Matt Ash

Living in Armenia is no different then living in other...

Mon, 08 Mar 2010 23:00:00 +0400

Living in Armenia is no different then living in other countries. You never take the time to visit the nearby sites and do the things that really make that place special. I’ve been living here for over 8 months, and have only taken a few opportunities to get out the city, and visit the sites that make our homeland so wonderful.

Today, Annie and I took a few hours to drive out to the Monastery of Geghard, and the temple of Garni. Geghard is called as such because for many centuries it protected the tip of the lance which the Armenian Church believes was used to pierce Christ’s side while on the Cross. The lance is now kept at Holy Etchmiadzin, but the complex is still one of the most beautiful places in Armenia. Geghard is hune into the side of a hill and according to tradition was established by St. Gregory the Illuminator in the 4th century. In one of its passages there is a sacred spring from which water flows forth and travels through small channels through the sanctuary. It is truly a place that inspires the spirit to prayer.

Garni, a place which I personally have not appreciated in the past, is an ancient pagan temple established during the time of King Trdat in the 1st century BCE. In a treaty settled between the Roman Empire and Armenia, Armenia’s gods where admitted in the Roman pantheon, and a Roman-style temple was erected. During this visit I appreciated a previously unnoticed aspect of the site. Garni has been used as a fortress and spiritual site throughout Armenian history. You can see situated immediately adjacent to one another a stone erected during the Ancient Urartian period (8th C. BCE), the pagan temple (1st C. BCE), and a Christian church (6th C. CE). This is truly awe inspiring.

Visiting these sites is considered a required part of any tour for first timers to Armenia, but its nice to return to them and take some time to really appreciate them.

Check out the photoset!

Ever wonder what makes up Armenia’s State Budget? I was...

Mon, 08 Mar 2010 13:49:55 +0400

Ever wonder what makes up Armenia’s State Budget? I was recently shown Civilitas’ 2009 Annual Report, which is a very sober and informative assessment of Armenia’s domestic and global standing. As an addendum to this publication, a foldout graphic was included, which visualizes Armenian’s 2010 State Budget.

Besides being very informative, it’s good graphic work, and especially above par for Armenia. The text is appropriately indicative, the color usage helps to delineate the information, and the photos don’t distract from the content. I’m not sure why Dollar bills were used to indicate “National Debt”, as the amount is in Armenian Drams, but thats about the only criticism I have. Check it out!

One of my best friends, John Harrison a.k.a. ManilaRyce, has...

Mon, 01 Mar 2010 09:28:00 +0400

One of my best friends, John Harrison a.k.a. ManilaRyce, has illustrated the cover for Bambu’s just released EP, “…Paper Cuts…”

Big congratulations to John for the good work, and more congratulations to all people behind “…Paper Cuts…” I just bought it on iTunes today, and its a great album.

Saintly iconography as seen through the lens of Manga, the...

Fri, 26 Feb 2010 23:01:20 +0400

Saintly iconography as seen through the lens of Manga, the modern cartoon style originating from Japan. At once its both thought-provoking, and unsettling. While the artwork is intended to convey the saints in a form thats palatable for a younger generation (one which I am either in, or on the cusp of) its difficult to say whether or not it can actually accomplish what traditional iconography is able to do. That is, serve as a spiritual doorway that allows us to commune with and be inspired by our saintly fore-bearers.

Without a doubt most people beyond a certain age would be simply be amused, if not offended by this depiction of the saints, despite this it should be recognized that this art speaks to some on a very serious level. While by virtue of its forms Manga seems to depict triviality, novels illustrated in its style often tell stories which are very dramatic and epic in nature. Perhaps this is a medium that can do some justice to those that have righteously served, and often gave the ultimate sacrifice, for Christ’s Church.

What are your thoughts?

h/t to Byzantine, TX

My wife and I were featured in Mitto’s most recent...

Thu, 11 Feb 2010 17:53:54 +0400

My wife and I were featured in Mitto’s most recent password cartoon. The likeness is uncanny.

