and are happy about your day will be a bit better and your life will be a bit more colorful (literally). it's good to be in love with comfort, but also it's good when comfort looks good. if you are getting a towel or something, let it have a nice print on it. or if it's plane - it's better because you can actually create something yourself! take a white cup, get some special markers and have fun!

------- for Armenian/Russian readers -------

no no i'm not going to wear jeans 365 days a year, don't you worry! and stop asking me about that please! i am not going to change unless i consider it a change towards better :)

oh and by the way - some certain people (let's not say who, even though everybody knows it's the SLONENOK) were laughing at me for buying *jeans* before going to *America*. now i've been kind of looking for jeans here - a second pair. guess what? i can't find what i want! the only difference between models is the color! and the jeans are kind of like... plane jeans, without anything interesting! though i haven't been looking very carefully - i just looked through the stuff at several stores at the mall and maybe someday i will find something interesting :D hehe

Italians and Armenians.. an the rest

2009-01-17T18:07:00.003+04:00

yesterday we went out to a bar with people from Dolbey. they were nice and it was much fun for me to talk to them. i've been asked many times whether i like the US and whether it's different from where i lived. i can't really explain to them how different it was... but i remembered about a flash movie i had seen years ago. it was about how things are in Italy and the rest of European Union. it was very funny and it was twice as funny for me, because in my mind i just replaced the italian flag with the armenian one.

so i googled some and found it!

bruno bozzetto - Europe and Italy -
Uploaded by zectarien

italy and armenia have mostly been allies during most times. i think ancient Roma influenced Armenia greatly. and although nowadays the cultures are so different, peoples' behaviour is alike in many things ;).

first month in America

2009-01-04T20:31:00.004+04:00

on the list of what to post the last title was "my first several days in America".. but i was kind of falling back with posting and it's been 1 month since i'm here. so i changed the title :D

you ask me what do i do. ok. let's seeeee

so i don't drive and don't have a car, i don't work, and am supposed to be bored while Michael is at work. wrong! i can't be bored :D

first of all there is this game - world of warcraft where you play online. (i'm explaining for older generation who don't know what it is i'm afraid) it's a fantasy world where you are an elf, human, gnome, dwarf, ogr, undead, or smth else. you also choose your main characteristic - rogue, warrior, paladin, druid, mage, warlock, etc. (i'm a night elf rogue :D )

you run around in this world, get quests, go kill monsters, find hidden treasures, rescue people... you can team up with other people (sometimes you can't do without it). you can also choose professions like skinning, leatherworking, mining, etc. you can sell what you make at auction house or to a vendor. you can stay at an inn. every time you complete a quest your level goes up. there are 80 levels for now and probably will be 90 soon. it takes you to reach level 80 from level 70 as much time as it takes you in fact to grow from level 1 to 70 :D so yes i really am enjoying the game. it's fun! it's something between tomb raider and original "warc craft" strategy game.

also i do some housework.. sometimes. yes i know it's unbelievable to you but oh well :D if i do it during the day me and Michael will do smth else later instead of washing the dishes or putting things in order (that's what i mean by housework :D ) ah and yeah - laundry.

i also torture our bird Anoki.. i mean i play with him!! he hates humans and screams when i take him out of the cage. but he loves it when Michael plays the guitar and starts singing with him.

i've finally got my photoshop CS4 (actually it's master suite or whatever which includes like 15 programs by Adobe). only "photoshop cs4 extended" costs $1000 (!!!). but yeah i'm catching up with processing the huge pile of photos that have been just uploaded to the computer. people who don't use photoshop here, use GIMP. it's an ok program especially if you have never used photoshop. it's really cool if you are working on duo-monitor and have linux though. but GIMP sucks if you have 1 monitor. and in general.. i hated GIMP!!! so yes i'm playing with photoshop all day! we also got this DVD on photoshop lessons. so i have much to investigate.

ah and yeah we got married :D. which means we are moving on with paperwork on getting me residencial status which will mean i can drive, work, go to classes, etc. i will probably take some photography classes here which means i will meet people with the same hobby and will probably make friends.

at the moment i've been hanging out with Nicole the most. it was really sweet of her to take me out several times and show some stores, and take to her college. oh she also loves cooking so the day before yesterday we went to do some grocery shopping, then went to her and Steve's place and cooked dinner for our men. well Nicole was telling me what to do, so i didn't mess up :D we made meatloaf (which was awesome), a salad, mashed potatoes, and broccoli. also, Nicole just turned 21 which means she can have alcohol at bars, so we went out that evening and went bowling. there was a long line so we had some drinks at the bar first. then the fun part started. i had never bowled before - just somehow missed it out. bowling was fun! just now my sides and arms are hurting :( everybody said i did really good for the first time. well i either hit 0 or 7-9 :D once i even hit 10! which was unbelievable. the balls were really heavy! and we had to wear special shoes. now american sizes are different. at first i tried #6 and my foot was swimming in the shoe :D. then i tried 5.5 size... i somehow fitted into it and was really happy to take them off!. there is no in between.

also... during bowling i met up Ana and her boyfriend Mat. Michael knew Ana forever and Mat is a technician at Dolbey. they were really a great couple and fun to talk to. Ana also has a cousin who is from Croatia and arrived in the U.S. 2 years ago. he was shocked as much as i was :D so the next weekend probably he will hang out with us and i will meet another immigrant :D:D. the next weekend we will go rollerblading. i haven't done it for a loooong time. i stopped rollerblading when i outgrew my rollerblades (12 years old) and after it rollerblade only once some 5-6 years ago. so it's gonna be fun.

ah and... i kind of decided to play drums :D:D if you fell from the chair you were sitting on while reading this, i'm really sorry and i hope you didn't hurt yourself! yesterday for the first time in my life i sat on the drummer's chair and Jason showed me some things before Ninebit's practice started. then he gave me sticks and a piece of rubber for practice at home. drums are fun! and the complicated thing is that all 4 limbs have to work independently. i was kind of hanging up at first while doing one of the basic beats. but yeah i loved it.

since we got married last year (doesn't matter that it was 20th of december which is really the end of the year), the government is going to return some taxes and we will get a new cam for me and a new laptop for Michael. i still can't decide between Sony Alpha A350 and A700. however Michael knows Kirk who is in his 50s and is a professional photographer. Michael gave him a call and Kirk got interested and we are going to meet up soon and he will help me out. i'm really really excited to meet him because he knows everything about photography and cameras. and it sounds like he is looking forward to meeting "raw material" which he can educate some. people at that age are looking for somebody to share their experience and knowledge with. and well i am definitely looking for acquiring that knowledge :D

aren't you tired of reading yet? too bad if you are not because i think i am hungry, which means Anoki is in danger! my meal is sitting in the cage... yesterday i let him fly in the room and when it was time to catch the birdy Michael asked how to do it. i said "like this:" and the bird was in my hands :D Michael said that i was a zzvanq cat :D hehehe i just have much experience in catching birds - parrots, piegons, sparrows.

