Today I went on a duck hunt in Varanda (Fizuli). No big thrill for me or the Mayor of Martuni, as the two of us are not real hunters.

Though we usually try to hunt alone (less of a hunt and more just to walk around nature), this time we took with us an seasoned hunter (the Mayor�s nephew) and his assistant to carry the kill (another of the Mayor�s nephews).

The Mayor, his daughter and I dropped off the hunter and assistant, four kilometers closer to the front line from the Varanda lake (where I have a fish farm) and drove back to the lake to wait for them to make their way up stream.

While we were at the lake, we decided to do a little bit of hunting ourselves and on a little island with a tree that is in the middle of the lake, the Mayor swore that there were birds in the tree that we could kill if we took our boat out to get closer.

I looked at the tree and it looked like there were at least 7 large birds sitting on it, but looking through binoculars it was clear that they were just old nests which were drooping off the branches. Yes, we really are not hunters.

In a field nearby, it looked like there were geese feasting on a newly planted wheat field. We drove over and snuck up from behind some old abandoned buildings to find that they were not geese, but were storks. Too bad storks are not considered edible or else we would have had a feast.

We returned to the guard�s house at the lake and waited for our hunter and assistant to return with some kill.

Well after two hours, they showed up with two Mallard-ducks, one which looked to me to still be alive. I pointed this out and before I was able to take a picture, our hunter took the duck by its feet and smacked it in the head with the barrel of his rifle, decapitating the duck.

We returned to Martuni with our kill and on the way the Mayor and I admitted that we were not hunters but eaters and proved it when we got back by giving the Mayor�s wife the kill to clean and have ready for us to eat on Monday for lunch as a duck with wheat stew called �koorkoot� or I think we call it �herisa� (see comments from Mama Kocharian as to the difference). If we were real hunters, we would have cleaned the ducks our self and barbequed them on the lake instead of eating a turkey that the Mayor�s wife had fixed for us as she knew we were going to come back empty handed as we usually do.

One thing I learned today is that I really don�t get any thrill in hunting. I�m into hunting for the food, which means that animals that you can�t eat are off limits. I�m usually the driver that takes the hunters to hunt and snaps off the head of some dead animal to drain the blood from their lifeless body for those �hunters� that get squeamish doing such things.

I was thinking while waiting and watching the little black ducks in our lake that hunting should be something you do to survive and feed you and your family and not just for the thrill of going out to kill some living creature. Again, just my opinion and maybe there is more to hunting than what I see it to be.

I was planning on posting a picture of our kill, but I took a picture after the duck was decapitated and thought that it may be a little offensive to some of you animal lovers out there. Apologies to all you blood-thirsty hunters.

Sorry for not logging earlier, but I got home today from running around and I laid down for a nap and well, you get the idea.

Today it got chilly. It was 5c all day and tonight it�s 5.5c.

Since it was cold, the work on the roof was delayed as were not too sure if it�s a good idea to get started on it as if we have a freeze within 3 days of the cement being laid, it could crack and a roof is not a driveway where water is going to leak through. So I guess the roof will have to wait and I hope all that nice cement I�m trying to use up does not harden before I have a chance to use it.

Instead of the roof, one of my workers started to dig a trench along side the main water pipe that has never froze, but did last month. It�s going to be buried 50 centimeters deep, after being coated with tar, so it won�t freeze or corrode prematurely.

Today was bank day for me to distribute money to our aid recipients and on Monday I should be receiving the Christmas donations that one of our readers (DD) was so kind to arrange from members of her church. Eleven families will be receiving an unexpected one-time gift of $25 to $125 as a result of her efforts. I�m sure God will reward you and your fellow worshipers for your unselfish deeds.

I�m feeling much better now and really all that�s left of this flu is some very light discomfort in my throat (which I guess is not part of this flu) that the doctor said will go away.

I got to park my car in my parking area as the cement of the new driveway was dry enough to drive on. All that�s left of that project is to have a small steal tank or plastic barrel fitted with a heating element, circulating pump and some fluid that wont freeze. I was thinking vodka and water, but that could be a problem around here, as the evaporations rate is much higher for such fluids in this part of the civilized world. Does wine freeze? That would be cool to say that I heat my driveway with wine.

Today was 21c outside, but I stayed in bed nursing a light flu. Between drinking tea with honey, I slept and had some great dreams (an indications that I�m not all that sick).

When I woke a little while ago and watched a little bit of Armenian television via satellite.


It happens so often that when I turn on Armenian television they are showing music videos. I guess Armenians really love music. I think what they were showing was a rebroadcast of the holiday video show.


The first video I saw was System of a Down. I can see why System is so hot. Their music is supper energetic and all natural (I didn�t notice any synthesizers or drum machines), not to mention their songs are very thought provoking.


System was followed by a couple of somewhat patriotic Armenian videos.