Buzzing

Thu, 11 Feb 2010 15:53:00 +0400

About a year and half ago, when Twitter was starting to become a household name, it was interesting to see how people were completely polarized in their opinion of the micro-messaging service. It was something that was either an impressive new form of communication to be reckoned with, or a silly toy that people with too much time on their hands and not enough real friends used. Having already been a long time Twitter user (joined in Sept. 06), although never a prolific tweeter, I felt somewhat obligated to be my local twitter apologist.

From IM to Buzz

One successful way I found of communicating how it could be seen as “useful”, was to compare it to IM status messages. Since the days of AOL and ICM, IM status messages were a fun and casual way to send short messages to friends. Sometimes they were important, but most of the time they were just funny or even mundane. Twitter I would say, is basically like taking those status messages, putting them in a list, and timestamping them. Actually, that’s exactly what twitter is, with a few more bells and whistles.

With the advent of Google Buzz, Google is finally taking advantage of the fact that people have already been using Gmail, particularly g-chat, as a twitter-like service for years. In fact there are thousands of people that would feel more comfortable engaging on status messages from within Gmail for that exact reason.

Aggregation. Full stop.

Google has one advantage that no one can touch. The ability to aggregate massive amounts of data. They stepped into the social arena, aggregation wise, when they released Google Search with realtime updates. Where Buzz is going to succeed is in its ability to aggregate existing, but not related social data, as well as data that hasn’t been “socialized” yet. This is accomplished from the outset by “connecting” sites to Buzz such as Twitter, Flickr, Google Reader, and Picasa with hopefully more to come. Doing so allows the user to have all of their stuff pulled into a single social sphere without having to deviate from their normal online activity. Its Google doing what it does best.

In a recent “so what’s so great about Buzz anyway” statement made by Microsoft they said the following:

“Busy people don’t want another social network, what they want is the convenience of aggregation. We’ve done that. Hotmail customers have benefited from Microsoft working with Flickr, Facebook, Twitter and 75 other partners since 2008.”

Microsoft has ignored two important points.

Buzz is an aggregation service, which also allows you to post and comment internally.
Hotmail hasn’t been cool since 1999, and Live never was.

Open vs. Closed

I like Facebook, but I’ve always had one big problem with it. As one recent blogger puts it, Facebook is the new AOL. Facebook is a “walled garden”. While Facebook is making more efforts to make its information available to the rest of the internet, they’ve done so in a way that has caused privacy to suffer with little benefit to that actual service. The true value of Twitter and its cousins-by-API, is that with proper permission, this data can be accessed and manipulated in a limitless ways. Necessarily, it morphs to match the needs of the market. Google has a long tradition of creating open web services through great APIs, like Google Maps, so I’m hopeful that Buzz will follow suit.

One less tab

By incorporating Buzz into Gmail Google has done something absolutely genius. In one stroke they’ve ensured the success of their product. Aside from promising that every Gmail user will be forced to see that little Buzz logo with a number of unread messages next to it, which they will be forced to click on out of shear neuroticism, they’ve also done the user a service. Users are tired having to have several windows or tabs open at the same time just to keep up with their online conversations. If Buzz had been launched as a distinct website the only people talking about it today would be geeks and the people that read the things that geeks write.

Geolocation is King

What Google Buzz has gotten mostly right is its geolocation implementation. While agree with Mashable’s take on the service’s current deficiencies, being able to “snap” at a given location which corresponds to a Place on Google Maps via its mobile app is awesome functionality. Services like Foursquare, Gowalla, Brightkite, and most recently Yelp have been innovating in this field, but just like Facebook, they’ve developed closed networks. While I like Foursquare as a concept, Foursquare data is useless, or inaccessible for that matter, outside of Foursquare. Whats more, to take advantage of them you’re forced to cultivate entirely new friend-sets which have to be willing to participate in yet another social network, which may or may not catch on. Again, by utilizing aggregation and integration, Google Buzz has a lot of potential with this feature.

I was disappointed to see that Twitter API Geolocation data wasn’t being pulled into Google Buzz, but hopefully that will be incorporated over time.