...

ok i'm gone hunting.

cultural shock

2008-12-30T08:04:00.002+04:00

hm. i don't even know where to begin.

everything was different. to such an extent that for the first week i just was taking it all in, trying to analize the differences and decide whether i like it or not. for the first week i wouldn't dare answering "so do you like it in here?" or "so what's America like?" questions.

now i can. it's a whole different world and it seems like i like both - the one i left behind and this new one.

ok so as you know people don't walk here in the streets. they only drive, even if it's a store across the street or a store on your side of the street just some 200 metres away from you. however people sometimes go running in the streets. in shorts. yes it's cold and it's winter.

people
it's approximately what we all were being told about Americans and thinking those things were unbelievable and exhagerated. strangers will smile at you and say "hello". they are kind of simpler, will expect you to tell the truth. oh and with humor, when they tell a joke they will tell it so that you know when to laugh. they don't really have that dark or sarcastic humor. when they are happy they can start jumping and shouting "woo-hoo!!!". if it's crowded and people will end up bumping into you, you will get "oh excuse me!" with a smile. every time it happens.

also practically everybody keeps animals at home. animals - not animal. Michael's parents keep 2 cats and a dog. Steve and Nicole were keeping 2 cats (who are huge!! you can't lift both at once!) and Nicole got an absolutelly adorable and absolutelly black kitten.

stores and goods

common store is the one where you can buy everything. from cosmetics to groceries. you just take a cart and go to different parts of the store. you don't interact with sales people unless you can't find something in particular. basically it's very much like "yeritsyan and sons" supermarket (together with a dollar store), and goods at all departments will be from some brands - like the sosmetics will be from l'oreal, maybelline, max factor, etc. it's annoying to some extent. in Armenia if i wanted to get something definite but didn't know the name or the brand i could just go to a small shop and say "do you have mousse of strong fixation with curling effect?" they would suggest several brands and it would be it. here i have to find this mousse among all other hair products and then i have to find the one i'm looking for.

so shopping that would take 10 minutes in Yerevan takes hours here. also the way products are placed, you will end up getting 10 times more items than you planned and in fact needed.

also the choice of things is huge. it works the opposite way though. people like about 90% and can't choose what to buy, so they end up just grabbing the first item closest to them and running away not to buy everything.

same with foods and drinks. i said "we need some butter" and to the question "what butter?" i said "like.. butter.. normal butter". good luck with it. they had like 40 kinds of it! salted unsalted, dietic, etc.

miscellaneous
what was one of the first things i noticed was that there isn't just one set of street lights.. there are like 4 sets hanging 1.5 m apart from each other on one line. why??? because!!! so that it's convinient to see the lights from any point.

at bars, people will ask you to show id card to see if you are 21+ or you won't get alcohol.

//////

i wanted to say much more but i guess i'm kind of late with this post and the first real strong shock is behind. and now i'm too excited to get to the next topic and tell about some of my adventures :D

oh and yeah the missing luggage piece was found the same day - they called Steve, dropped it at his place, then we picked it up :)

at OUR home

2008-12-19T19:13:00.004+04:00

home, sweet home. so good to know you can just sit down and finally relax, that you reached the destination and that it's not a several hours break only.

rather than describing what the apartment looks like i will simply post some photos. a small note before i start. i didn't take this photos during the very first days.. i took them much later, so it all looked kind of different. first of all there was no christmas tree and deffinitely no cage with a bird :) and Michael cleaned all the place with his brother and put souvenirs and various stuff from Armenia literally everywhere. maybe to make me feel more at home, maybe because it all actually looked very good all together, maybe both :) anyhow, i won't be keeping you reading these lines any more! here come the photos!

the door of the apartment opens.. and you see the following:

now go straight and sit on the couch facing the front door:

that armchair is awesome. it's my favorite place! you can push a lever and the arm-chair will turn into chaise-long (pardon my french however it was spelled).

now, if you're still on the couch (in the bottom-left corner of the photo you see piece of it) facing the front door and look to the left, this is what you will see - tha place where we are having meals and the beginning of the kitchen :)

now let's sit on the chair by the table and have a look what the kitchen looks like ;)

and now, let's go stand by the lamp (to the left of the arm-chair) and look left.

that's a looong corridor, the left part of which is a huge closet where all kind of things are kept which you just don't know where else to keep or things like you don't want to throw away but are kind of useless. well you know what i mean i'm sure!
to the right there are to rooms. first is bedroom, the second is actually empty and we want to turn it into hobbies' room. straight ahead is the bathroom.

(not the best photo to illustrate the bedroom. sorry :) there is a closet and a dresser that you can't see.)

yes that funny thing is a lamp and it's awesome :D

yes it's all dark red and fluffy in the bathroom :D

except for the bathroom and kitchen all area is covered with a carpet (as in every other apartment/house here) so everybody walks barefeet or in socks at home. sometimes in sleepers but it's rare as i figure. guests take off their shoes and stay in socks too or barefoot :D ) nobody has the wooden floors which need the special care. i love carpets, and i love walking barefeet.

meeting HIM

2008-12-18T22:24:00.002+04:00

so there I was, standing at Detroit airport, cuddling with Michael, feeling strange and dizzy. i can't say i wanted to sleep though, i just needed to. there was a board with a list of hotels and their numbers. Michael called "Day's Inn" and we started waiting for a hotel car to pick us up.

when we got to hotel, we chcked in and went to our room. i took a 365 photo:

the room was small and very cosy. kind of reminded me of marriott room.. the light was very soft. the first thing i was to do was taking a shower! then i put on some make-up, and changed the shirt. i had one shirt in the carry-on to get changed into, however i had no wish to open up the main pieces of luggage.

after the shower and all that i felt like a woman again, not like some tired strange creature of neutral gender :D:D

we decided to go down and have something to eat. i wasn't really hungry, but my body needed some "fuel" (food). it was a nice american bar, which was actually not very different from those in Armenia.. just everybody was talking english and watching TV in english. there was a christmas tree right behind our table. i was just sitting there, watching people of all kinds, and feeling myself like in a movie.