The first was �Our Homeland�(?) and the pictures were about Armenia and its development. It was sung by quite a few different singers, but the only one I recognized was our very own Arthur (Madlene�s husband). The singers were all dressed very formal, as if they were attending an important meeting. The video was not staring the singers, but was staring none other than our president Robert Kocharian, who was showing how much the people love him and all of the major accomplishments that took place during the time he has been in office (as if he did all those things himself). There was even pictures of him and Kirk Krikorian.


The next video was about a solider that goes off to serve in the Armenian army. It was very touching and made me very proud to see our army in action with all its equipment and so on. Then at some point who becomes the center of attention in the video? None other than president Kocharian. In combat uniform, he passed out a metal to some soldier, shoots a rifle, looks through binoculars and so on. The video made him look very strong and in control.


Both those videos only lacked the message �Vote for Kocharian in 2003!!!� or maybe they did.


I can�t imagine that the artist of these songs envisioned that the video would be staring the president of Armenia.


I was waiting for the next video to be another presidential campaigning video, but it was some American video.


I watched for a little while longer, but didn�t notice any more Kocharian presidential videos or equal exposure videos for the other candidates.


The last video I watched was by Hasmik Garabedyan called �I�m leaving�. This video I�ve seen a few times and don�t care for it too much. It�s a video about a girl who is living with her boyfriend or husband (it�s not made clear) and while he is sleeping, she packs a suitcase and gets in a cab with him waking up and running after her, but he is unable to catch up to her before the cab drives off. The whole song repeats the words �I am leave my love and closing the door behind me� and has pictures of her remembering her and her boyfriend doing fun things together. Never did they show him being abusive or giving her reason to leave the way she did. She moves into a new place that she fixes up on her own, while remembering the good times she had with him. My understanding is that Hasmik is glorifying someone leaving their lover without any reason other than starting a new life alone someplace else (almost telling people it�s okay to leave what they have and start a new life in another country). Maybe there is another message that I�m too dense to understand.

If I was living in the states and my computer power-supply burned out like it did today due to a sudden power serge, I would have been looking at placing a special order to the manufacture and spending $150 to get a new one (Mama Manoogian once had to do this).

Living in Armenia and Artsakh has its advantages when it comes to such situations, as we don�t have quick and easy access to such parts, thus there is always a service available that repairs things that we throw away in the West.

I took my power-supply to Armen, who is known for his resourcefulness to fix anything that is electrical and can be fixed.

Armen dropped everything he was doing and got to work disassembling my power-supply which clearly was made not to be taken apart, but Armen took it apart. He quickly determined the problem, took out a burnt component, which he gave to me so I could pick one up in Stepanagert. He put the power-supply back together so it would continue to work until we replace the burned out part.

The repair cost me a whole 1,000 drams (less than $2) and that includes Armen again taking the power-supply apart and replacing the component that I will bring from Stepanagert.

So my computer is back up and running and I saved myself $148+. I guess this is one of the advantages of living in Artsakh and Armenia, people really are very resourceful.

Like Harout said in his log, the weather is incredibly nice. It peaked at +20c today. I hope it does not get any hotter as the tress my come out of hibernation and start to bloom, which would mean when things get really cold in February, they blossoms would drop off and we would have another year of little or no fruit.

When I was in Yerevan I picked up a cassette copy of System of the Down�s �STEAL THIS ALBUM�. From the hand written cover, I really thought that this was a totally pirated copy (which I�m sure it is since it cost less than $1), but didn�t say anything to the seller as I really wanted to hear what System sounded like.

What did I think of System? Well I�m really not much into aggressive music and the first time I put it on (on my way back to Artsakh), I only got passed the first song before I turned it off.

The next time I heard it, I didn�t put it on, but a couple of teenagers put it on as we went to Stepanagert and were just passing Aghdam. They had no idea what it was and thought they didn�t understand a word being said, they liked it and I was forced to listen to the whole thing. If you have ever heard System, then you can only imagine what was going through my head while listening and driving through Aghdam�s destruction. It was defiantly an experience I wont forget.

So not only did the kids like it, but I got use to it and after making the most of it and listening to the words (which I rarely do), I really seemed to enjoy the message they were giving. Okay, maybe a couple of the songs I don�t totally agree with, but overall, the music and messages seem very cool.

Another thing I want tell you about is something that Harout told me when we were circling the Lake Sevan and talking about music and System (before I got the cassette). Harout said that a non-Armenian friend�s younger brother is a System fan and knows all about the Armenian Genocide because of System. I guess before every concert, System gives their fans an Armenian history lesson and particularly talk about the Genocide. I�m sure Mama Manoogian will soon be a System fan for this reason, as she has always perched and practiced that it is our job to educate non-Armenians of our cause if we are going to be successful in getting international recognition and resolve this problem we all face. It seems that System is doing just this by educating the next generation of non-Armenians, which is a huge service to everyone.

One downfall to listening to System is that I now crave pepperoni pizza and we have no pizza restaurants in Martuni. Why pizza and not fried chicken? I can deal with fried chicken!!!