The copycat issue

If Google has failed with regards to one thing in launching this service its that it hasn’t presented Buzz in a way that emphasizes the above perspective. By throwing a post box at the top of the screen, the first impression that many get is that Buzz is another take on Facebook, Twitter, and 750 other social networking sites. Perhaps this was inevitable, but Google’s number one challenge is going to be courting an audience that’s tired of being presented with too many options to accomplish the same task.

Conclusion

By including Buzz as an additional part of its already wildly successful Gmail service, Buzz probably already has the exposure it needs to gain significant traction. As Buzz posts pile up in people’s Buzz boxes (I’m still kind of unsure on the correct vocabulary to use here), and as people begin to learn how to incorporate their preexisting Internet usage into Buzz, I think it will have a bright future. Over time it’ll be subject to the same feature and interface driven iterations that Google’s other products receive, and it’ll only get better. I don’t believe in [insert web app]-killers, but I think it’ll be a big player in the years to come.

A Lazy Blogger I Am

Fri, 05 Feb 2010 18:10:51 +0400

Its been more then a couple months since I’ve contributed to my blog. I’ve been a bad bad blogger.

During this time countless important things have happened, and I’ve missed many valuable opportunities to shares my thoughts and experiences. In an attempt to rectify this, I’ve come up with a list of blogs that I plan on publishing over the next month. Some of this vital and invaluable topics include the following:

My Half Yearly Exams
Two apartments in two months, renting in Armenia
What I love and do not love about Armenia
Some Nerdy Stuff
An web based project I’ve been working on
Expertise and having it / How you spend your time
and more…

Also, as a token of my sincerity, I’ve updated the fonts on my website. Do you like them, or are they too gaudy?

Annie recently took a short trip to a beautiful part of Armenia...

Fri, 05 Feb 2010 17:44:00 +0400

Annie recently took a short trip to a beautiful part of Armenia called Jermuk. The area is famous for its natural mineral waters. As part of her stay there, her and her companion were medically treated in various and silly ways using, primarily, the local mineral water. Classic Hayastan. Click through to view the photoset.

The Sun Don't Go Down

Fri, 20 Nov 2009 20:00:00 +0400

How often do you talk about death? Not often I imagine. It’s a topic that we naturally avoid, until we find ourselves face-to-face with it. If you’ve never been exposed to death, you usually avoid discussing it because it’s a foreign and dreadful thing. If you have experienced it, the consideration of it typically calls up unpleasant emotions.

In the seminary over the past couple weeks, we’ve had a number of very interesting conversations about death and the afterlife.

In my Pastoral Theology class, a visiting clergyman spoke about the recent passing of his wife of nearly 40 years. His recounting was inspiring, and also thought provoking for many reasons. In my Dogmatic Theology class we discussed the fundamental beliefs of the Armenian Church with regard to death and the afterlife.

Cultural Differences

One of the many things I’ve come to learn about Armenian Culture (in Armenia), is that they, in no uncertain terms, regard death in an extremely tragic way. In an Armenian funeral, the degree to which the loved ones are wailing, really physically sobbing and screaming is a reflection of how much the deceased was loved. You will nearly never see someone smile or laugh upon the reflection of a fond memory, let alone hear a joke made at the deceased’s expense.

This contrasts starkly with what I’ve been exposed to in the United States. On the one hand American culture is hopelessly infused with a Waspishness that values emotional conservatism. Despite the emotional burden one is carrying, to behave in the aforementioned way would be considered uncouth. On the other hand, my personal experience with death and grieving has been one in which the deceased’s life is celebrated, solemnly, but with joy in our hearts as well.

In trying to explain this perspective to some of my classmates, I was met with more than a few blank stares. It was inconceivable that the death of a loved one could inspire anything but pain and anguish. Regardless, I pressed on, but ultimately to no avail. The truth is that I began to doubt whether or not I’ve been taking this whole death thing too lightly. I could see a real sense of dread in there eye’s when I implied that one day a friend of loved one of theirs might pass, and that they should try, especially as future clergymen, to stay positive about it. In reality there is no “might” about it, just “will”.