then we were to order food. i saw "nachos" among appetizers, and decided to get it since it was something familiar at least. and we ordered some wine.

nachos.. appetizers... the lady brought... should i say a plate? it was more like a tray filled with nachos. i ate some and then i was full! so when the lady came back she asked "oh you didn't like the nachos?" implying i didn't eat at all. i said i liked them just it was kind of too much!! later Michael said probably those appetizers were for 4 people - like when you go with a company, you can get one appetizer instead of each person getting one. but yeah it was funny :D

anywhooo. we had to get up at 5.30 in the morning to go back to the airport. ok now some explanation. we couldn't go from Detroit, MI to Cleveland, OH directly. my destination point was Detroit. from there another flight was booked - from Detroit to Chicago, from Chicago to Cleveland. why? because the direct flights are available only when you are coming from overseas - that is to say if my destination during the first flight was Cleveland, i would go directly to Cleveland from Detroit. i can't say it's stupid, because people who come from other countries arrive at an international airport and then go to their final destination directly.

i could go to Cleveland directly - but Michael couldn't. but oh well +/- another airport.. who cares since we are together.

so there we were half-asleep, going through some customs to finally go home. we went to get something to eat after everything was done. i called mom again (the first time i remembered to call was at the hotel). we had a croissant (or smth like that) witch chocolate and capuccino. it was good.

i don't actually remember much about the flight.. i think i was reading a book and listening to music, but the brain was kind of switched off anyway :D

Chicago airport sucked. there were no moving paths and you had to walk much distance just on foot. it was then when we found out Michael's phone was gone! i remembered we used it when i was calling mom.. but when we were getting up from the cafe table at Detroit airport i double-checked on the table to make sure we didn't leave anything. then we realized that Michael put his coat among other things on the shelf on the plane. so probably the phone just fell out of the pocket and stayed on the plane. that sucked even more! we couldn't get ahold of anybody :D

the plane we were to go to from Chicago to Cleveland was tiny. i mean *tiny*. my carry-on (which was of standard size) was way too big to go on the shelf, and it was placed somewhere in the bottom of the plane - just at the entrance me and other people with same problem would give the carry-ons to the stewardess and go occupy the seats. on one side of the plane there were double seats, on the other side - just one. it was just like a flying bus i swear! but it was comforting to know that after this flight we would be home...

i took some photos when we were about to land - the first one is the plane going through clouds, the rest.. you know :D ah and also - the third photo is how i actually saw it all - the contrast and colors are not corrected. so i got quite a grey and dull image.

NASA!!! i saw it with my eyes!!! i was like WOW!!! :D

there was ice right on the landing path!!

anyway. after landing we went to get my luggage. there was one piece.. but the second piece was missing! but oh my god how did they happen to loose just one piece? and not on international flight but on a local one?? that second question was comforting - at least we knew it was in america :D so we went to the company desk which was "american eagle" or smth like that. and had to wait in a long que of people who were actually going somewhere. so since we were the last ones on the line we waited for about 25 minutes just to say "you guys lost our luggage. now what?". Michael filled out some forms and they asked me to describe what the luggage looked like and what the bag contained. the problem was we couldn't even give them a phone number to call to since Michael's phone was lost! so Michael gave Steve's number and we decided to get phone numbers first of all, to call Steve and my family in Armenia.

quick note: you know the blue wrapping of the luggage they do at Zvartnots airport don't you? nobody else had it in America :D probably there was some wrapping service somewhere but people didn't really use it and anyway it was see-through, not blue :D. actually the lady at the Detroit airport asked if i was coming from Paris, Charles de Gaulle airport. i said i was coming from Yerevan, but i went through exactly that airport. the lady said the only place she knew they would do such kind of wrapping was there :D

then we walked to Michael's car. during the drive home i was just looking out of the window. the sky was grey, there was no sun, no mountains, the building were 1 or 2-stroreyed. big buildings though. the roads were smooth. another thing i noticed was that there were like 4 or 5 sets of traffic light hanging on one line. i asked Michael why they didn't put just one. the reply was "to make it easier for everybody to see from any line of the road" i laughed. yeah america takes care of its people's comfort...

then we arrived. i saw a parking lot in front of some 3-4-storeyed apartment block. to the left of it there were some trees and as i found out later it was the park - it started right there. at first Michael unlocked the front door of the whole block (all people living in that apartment block have a key to that door). then we went up one set of stairs and there was a looooooong corridor with a carpet. looked like a hotel corridor at first :D then Michael unlocked the door.. and let me in.

we were at home.

flight to America

2008-12-14T03:14:00.008+04:00

Dec 4th

PREFACE

... alarm clock made bounce out of bed. looked at the time to find out i slept for 3.5 hours. great just great! worst idea ever! but oh well...

started getting ready to go, doing last small and annoying bits of packing, not really thinking or reflecting on the flight or my departure. with all these last hectic days i hadn't really thought much about it. i was just doing things, being there in Armenia in mind, not in America and not on the plane. so now i felt i hadn't prepared myself for the flight. i mean i didn't think anything through or didn't try to remember what i should do and how, didn't think of what to do in emergency situations... in fact this was my first flight since 96, and 3rd flight in my life. however the previous 2 were so different - i was not alone, i was a kid, just looking around, not worrying about *anything*. now i was to be on my own. completely.

i wasn't thinking about this all then. i was just making sure everything is packed. then Marina-Narine-Khachik arrived on their car, Hovik arrived on his - we were to go on his car. suddenly smb rang at the door. Goharic and Gabriel came over to say goodbye. i was in the shower. :D quickly got dressed, called Mary and Helen, they came over and we were set to go. me, Helen and Mary sat on the backseat of Hovik's car, talking on the way, waking up, watching how the night was slowly creeping away. i had never seen the city at such an early hour.

then we found out Hovik thought my flight was at 8.45 not 9.45... so we arrived 1 hour before we intended to be there. i took care of the registry and luggage. once everything was done, we sat at a cafe to have some coffee and talk. it was such nice and warm atmosphere that it looked like everybody forgot why we were there and we were just enjoying ourselves. we watched the sunrise and took some photos together.