My January 2nd log about "YOUTH HANGS HIMSELF OVER GAMBLING LOSS TO STEPANAGERT CASINO" became a little bit of a hot topic. Before it got too ugly, I decided it best to close the topic to comments. Since then I've received quite a bit of e-mail from our readers on this subject and learned a little more about the young man and also to the reasons why the casinos in the major cities of Armenia have been closed down.

If you are one of the 324 viewers of that topic or are interested in knowing more about this subject, you can visit the Ara Manoogian forum and read all about it.

On my return to Martuni from Yerevan on the 28th, I had a minor fender-bender.

The incident took place 209 kilometers from Yerevan, which is someplace between Sisian and Goris.

On a straight stretch of road, I came up to a slow moving white Mitsubishi mini van (license number 153 SU 61) who was driving in the middle of the road where I could not pass him.

I put on my left directional indicator and he moved over to the right to allow me to pass.

I moved as far left as I could and began to pass. While passing at maybe 5 kilometers faster than the van, the van began to creep over into my lane. I honked my horn to warn the driver and next thing I know, he bumped into my car.

I kept driving straight and looked into my rearview mirror to see the van swerving all over the road, looking as if it would turn over, but the driver was able to regain control and we both stopped.

I got out to see the damage to my car and though it was minor, it was noticeable.

I asked him why he hit me and he said that I hit him. His passengers sided with him and claimed to witness me hitting them, though after my pointing out to them that their windows were fogged up, most of them backed down to their claims.

I asked that we exchange documents and the driver quickly told me that we have to move on as the road was going to be closed ahead and if we don�t move now, we will be stuck.

I followed them into Goris, figuring that we would go to the police station to settle our dispute, but as we passed through Goris and it was clear that we had passed the police station, I passed the van and signaled him to stop, which he did.

I told him that we need to go to the police station and he said that if we did, then I will have to pay for the repairs on his car. I told him that if I am at fault, I have no problem taking responsibility and would pay.

He told me that he would not go and I told him that I was going and will have to tell the police that he refused to come. He told me that would be fine with him.

I drove back into Goris to the Ministry of Internal Affairs building, where the police are found.

I was at first somewhat rudely welcomed, but as soon as they understood that I was from the Diaspora, they warmed up.

I first was taken up to see some guy named Grisha, who asked me what had happened. I told him and he got on the phone to have the van stopped and to return back. He told me that he would pull the guy by the ear and make him apologize to me for hitting my car.

It seems that the law is that the driver of the other car had no right to in anyway drive into me when I was passing and probably do it intentionally, but probably slid over due to ice and snow.

When we determined who the driver of the van was from making a few calls, it was Eshkhan and it seems that he is related to someone with a position of power.

I was next taken to see the deputy chief of police who started out trying to talk English with me.

He told me that these things happen and they would call Eshkhan to come see him the next time he passed Goris to apologize to him.

The deputy also said that he was sorry this happened and he personally would pay for the damage. I told him that it would not be necessary and that if Eshkhan caused the damage, then he should pay. The chief said that times are hard these days and it�s not a big deal for him to pay.

He then said to come with him and took me to a room where some other police people were having khorovads to celebrate a birthday.

We sat down and talked about life here and why I moved here and what they do and so on.

I didn�t drink as I had to still make it home and though they invited me to stay the night, I was in no mood to stay.

So a couple of days ago, the damage to my car was fixed which cost me $60. Though $60 is not a huge amount of money, I should see what the deputy will do when I tell him how much I spent to fix the car.

Today I got a call from Yerevan wishing me a happy New Year and asking me how the weather is? I told the caller that the sun was out and the temperature was 12c. The caller informed me that it was very cold and snowing in Yerevan.

Since my return, up until today, my main water-pipe had been frozen. You can only imagine how happy I was when water started to flow. My washing machine has been going non-stop since then.

I�m not sure when winter will continue, but right now we are enjoying a nice break from it.

I didn�t' t post to the Ara Manoogian forum a log that I found very disturbing sooner as I wanted to wait until everyone enjoyed their New Years celebration. For those interested in learning the effect of gambling and bribery on some Armenian youth today, please take a look at this posting (that means click here).

Happy New Year to all!!!

I wish I could say that the New Years celebration was over, but it feels like it just got started. In fact, it will continue tomorrow and all the way to the 6th or 7th.

On the31st of December until today, I�ve been making my rounds. I�m stuffed and just want to explode.

This year as appose to last year was less festive, but in some ways more joyful.

It�s as if the people have a better understanding of life and the show is over and real life means of living are being applied. I also get the feeling that the people here are feeling that some of the long waiting for a new beginning is nearing, meaning that life just may get better for all soon.

Even I get a feeling of greater comfort, and being in more control of my surroundings exist. Maybe others are feeling the same power as I am.

I made my rounds to 5 houses before midnight, which included delivering Vagif Stepanian�s wheelchair. I think that was the greatest joy I got yesterday as I know that wheelchair will really make a huge difference in that mans life.

Today I took my car to the body shop and tomorrow afternoon, it will be ready for me to pick-up.