The Joyful Truth

The truth is that our Orthodox Christian faith tells us that death is indeed an occasion for celebration, a time for us to thank God for the gift of a loved one’s life, and truly feel a sense of joy that their soul has returned to the creator.

Unfortunately that belief, which we accept as a cornerstone of our faith, and profess every Sunday in Church is, generally speaking, less then comforting when faced with actual death. I truly believed this when my own father passed away, but my faith was only able to succor me on an intellectual level. Deep down, in a raw way, there is a natural part of us that sees death for what appears to be: the end.

I kept these thoughts with me for awhile, and I felt saddened that despite the amazing truth of the Christian’s victory over death, a victory that allows us to live our lives free of fear and its self-destructive progeny, we all continually struggle with what we believe versus what we observe and subsequently feel.

During this time I listened to a song that I’ve heard many times before. It was one of the occasions when I felt like I heard the lyrics for the first time, and understood what they meant. The song was “Do You Realize” by the Flaming Lips. It’s a beautiful song, from an amazing band.

“Do you realize that everyone you know will die?
And instead of saying all of your goodbyes
Let them know you realize that life goes fast
It’s hard to make the good things last
You realize the sun don’t go down
It’s just an illusion caused by the world spinning ‘round”

When I heard the last two lines I understood that it was speaking about our human perspective and our struggle to look behind what’s empirical. No matter how assuredly we are educated that the rotation of the Earth around its axis as its orbiting our solar system’s star is the reason we see the Sun move across the sky, and eventually move beyond the horizon, we have always and will always perceive that the Sun is actually going up and down.

In our lives we constantly experience phenomena which we humanly perceive to be one way, but in truth are far more complex and wondrous then we can comprehend. I’m reminded of a recent article in the Telegraph entitled The Top 10 Weirdest Physics Facts, which include this gem: “All the matter that makes up the human race could fit in a sugar cube”.

And so it is with death. We observe a failed body, and we observe the absence of that body’s presence in our daily lives, and we react accordingly .

The beautiful truth, like the setting of the Sun being one motion within the context of the inconceivable harmony that governs our Universe, is that physical death is a natural function of our existence, and when we look beyond it we understand that it’s a prelude to an inconceivable reunion between the soul and God that exits outside of time and space.

It would be disingenious of me to say that we simply shouldn’t be sad at the passing of a loved one. To deny ourselves that response would at best simply be unnatural, and at worst phsycological repression. In that grief though, by striving to look beyond the physical we can find a path that leads to peace in our hearts, and the happiness that the comes from understanding the transformation our loved one has undergone.

Seminary Life: Part 3 - Student Life

Thu, 19 Nov 2009 07:00:00 +0400

Currently there are about 150 students attending. Nearly all of them are from Armenia. There is only a handful from the Diaspora. There is one student from Syria, another from Iraq, and I’m told there is a student from Germany, though I haven’t met him yet. He’s doing a really good job of blending in. Students who come from Georgia or Karabakh are also called Diasporans, but kind of jokingly.

They are all required to live in the dormitory throughout their education, and share rooms with their classmates until their sixth year when they’re given individual rooms (space permitting). The student’s day is strictly organized. The following is their schedule:

           6am - Wake up
        7:30am - Morning Service
After Services - Breakfast
    9am-2:30pm - Classes
           3pm - Lunch
       4pm-5pm - Study
        5:30pm - Evening Service
After Services - Wash up
           7pm - Dinner
      8pm-11pm - Study
       11:30pm - Lights out

They are not permitted to leave the monetary during the week, except on Sundays after church if they’ve got permission, but they usually have to be back in time for evening service.

This structure, although very strict, has a few really wonderful effects. The first is that the students are left, essentially, without distraction. They don’t have any relationships (active relationships anyway) with people outside of the seminary, and they have nothing else going on except attending classes and doing homework. This way they’re sure to have enough time to get their work done. Since, they share the same classes, and therefore the same workload, all of their class work is essentially group work. So they always study everything together. Due to this, the bond that is developed amongst the classmates is tremendous. They really are brothers by the time they graduate the seminary, and know each other as well as they know anyone in this world. It’s a very successful support system, and they build strong relationships that will benefit them personally and vocationally throughout their lives.