PART 1 - from YEREVAN to PARIS

then it was time to go... standing in line, waiting to walk through the gate.. i felt kind of numb. started hugging people, trying to say smth to cheer them up and not to make them cry, once i gave a hug to aunt my eyes went wet, then hugged mom, and quickly walked through, telling myself "you will get back to this moment. you have no right to cry now or be disoriented. you are on your own. pull together!" it worked. especially since i went to some desk to be let out of country. everything went smoothly, nobody gave me any hard time about anything. i was being sweet and nice, and people were smiling at me which made me feel better and more confident.

then i boarded on plane. the stewards were mostly black, and french. their english was very funny. one of the stewards put my carry-on on the shelf for me, i sat by the window. soon a woman and her husband sat by my side.

the woman was about 50, her husband had some business in France and she was traveling with him. it was a nice couple. she kept talking to me, i told her my story, she told me about her family, her daughters, her grand-children. she was nice.

when the plane took off, i felt nothing but curiosity - no fear, no worry - just interest. and i *loved* being in turbulence :D crazy girl i know. i was taking some photos and the lady kept asking me "what are you taking a photo of?" every time i'd touch my cam.

it was kind of annoying to tell the truth. i was trying to read. she was reading a magazine, constantly grabbing on my shoulder, sowing a photo of some crazy armenian lady (really crazy and insane), and wanted me to say smth about it. then i put headphones on and started watching a movie in english. again she kept buzzing me telling me something. i started feeling pissed off. then she went to sleep! it was coooool! then she woke up and started talking about horoscopes, and telling me which sign had what character judging by her children and believing every word on horoscope. i was being polite, but seriously! it was annoying!

the movie was a very good one actually. and at a touching moment my lips started shaking and eyes grew wet. well anything could make me cry really - leaving home and dealing with it all. it just started hitting me. but i bottled it up especially since the woman might wake up and start asking many unnecessary questions. so i pulled myself together and decided to postpone that moment again.

anyway. when we were about to land i was wondering what would happen next, if i would be on time and actually would make it. i had to spend only 2 hours in Paris - and had to find the right terminal. suddenly the captain announced which terminal we were ladning at and oh my god! it was the one i needed for the next flight! i was so happy! then we landed, i wished the lady good luck and she wished me the same and we parted ways for good.

PART 2 - from PARIS to DETROIT

i asked a bunch of people where to go. all of them had such funny english that i wasn't sure i understood them right. then it was time for security control. they made me take off the coat, boots; then i had to take the notebook and other electronic stuff out of the carry-on bag. it wasn't fun at all! then i went for passport and visa control.

the lady had dark skin and actually i believe she was mexican. she was nice to me but it was difficult to understand her. i somehow explained myself and then a big black guy came over since the lady who was asking questions wanted something from him.

guy: why are you going to America?
me: to get married with my fiance - Michael Lambert.
guy: why are you marrying him? marry me!
me: !
me: ...
me: no no only him. you definitely don't look like him at all :D
him: marry me and stay in France!
me: no no no :D

then they gave me my passport and other stuff and i had to wait for boarding. i could have gone to some duty-free stores or could have given a call to Michael or home, or could have found a WI-FI area to talk to people online.. but i decided not to get distracted and not to waste time. and actually in 10 mins after i was done with passport check the boarding started!

it was a different plane - very big. as it turned out there was nobody to sit by my side. so i started reading. i was glad i had some time alone.

one of the stewards came and gave some forms to fill out. concerning the cost of imported goods. i was like "what? geeze how can i evaluate my stuff at all??". but i postponed filling it out. read the book, tried to get some sleep - i think i slept for an hour. listened to some music. cried twice. maybe because of tiredness, maybe because of the stress, maybe because of leaving. probably all together. i couldn't relax - i had to figure out that thing with the form, and i had to think about what i would do when i arrived etc.

i went to stewards' room. there were many of them and i started torturing them with questions. they were cheerful and easy-going.

me: excuse me, can you give me a pen to fill this out?
steward with a pen: but how can i be sure that you will return it? i need it you know?
me: oh well you can sit by my side while i'm filling this out (thinking: and help me with this damn paper!)
stewards: *whistle* oo-la-la!

the steward gave me the pen, the other one told me what to write. he said "just write approximately - who cares? just you have to kind of evaluate all together - cash, and all stuff you are bringing."

me: can i write just "gifts" rather than listing each gift?
steward: yeah it will be fine.
steward 2: gifts? why don't you give some to me???
me: haha
me: but i have stuff like jewelry, clothes...
steward: no no not your things!

as far as i figured i should have written the amount of cash i was bringing and evaluate goods that were to be given to smb else.

so i went to my place and filled it out. when the steward that gave me the pen was passing by i said "hey!"

him: the pennnnnnnnnnnnn!
me: here it is! with a gift for you :)
(i had attached the charm i was wearing on the coat - a little angel, with the word "angel" in russian on it)

the steward held it with fingers with the back side (which was just plain blue) facing him.

steward: oh this is very nice
me: ...
me: turn it first...

and i burst out laughing :D

he laughed too, tapped me on the shoulder and left. i kind of felt good about it. they all were friendly and helped me out so i wanted to give them smth.

then it was time for landing. i looked out of the window and thought "oh god! i AM in America! geeze! i'm on the other side of the planet! i still can't believe it!" America looked strange to me. even the shapeless shapes - like a pond, or whatever, looked designed by human, because they were so perfectly done.

landing... walking through a long corridor... another one... keep going... desks for passport control... "maybe i should have picked up the luggage first? am i doing it right?"... desk 22. i was so tired.. i was leaning against the carry-on's handle.. the man asked me a bunch of questions.. he was being nice too..

man: did you have hepatitis??
me: yeah.. A.. in 98

he got up to ask another guy some things. he was so surprised that i had had it. i didn't care.. the other guy said "that one is okay". then i got my passport back and to my question "what next?" was told to go get the luggage.

i thanked and left. my luggage was standing there and looked like it was the only one remaining. a man suggested me getting a cart. he helped me put the luggage on it. looked like he was wondering if i would yell at him for helping me and saying smth like "i don't need your help! i can do it myself!" and felt relief when i gave him a tired smile and even more tired "thank you very much". i asked where i had to go.

man: to exit.
me: to... exit?
man: yeah :)
me: and what about luggage check, or whatever?
man: no no walk through that gate out. nothing else is needed. you can go :)

i was like WOW!!!!

i walked out.. pushing the cart in front of me.. and then i saw Michael coming towards me. it was over. i was with him. i did it! and i was in his arms.

last day in Armenia

2008-12-09T00:10:00.004+04:00

Dec 3rd
the last several days have been crazy - had to pay so many visits, meet up with friends, pack some...

and the last day was the craziest of course!

finished packing, went to the embassy, got the visa and passport, then went to marriott hotel, for the IRD event. however i practically took no photos... i was tired, and there were many people talking to me (from aunt's work). so i was just socializing.

then i ran to meet up with my friends - Mary, Avag, Niko, Helen, Armine, David, Felix.

with Niko and Avag

with Helen and Armine

with Mary

we went to beerloga. i like that place for some reason. the food is good, and the name "beerloga" has something to do with "bear's den" and something with the beer. and i like the idea and design, the lights there. looks pretty much like some german beer-house of say 18th-19th century. anyhow.