To Be Married

The downside to all this male bonding time was something I referred in the first installment… the girl thing. In order to be ordained as a married priest, you must be married first. The problem is that most of these young men have very little opportunity to meet girls. They have a couple months during their summer vacation when they can socialize, but they inevitably begin the next academic year, and spend the majority of the following 9 months out of contact. The result of this is that they have a very hard time developing interpersonal skills, especially the kind necessary for talking to women. In the short time that I’ve been here I’ve been asked on three separate occasions how to talk to girls, about what girls like, and more.

From one perspective it’s cute and it’s refreshing to see that their able to keep their innocence for so long in this regard. From the other perspective, it’s got to be awful for them to graduate in their mid-twenties and have to stress about learning how to meet and marry a girl as soon as possible so they can pursue their calling.

I don’t mean to over state this issue. It’s not something that’s considered an issue here, in fact it’s due rigeur or like a right of passage perhaps, but it struck me as being interesting

Growing Pains

The youngest students, as I said, are 17 years old. They aren’t mature 17 year olds either. They’re the same self-affected, insecure, and arrogant 17 year olds that I knew when I was in high school. It’s interesting that even though the culture and educational system is completely different in Armenia from the United States, a teenager is still a teenager. They struggle a great deal with the restrictions put on them, and the high expectations of this place. Many of them come from villages, and the quality of their primary education ranged from mediocre to awful. In order to be accepted to the school, they have to pass an entrance exam, but still they frequently have difficulty with the level of the instruction.

It’s hard to say what drives them at such a young age to pursue the priesthood. I’ve spoken to many of them about it, and each has his own answers. For some its a familial oblegation, others were inspired by a priest of deacon in their community, for others its done out of a sense of social righteousness. I heard one young man when being questioned as to whether or not he had what it took to be a priest say “I’m a good person. I stand up for other people.” I thought that was interesting. There are also young men who are here for reasons they won’t share, perhaps they’ve made personal oaths, or are even being sent here as a disciplinary measure.

While it’s not a direct comparison, it’s amazing to see the level of the oldest students compared to the youngest and see that they’ve transformed so much within the span of five years. The youngest students, though I’ve grown to be very fond of them, aren’t responsible enough to warrant being asked to care for a friend’s pet. The oldest students on the other hand, are knowledgeable and humble young men who you can easily see are the future leaders of the Church.

When put in that context it’s very clear that this seminary is doing its job well. That isn’t to say that certain things aren’t deserving of critique, but I think it’s far too early for me to start being critical.

Seminary Life: Part 2 - Academics

Fri, 30 Oct 2009 15:03:00 +0400

This is the second part in a series of blogs which were written to give the reader an idea of what the Kevorkian Seminary is like… from my perspective at least.

The Academic life of the seminary, is very structured. Very very structured. Did I mention that its structured? This was surprisingly shocking to me at first, but in retrospect, its a seminary located on the grounds of an orthodox monastery, its not like it would take any cues from Montessori or anything.

Before going into the details, one of the best things about the academic experience of the Kevorkian Seminary, is that the people who are teaching you in any given subject (especially the high-level courses), are usually masters of the their subjects, in the truest sense of the word. If you are being instructed about the Church Doctrine, your professor is someone who has spent years and years delving into the details of that subject, and in their own ministry are engaged with its development. Likewise for topics like Liturgics, or Homiletics. Its one of the schools most wonderful qualities.

The aforementioned quality is something that most universities can boast of their professors, but in the context of the Armenian Church, the mastery of some of the Church’s admittedly arcane areas of study is a rare thing.

Classes

Every day, Monday through Saturday, there are three classes from 9am-3pm. Each class is approximately two hours long, with a 5-ish minute break in the middle. In the middle of the second class there is an extended break where they serve tea and some sort of baked snack, like a choreg. With very few exceptions, none of the classes are repeated throughout the week. Which means that the students are taking somewhere between 15 and 18 different courses at the same time.