It was a strange company to see together - those were people from different times of my life, all of who i actually call my best friends, but they all are separate companies. and what i loved most of all was that i could be silly around them - very silly, yet what we said could be very serious and deep. everybody was sad about the fact i was to leave (including myself). Mary had signed a card for me and the text was so sweet and touching.. actually if i went out separately with all of these friends, i'm sure i'd cry every time. this way there were too many people and nobody would feel comfortable with crying too much which was my point :D

i don't think i'll find friends like this ever again in my life. i feel connect to them, and i felt connect for so many years. there was much going on between me and my friends, but the friendships were strong and survived. and i hope with all of my heart that they will survive us being apart.

when you get older it's more difficult to make really good friends with new people, to be able to trust someone completely, and share so much. with age and years passing by you become more careful about people, more distant, get closer to the people you knew - relatives, family, oldest friends...

but oh well. c'est la vie.

the funny part was when we ordered tequilla. we were tricking Helen and joking and eventually she stopped believeing us... including the fact we said "you have to lick salt, drink tequilla, and bite a lemon". she decided we were teasing her and decided just to drink tequilla. she turned away from everybody, so that nobody would see her face. she drank, her big eyes grew bigger and popped out. oh man did we have a good time and good laugh! hehehe

i went to bed pretty late... with a light heart (maybe because of the alcohol consumed). i knew i'd have to get up at 6.30 or so... but i just couldn't fall asleep right away. too excited, too nervous, too many things to take care of in the morning.

interview

2008-12-08T23:50:00.002+04:00

November 28th

so the day has come... i felt like this before some important university exam or my job interview. though this was way more important - i bet everything on that, i had no right to lose. and even though i was 99.9% sure everything would be fine, i still didn't have that 0.1% which was the "chance". so i rolled the dice...

i arrived at the embassy and waited for like 20 mins to get in and to the waiting hall. then i was waiting for my turn.

when i walked to the glass, i already knew it was only the first part - handing in the documentation. i had everything necessary. the lady started naming documents and i was handing them in. suddenly she looks at form DS-230 and says "where is the second part?"

me: hm? it's not needed. i had it printed but it's blank. and your invitation paper says i needed only the first part.
lady: we require both now..
me: you told me to follow instructions on your invitation paper. i just did.
lady: hm may i have a look.
me: here (pointed with a finger)
lady: hmmm yes our fault.. okay

this proved me one point - all the people who were shaking in front of this lady and others, who we begging them to get approved, who were scared to argue or even to say anything, were wrong. they just had to stand up to their rights, speak up, and not be shaking like a leaf! not having hysterics! no lying, not crying! just being confident in what they said, keeping it smile!

then the lady took all 10 fingerprints (strange that she didn't also want to take my footprints!), and told me to wait.

after that i was called and was interviewed by some american man. i was the only one who had an interview in english out of 10 people.

the questions were:

- how did you meet your fiance?
- when did you meet him?
- where does he live?
- how long have you known each other, how much time did you spend together?
- how many times did he come for a visit?
- do you have any photos of you two together? (! heh !)
- have you met his parents?
- do his parents live in the same city as him?
- what do his parents do?

that was all! the interview itself took 5 mins!

and yeah what for the photos... the man was shocked and quickly went through the first and third visits :D he saw the huge folder of evidence, but didn't ask for anything but the photos, so i could have not printed anything! too bad.

anyway. then he told me to come on dec 3rd at 4.45 to get the visa and the passport.

me: dec 3... it's really good because i'm leaving on 4th :D
guy: ?!
me: well Michael has bought ticket's for 4th... morning..
guy: !!

that's it :)

updates

2008-12-08T20:51:00.001+04:00

ok.. it's been long since i last posted and there are many things to write about.

interview

last day in Armenia

flight to America

meeting HIM

at OUR home

cultural shock

first several days

i'll be posting in that order, so don't ask me to jump back and forth :D

one day from November

2008-11-13T01:41:00.005+04:00

much better day than yesterday :)

talked to Michael in the morning... we both managed to be pissed off yesterday :D and felt very good after talking it all out and knowing that we have each other and those are small annoying things from somewhere outside.

then i fixed some small things on the website i was working at... and was about to get up. well was convincing myself. and then Lilit (classmate) called and asked to meet at 1 instead of 12! which gave me another hour of sleep :D

so we met up and went to the "Victory" park. the day was very sunny and nice.. it felt more like late October rather than November. I took some photos that i really liked :D and in general got into higher spirits, took my 365 photo too.

we had some talk, great part of which was about Michael, our relationship, me leaving for the U.S. and things related.

Lilit

then when we were about to part ways and suddenly Lilit says "hey! that ms. Ann!" (ms. Ann was our English and in some time also Russian teacher. one of my first English teachers). i didn't recognize her at first especially since she dyed her hair. she was standing there talking to some other woman. so we were standing in doubt, and then...

ms. Ann (loudly): who are those 2 beauties?... Irina Dokhikyan?... and Lilit?..
ms. Ann: oh my girls, they were my pupils, hello! how are you doing? my goodness you grew so much! such beautiful ladies! (etc)

ms. Ann: where are you studying now?

me: haha we both have already graduated, worked and quit our jobs for different reasons :D

the other woman: lol Anna probably they are also married just you haven't seen them for long :D

ms. Ann: geeze yeah! it's been 10 years already since i last saw you right?

Lilit: err not 10 but 8 yes :)

ms. Ann: so are you married? :D

me: ... *all smiles*
Lilit: she is on her way to :D

so ms. Ann started investigating who it was, then i showed a photo, of course she liked Michael, asked some more questions, and was very happy for me and told some very nice things.

then the other woman left and we walked ms. Ann towards her place a bit to have a longer chat. she got married too actually and had kids but we kept calling her ms. Ann :D. i told her that "see? i very much needed what you taught me in school :D" meaning English

and she asked if i kept studying as well as i did and that i had always been a good pupil and a smart girl... she just doesn't know that i never did her homework and was doing exercises on spot hehe but yeah i omitted that :D

here she is :)

then i went home to talk to Michael for a short bit and left again. this time to have dinner with mom. we went to a japanese restaurant - Samurai. it was cool! i had been there once.. taught mom how to use the sticks. she said i was using them with such grace and in such a way as if i had lived in Japan and have always used sticks to have dinner :D:D what i liked a lot was "choya" vodka made of special plum (i guess). the taste was really very good.

accomplishment

2008-11-07T02:01:00.003+04:00

today was a good day. by all means.

it was the first day i left house since sunday, and the flu is finally practically gone. i had to go pick up a paper from the ministry of foreign affairs, then get more papers.

i went to the ministry with mom, just to have some company in the line. after getting the paper, we walked to a bank to pay 131$ interview fee (i kept forgetting to do that). then i needed to go to what is called жэк (explanation for english readers: it's a place where you deal with comunal stuff. like if your tap is not working you go there and ask them to send smb. and it's who you pay the apartment fee. etc). i needed to get a paper that since i turned 16 and until now i'm living at my address (like i didn't live at some dorms, other places etc). i explained myself there. the lady stared at me and blanked. then she wanted to write it but the head was there and said "but how do you know that she has lived there? she could have lived anywhere!"

me: yeah. i know. so what do i do? from the ministry of foreign affairs i was sent here..
man: well.. get a paper from 3 neighbours who will sign that you have been living there. and bring their passports.

that was kind of a surprise for me. i got that paper in no time, took it and the passports to жэк again, and they gave me what i needed.

so i realized i could now go to the notary! and that i was holding all of the documents! i called mom again and we went to notary service together. they said it would be ready by 5! today! hooray! then me and mom went to Jazzve and had waffles. we left, i walked mom to work and started going back... and GOSH! I LEFT THE USA EMBASSY INVITATION PAPER ON THE TABLE AT JAZZVE!!! i nearly ran there and told the waiter "never! ever! leave such papers anywhere! if you are in my situation!" the guy laughed. i walked out with the paper and called myself all bad words in all languages i know!

went home. glanced at the desk whole surface of which was cluttered. the height of clutter was 15 cm in the average. i indifferently layed on the couch for a moment. feet were tired. i called Michael. played some idiotic mobile phone game, and left to get papers from the notary. i did. then photocopied EVERYTHING. all originals, checks, translations... and came home. i did it. it was over. i had all necessary documentation.

mom was surprised. she said i had plenty of time to do it without rush but did it in one day. i said:
- today was a good day. it was so sunny and warm. and i felt so strong and confident and lucky and happy that decided to do it all. it was fun to walk in the streets on such a day. it's one of the last days of warm, sunny autumn that i so much love. the next autumn won't be spent in yerevan. and today i didn't feel disgusted or hatered while walking in the streets. everything felt good. even people were smiling.

so now the only thing remaining is to get the package from Michael, fill in some application forms, and get some more e-mails, logs, photos printed.

(that's today's 365 days photo.this is from which perspective Michael sees me on webcam)

today i thought of so many visits i have to make, of farewell parties, saying goodbye, packing, leaving... it may sound strange.. i feel good about it. was i given a chance i'd leave NOW.

i know i will cry. many of my friends and family and relatives will cry and will make me cry too. but it's a good sort of it. i will be crying with a light heart, knowing it's the right thing to do, and that it's right to leave. i have no regrets. it's time for disclosure..

whatever my life was until this time - was good. i would have changed absolutelly nothing... because if i changed anything it might not bring me to this day. maybe i'd never meet Michael as a consequence.

the waiting comes to an end... a new life is starting, absolutelly different... and so much the same in some ways.

meh i better go to sleep :D the next time i start philosophy talk pinch me :D

P.S. my life is like coffee - strong taste, strong aroma... the vanilla in the coffee is Michael. without sweetness coffee would be disgusting!!!

interview appointment!

2008-10-24T01:36:00.003+05:00

so some of you know that i've got a call from the american embassy. for those of you who don't - they called me and asked to come today at 2 pm.

i went there with mom, arrived at 1.50. mom was to wait in the taxi (of course they wouldn't let her in). so i saw a line of 2-3 people in front of the "consular services" entrance. i went and stood there with the rest, but wasn't sure if it was the right place, so i went to the security officer outside. but he assured me that it was the right place just i had to wait for 10 mins - til 2.00 pm :D

when i got inside, there were some more security officers. one asked who i was, i answered. he asked to show the passport, then whether i had coins in pockets. and to leave the mobile, cameras and other stuff there. i gave my bag, said i had no coins. he asked to walk through this metal-detection gate. i did... and it ringed. so i stood there wondering what would happen next, expecting things up to "get undressed".

guy: please raise your hands and move them far from the body. and he started looking for metal on me with this small manual device. it pinged at the sides (the skirt had some metal thingies) and on the back :D

security: is it a belt or what?
i just raised my coat behind... which should have looked funny

security: no no don't get undressed :D just please don't wear clothes with metal stuff on them when you come to the embassy!
me: ah oh sure the next time i'll do my best :D (it was the first time i was asked NOT to get undressed :D:D:D)

security: okay good, take your passport now and go
me: umm where to?
security: ah you don't know.. okay i'll walk you

so he walked opening doors in front of me and letting me in (what a gentleman. why are guys gentlemen when they are at service only? :D:D:D) btw, the doors were *heavy*. when i pushed the entrance door i had to lean against it with all of my body!

security: are you leaving for the US for long?
me: yeah forever
security: what a shame! one more beautiful girl is leaving! btw it suits you more this way rather than in passport photo!
me: there are still many beautiful girls left here! and oh i know! the passport photo was taken loooooong ago!!

then he left, and i was let into a waiting hall with some other people. there were windows with numbers and people behind them. i had number 6 attached to my coat and had to wait till they'd call me. so then while waiting there was an older woman who talked to me. she was going to Utah to her daughter, and i told her my story in 2 words, and she wished me much luck, and said an american husband would suit me :D:D lol, then i was called

the lady gave me an "invitation to the interview". in the paper there were instructions on what documents i should bring with me to the interview.

i got the paper and started going back. tried to open the door, leaned on it with all of my body weight but my feet slipped and i just pushed myself back a bit. just like in Tom and Jerry or anything similar. i bet the security had quite an amusing and funny visitor. the door was actually locked.. they had to open it :D

so then i left. had some other business in the city.. but it's a different story.