I remember in college that there was a rule of thumb that for every hour of instruction there was supposedly X number of corresponding hours of homework required. I couldn’t say exactly what that X was, because I rarely ever did it, but lets say that it was 2 hours of homework for every hour in class. That means that these kids have 36 hours of instruction a week, and 72 hours of homework. That’s a lot! That homework rule might not stand up 100% here, but they are given pretty substantial homework in some of their classes. How do they do it? I’ll discuss that in the Student Life section, to come.

The classes are taught in a myriad of styles depending on the instructor. The old school soviet era teachers (mostly the lay people) teach in a soviet style. It doesn’t work for me, but most of the students are used to it already, so its not a big deal for them.

The “Soviet Style”, and I don’t know if that’s the right way to refer to it, involves a great deal of memorization. I was never much of a memorizer of things, as we really don’t emphasize that in the American educational system, but its a respectable skill none the less. I’m doing my best to try and pick it up.

The courses taught by the clergy, especially those clergy which have received higher education in Europe, Russia, or the United States, are much more open. They are usually taught in more of a conversational way, which almost all the students engage in readily.

The only class which is taken every year is Church Music. Music is huge part of what goes on in the Church, and it seems as though every student, by the time they’ve gotten through a year or two of training, sings with a powerful and confident voice. The students learn at least one church hymn a week, and are expected to be able to sing it solo, sometimes without being able to see the notes. You can imagine how many hymns they’ve learned after six years of music classes.

They are also expected take four different language classes during the course of their education. They study English and Russian in their first years, then they study Greek and Hebrew.

Etchmiadzin High

One of the things that surprised me the most about the school day here is the bell. At the beginning, the end, and the break of every class, the school bell rings. When I told this to my cousin David, he coined the term Etchmiadzin High, and it stuck with me. Much of the way the school is configured makes it very similar to an American High School, perhaps even an American Elementary School.

I say elementary school because of the way the classes are set up, not in a academic sense but logistically. The seminarians here are organized in classes. Such as the 1st year class, the 2nd year class, and so on (its more like Ա լսարան, Բ լսարան…). Each class has its own classroom, and each student has his own desk. He can keep things like notebooks in it, and pens. Students don’t choose there classes, or receive course schedules, because they simply stay in their classroom and the right teacher shows up at the right time. If a class is canceled because a teacher didn’t show up, or because that hour is free, they have to stay inside of the classroom unless permitted to do otherwise. Its also like elementary school in the sense that when they leave the seminary, either to go for the cafeteria for a meal, or to go to church, they do so in a line from youngest class to oldest.

I don’t mean for the analogy to be demeaning or anything, its just an observation. The truth is that, for reasons I’ll discuss more in later installments, this structure is crucial to the development and maturation of the students.

In the next installment: The Student Life

Seminary Life: Part 1

Mon, 12 Oct 2009 21:44:00 +0500

Its been slightly more then a month since I began at the Gevorkian Theological Seminary at the Mother See of Holy Etchmiadzin. Since then, the process of settling in to my academic life has been, like most things in Armenia, less then predictable.

In this post and over the next couple in this series, I’d like to share with you how the Seminary is structured, what the student life is like, and finally my personal experience. This is for the benefit of my friends and loved ones, as well as anyone else that is curious how an Armenian Seminary works.

Note: before considering some of the more entertaining things about the Seminary, I want to make a blanket statement. These things may only be funny from a western-centric point of view, and are perfectly normal and productive here. What’s more, despite and sometimes due to these things, I very much like being a seminarian here

How the Seminary Works

The Gevorkian Seminary, the preeminent institution for preparing young men for the priesthood in Armenia, is a six year program. A student who attends all six years will receive a bachelors degree in Theology, and specialized education in the Priesthood. In their fifth year, they’ll be ordained as a Deacon, the lowest rank of clergy (if they pass the relevant tests). After their sixth year, if they pass their exams, and if they accept the responsibility, they will at some point be ordained a celebrate or married priest (assuming that they’ve been deemed as ready). For some of them it will still be a number of years before they are ordained. Sometimes this has to do with the marriage thing, but we’ll get into that later. If the clergyman is ordained as a celibate priest it will be highly encouraged, if not mandatory, that they continue their education at the Masters level at some international university, in Europe, America, or Russia.