now i have to collect the necessary papers, translate them through notary, undergo a medical invitation, receive papers from Michael... and get printed evidence of our relationship - like chat logs, photos, emails... if i print the 2-year chat log... it will be an encyclopedia of our relationship in 10 volumes :D. it's okay to bring "evidence" on a cd. i will take the video with me too...

it's so close now, it feels like if i lean forward i can touch it with fingertips. i'm so relaxed about it now. now that we know the date of th interview and what needs to be taken care of.. there are million of small things yet to be solved... but it all moves into some mist in my head and i all i see is Michael waiting for me right after this misty area, with open arms, with a smile, with shining eyes, as happy as i will look :D i'm idiotically smiling now :D i hope you, the reader, don't have this same idiotic smile on your face now too :D why idiotic? because i look like a hopeless romantic :D eh i'm in love what do you want? :D ok time to call my sweetness and talk to him until i fade away into the land of dreams. kidding. i don't see dreams quite often. ok i'm annoyed by myself, so bye bye :D

IRD event

2008-10-15T19:27:00.007+05:00

i better say 2 events.

the first one was the opening of a renowated board school in Dilijan. Ambassador of the US to Armenia, M. Yohanovich, was to attend this event together with the major of Tavoush region (where Dilijan belongs to), and some other important people. I was taken there as a photographer.

the trip started at 7.30 AM which is rediculous hour for me... and even knowing that I'd have to get up early I didn't end up going to bed until 3 AM. I set the alarm to 6.50, woke up and looked out of the window. the sky was black, the moon was shining brightly if I may say so. it was amuzing though :D I called Michael and talked to him for 10 mins, had a very quick breakfast - strong coffee, yogurt and a cookie. got dressed, headed out with aunt. we got into the car, and slowly the darkness outside started to move away, it got lighter and lighter with every minute. i was too excited and was just watching this process (which i actually haven't seen in many years :D ).

when we got to Dilijan it was around 9. we met up with the kids there, and the school stuff. i must say they all were so kind and hospitable, so honest and simple, and so thankful for the help, that I was kind of even surprised! even though hospitality here in Armenia is no big wonder. but here it was different - it came from their hearts. and well, though it was a board school, it looked like a big family. the attitude of kids towards teachers, and that of teachers to kids was very kind, warm, caring. One can't fake such things, one can't make children smile with fake smiles. and these children didn't need to be told to smile. they just did a lot.

her asian eyes
so i walked around the place, took some photos, checked lighting in key places, got myself ready. the morning was beautiful... Dilijan is a picturesque place with serpent roads and mountains covered with forest, and in fall it was simply amazing! the morning was so cool, so calm, so beautiful, that everybody was even in higher spirits.

then the guests arrived. the council, was such a nice lady! she left an impression of a very confident and independent person, with a big heart, very friendly, very open. she was smiling and looked at everything with much appreciation. also she was much more womenly than many american women - she had charm.

i walked around with her and other people and we even exchanged some words sometimes :D it was so natural. it was kind of a strange feeling for me to be there among all these important people with my cam. sometimes i would think that security would just rush in and grab me at some moment :D.

the woman in white is the director of IRD office in Armenia
in the last photo that's my aunt with the ambassador :)

yep that's me with the ambassador :D omg i just noticed! we are almost of the same height!

then the kids gave a small show - there were armenian dances, small theatre performance on an armenian fairy-tale, and some modern dances. the kids giving the theatre performance were extremely tallented. even guests who didn't speak armenian couldn't stop laughing!

then there was a small banquette.. at which i didn't eat anything for an unknown reason.. probably was too excited running around taking photos, or maybe just wasn't hungry yet.

then the ambassador left, and in some time the performance came to its end.

lol also, i gathered all my VHS films and gave them to this school.. now looking at it, it's mostly a collection of martial art movies (with Bruce Lee, Jet Li, and Jackie Chan mostly), educational martial art films (on taekwondo of course), and some action movies.. it was somewhat strange to see them there :D but the school has a sports group, so it may be useful.

the other funny thing was to see... a photo of myself on the poster from the last year, from the last event (see here) Yes, i can tell Michael "ENJOY NOW" about myself when i arrive at the US :D.

well and here are some photos of children:

then we headed out back to Yerevan where the second event was to take place. i fell asleep in the car and felt just dizzy when i woke up. i found out that my cam's battery was dying, the other cam was half-alive. i got the third half-alive cam from IRD's head of Armenian office - Rouzanna. i made it, shot the second event too.

i had the very opposite feelings about this second place. it was a special school for children with speech problems. the director and vice director looked like ... like they worked somewhere else at nights. the way they treated the children was so brutal that i was shocked. but from the side it wouldn't be noticable unless you understood armenian. they constantly pinched children, pushed them, yelled at them... it's more to that. looked like their motto was "the children are our enemies".

in the 1st photo: the third from the left is the director (woman in a black suit with white dots... and those... boots...)
in the 2nd and 3rd photos: the woman in red and black is the vice director...

this school had much more means to make things better for children, but the banquette they organized was 3 times poorer than that at Dilijan. the director would keep saying "we don't have furniture. we don't have this we don't have that". she said they didn't have a fridge... but then they walked into a room with one :D she said "it's not ours" if you asked "and whose is it? did you steal it?" she would say smth like "i'm repairing my apartment and brought mine here to use". at the end of the event, when the IRD people were collecting posters and other stuff, that woman came and said "hey please leave your flip-chard to us as present". please explain what she will do with it. she just wanted to get smth else for free, no matter what. i was really disgusted by it all. and was glad that the ambassador wasn't there at least.

in Dilijan, children and teachers were like a big family... here you could only pity the children.

but to finish at the bright note. at least the dinning room and kitchens were renowated and children will use them now. an armenian painter added some paintings to the wall, so it all looked nice :)

i was very tired after i came home, but i was happy. it was an interesting day, and i saw so much, such contrasting sides of basically similar things...

yes and a note to my friends: guys, Vahan (or Vardan?) the photographer wasn't there. there weren't any photographers actually. only people with video cams, from different TV-stations :D

for the rest of the photos visit the album:

Oct 15 - IRD event

i have much to say

2008-10-14T01:38:00.003+05:00

there is so much going on that i just don't manage to post and upload on time! i still have to upload fireworks photos... i just have to choose the best ones and delete the bad ones which is a tough and long process!

anyway!

on 15th there is an opening of a school which was renovated by IRD (International Relief and Development, where my aunt works). the school is for kids in the asylums, from unwealthy families, etc. aunt's office asked me to come with them as a photographer and have much hopes about my photos! they have designed a route for me and will want me to take photos of the head of the Armenian IRD office with American council, and other guests... it's much responsibility you know? i'm worried! tomorrow if they have place in the car they will take me with them to the school, so that i can wander about, learn my route and what they want from me etc. Also i can help with hanging posters and such. The school is in Dilijan.. which is 3 hours ride from Yerevan. i will post on 15th about it all in detail. promise!

now... THE NEWS!

the US ministry of home security has approved our papers on OCT 7!!! hoorayyyy!!! it's so great! now in a week they will send the papers to American consulate in Armenia, i will go get some papers, go through medical examination, and the interview... and will leave in about 2 weeks after the interview! i'm sooooo excited! i still can't get the composure of myself!

we didn't find out from lawyers. i was talking to Michael and suddenly..