Students enter the Seminary after completing the Armenian equivalent of High School. High School (up until this year I think, as the laws were recently changed) goes until the age of 16. This means that most students are about 17 years old when they begin their seminary education. So, its possible for someone to graduate from the seminary, and be ordained by the young age of 23. It doesn’t happen very often, but it happens.

Most of the teachers of the religious courses are clergymen. Priests who work and sometimes live in the Monastery adjacent to the Seminary. As far as I’ve experienced, they are all very capable educators, and are highly versed in the subjects they are teaching. The school’s secular courses (Literature, History, Philosophy, Foreign Languages, etc…) are pretty much all taught by lay people. I’m not in most of those classes, so I can’t speak about them very much. I can confidently say that my Armenian History teacher is no Jaime Escalante though.

The Hierarchy of the school consists of a Dean, and two Vice-Deans, one in charge of the schools academic program, and the other responsible for administrative issues. Of course, being that its located at the Mother See, the school falls under the supervision of the Catholicos, His Holiness Karekin II, who takes great interest in the affairs of the seminary.

Well, that’s about it as far as the structure goes. Its not really entertaining at all actually, but I thought it would be interesting for everyone to have an idea of how the Seminary functions. In my next post I’ll present the Academic life of the school.

When Annie came to Armenia last week we had the privilege of...

Thu, 08 Oct 2009 23:21:00 +0500

When Annie came to Armenia last week we had the privilege of participating in her cousins wedding. All I can say I that a wedding in a Armenia is a thing to behold. All totalled it lasted 12 hours. Despite the exhaustion is was actually quite fun.

Update - I’ve uploaded all the photos to flickr. Check out the photoset. Videos will get uploaded at some point.

Moved my blog to Tumblr

Fri, 02 Oct 2009 22:51:49 +0500

My previous blog system, chyrp, was causing me a headache. I set it up over a year ago, and while I really liked the concept, it was never stable enough to rely on.

I decided to move my blog to tumblr.com. It’s a hosted microblog, that you can use and customize for free, and even lets you use your own domain without having to pay extra. This made sense as well because of the fact that chyrp was essentially a tumblr clone that you can host yourself. Its also got a well built iphone app which is handing for blogging on the go.

The whole move was very simple and quick, accept for tedious process of looking through their myriad of themes to choose from. I settled on something light and simple.

The other trick was getting comments to work, as they’re not a included in the tumblr package. This turned out to have a simply solution by using disqus.com. I wasn’t aware of this pretty cool site until now. I could see myself using it in future websites.

In case you missed it, here is my video of the Armenian...

Wed, 30 Sep 2009 10:02:30 +0500

In case you missed it, here is my video of the Armenian Independence Day Fireworks Spectacular. It was a blast, and we had front row seats because it was poring rain, and no one else was daft enough to sit at an outdoor cafe to watch a show that might now have even happened.

One problem: I wish the fireworks hadn’t been so close. Right after I stopped shooting this video, a fairly large ember from one of the fireworks can shooting down, and hit the top of a womens umbrella. She didn’t even notice it, but if it hadn’t been raining she’d be in the market for a new hairstyle.

"I am a child of the Diaspora. I was not born in the motherland. But the motherland was born inside..."

Tue, 29 Sep 2009 22:27:21 +0500

“I am a child of the Diaspora. I was not born in the motherland. But the motherland was born inside of me.”

- Karekin I of blessed memory

Settling In: The Armenian Way

Wed, 02 Sep 2009 19:11:49 +0500

If you look up the Armenian word for Settle you’ll find բնակություն հաստատել (pronounced Bnagootiun Hasdadel), which literally means to establish one’s abode. Of course, in the context of this blog, settle has the pretty much the same definition. So why introduce the Armenian word? Simply to impress you with my increasing Armenian vocabulary, and to illustrate that occasionally Armenian words can be very long.