Michael: DEAR! guess what?
me: what? lawyers called?!
Michael: no..
me: *sad*
Michael: stupid lawyers
me: ???
Michael: our papers were approved on OCT 7! i just went to the government site to read the usual "your application is in process. thank you." note hoping for some change, and suddenly i see "your application was approved on OCT 7"

so then we talk on and on about the process, work, traveling together, living together, we make plans...

Michael wants to meet me at Detroit (MI) airport which will be the entry point to America for me.. and then we will fly to Cleveland airport together and he will drive us home... in Detroit we will have enough time for kisses.. and other things.. and for me to tell him all about the flight, and for him to show me some pieces of America, and to have a drink together, ... etc :D

am i going to sleep this night? i don't think so. i'm too excited!!!!

P.S. (note added in the morning) Michael's post about this is here.

open air rock concert

2008-10-14T01:21:00.004+05:00

on saturday me, Anya and Vahick went to a small photo-exhibition about refugees of Croatia-Serbia, Cypruses, and Ireland. we really liked works of the photographer who shot photos of Ireland. the other thing we noticed, most of the photos had high ISO.. and well I actually liked the effect it gave especially to black and white pictures. the other thing about the exhibition that I liked was that each photo had a story of smb's life behind it.

then we went out, had a small meal at the Chinese restaurant and left... and heard rock music in the street.

we found out that a rock concert dedicated to Yerevan's 2790th birthday was taking place in the open in front of the Moscow cinema. Me and Vahick unanimously took out the cams and started taking photos.

Band members decided we were professional photographers and they were starring into my cam or sending smiles to it when they'd notice me :D

we could wander around the stage without restrictions. slowly professional photographers with professional cams arrived... they are probably sick of me and Vahick :D

the bands playing were Gor and friends, Reincarnation, Empyray, Bambir. the day was sunny, it was hot. look at the photo. if you think the guy has a blue guitar you are wrong! it's the reflection of the clear blue sky! yes you get it now :D By the time concert ended we were tired.

when i got home i had a terrible headache, so that i didn't even post a daily photo!

anyway for more photos visit my picasa album. i will probably upload more photos soon:

opean air rock concert

friendships and design

2008-10-08T01:13:00.004+05:00

1) the day before yesterday Michael told me that he was working on... Halloween invitations! i had never ever heard of him doing anything like that for 2 years of our relationship :D so yes he surprised me. i asked if i could help, and he actually asked me to do them for him.

to tell the truth.. design is such a thing for me that i may just have some idea and it will turn out good but when smb asks me to make smth i can completely fail it. so i was kind of anxious... nevertheless i made an invitation pretty quick... only to find out that it wasn't suitable, because there is a huge and long buletted list of invitation text (which Michael was working on while i was 'designing')!

so.. i practically remade the whole thing. and oh my god i actually did the 2 invitations in 3 hours! which is smth unheard of!

anyways.. here is what turned out

there is this thing with holidays in America. among friends and family they kind of 'divided' holidays, and every holiday got a reponsible person (or several persons :) ) so Halloween is Michael's and Linzy's (Linzy is Brian's wife, and Brian is Michael's brother, for those of you who don't know). and of course it will be mine :D i guess it's my favorite holiday of all! i just LOVE it!!!

2) there are some friendships which you value greatly but which fall apart because of some idiotic misunderstanding(s). and neither side wants to make the first step, because it feels betrayed by smb dear. Like if this misunderstanding took place with smb else, nobody would remember it on the next day. but it is the closest people that can hurt the most. however, the good thing is that when it's a real friendship, it will be fixed in some time. sometimes it is fixed in several weeks, sometimes in months, and sometimes in years. But good friends return into each other lives. and it's just beyond being great!

3) yesterday after diploma award ceremony i met up with Helen. we walked to Tashir pizza and had some pizza there like you could have guessed. we hadn't met up in some loooong time, so there was much to discuss (girlish themes in general). we giggled a lot and just goofed around. the cafe was very nice - the tables were far apart and that hall downstairs wasn't crowded, the waiters weren't annoying but were on time. the atmosphere was very nice and we felt relaxed. Helen wants to join my swimming classes which is just great! i'd love her in company :D

the thing with Helen is that since the second year of school.. our friendship hasn't changed. it had its ups and downs but usually we are the same troublemakers.. where she is always the innocent victim of my bad influence MUAHAHAHA

diploma award ceremony

2008-10-07T19:09:00.008+05:00

the official ceremony of receiving diplomas took place at what we used to attend as university.

i must say that i expected worse organization - but oh my goodness! they actually started at 2 as planned! where the ceremony was taking place? no not at the hall, no not at some other university or vuilding. it was taking place in the front yard of the university. at 2 the sun was shining brightly and we had to stand there, and there was no shadow!

so slowly the majority of students moved to the shadowy areas and sat on borders, stones, on the ground.. while the boring part was taking place.
that is to say rector and other people from administration where telling what a great place we were attending for 4 years :D:D

the "cool" moments were:
1. the bachelors were wearing a ribbon (the color depended on the faculty)

2. when the ceremony started they set doves free and they flew into the sky

3. we were given these ... tasteless congratulation papers with poor design symbolizing our diplomas.

4. we were given 2 "red bull" energy drinks and a congratulation paper. the paper was fine, the congratulation was funny.. you can compare the 2 congratulation papers yourself. i will say no more.

5. at the end of the ceremony they fired colorful paper into the air.

you can find the rest of the photos by clicking on links below:

Oct 07 - receiving diplomas

this one photo is uploaded at flickr because i needed it for 365 days project

and Mary's post about the same event is here.