Its been almost three weeks since I arrived in Armenia to begin attending the Kevorkian Seminary at the Mother See of Holy Etchmiadzin. Upon my arrival, I stayed at my friend Peter Abajian’s house in Yerevan. It’s newly built condo which sits atop the northern slope of the Yerevan Valley which looks out on to the center of the city.

When I arrived my goal was to settle in, which included setting up my cell phone service, opening a bank account, starting Armenian lessons, determining my course schedule, and moving to a residence somewhere in or near the Mother See of Holy Etchmiadzin. That’s five things.

To my understanding classes would start at the beginning of September. From the day I arrived that gave me a little over a week to accomplish my settling in tasks, which I thought was would tight, but adequate.

Punchline: It took three weeks instead of one.

The first three tasks took one week. I’m very pleased with my 3G cell service via VivaCell, I opened a non-resident bank account at HSBC, and lastly I began Armenian lessons with a private tutor. I like the tutor’s teaching style, and I’m definitly learning a lot from her.

The Two Remaining Tasks

The last two items took the remaining two weeks. The people from the Seminary weren’t available when I arrived due to summer vacation, and when they were available they weren’t ready with the full course catalog, therefore I couldn’t be assigned my classes. Then I learned that classes were to start on September 7th, and not on the 1st. Subsequently, they were postponed from the 7th to the 10th. I had nine free and unaccounted for days.

It had been decided sometime ago that Annie would stay in America until November because of work, therefore I had thought that it would be best if I could stay in or near Holy Etchmiadzin, the monestary where my seminary is located. The school is about a 30 min. drive from the capital, and being alone and without a car, I didn’t see any point in commuting everyday. Additionally, I relished the opportunity to live in the monestary and be a part of that environment.

In order to arrange this I had to meet with His Holiness Karekin II, the Patriarch of All Armenians whose catholicosate situated at Holy Etchmiadzin. I needed his permission. Of course he’s a very busy man, so getting an opportunity to see him was not as easy as popping my head in his office and asking if he’s available. He’s also been sick over the past couple weeks, which made it harder to get an audience.

A week and a half after I arrived I was able to meet with him, and he gladly granted me permission to live in the monastery, but in order to determine which room I should get I would need to meet with another bishop who’s in charge of that sort of thing. That day, and for the next five days this bishop was unavailable due to his travelling schedule.

Eventually I was assigned a room in the deacon’s quarters which is on top of the cafeteria. Today was move-in-day, and despite the fact that a chunk of the flooring is missing and the faucet runs 24/7, I’m excited to be staying here. This is because every morning you get to wake up and see an amazing vision of the most sacred building in the Armenian Apostolic Church.

The Waiting

So as I’ve explained it took me three weeks to accomplish five things. So what did I do the rest of the time? I was able to do some pretty fun social things with friends like see a couple outdoor musical performances (One was called “Duke Ellington Meets Vivaldi”), and go to Dilijan for a birthday party.

I was able to explore the city on foot. I have been familier with Yerevan for a long time, but it was nice to experiance it at my own pace. Being alone, I spent much of my time making up fictional Armenian dialogs in my mind, trying to anticipate future conversations so my brain would be ready to serve up sophisticated sentences. These sentances almost invariably never escaped the confines of my mind though. When does this cross the line into hearing voices?

I also had time to catch up on several projects which required my attention.

However, in the end, I spent a lot of time waiting. In fact, I can’t remember a time in my adult life when I’ve had so little to do. Nowhere to be, no one to see, nothing being expected from me.

This might sound nice, but for awhile this was pretty frightening. This was a foreign condition for me.

Having value

About a week ago I thought of one my favorite spiritual writers, Fr. Henry Nouwen. In one of his books, Spiritual Reflections (I think), he wrote that one of his greatest struggles in life was accepting his value. He explained that we often wrap ourselves in the notion that the more we produce the more valuable we are to society, and furthermore the more worthy we are of love. The love of the people we care for, and God’s love. The downside to this is that when we cease to produce we become worthless, and unworthy of love. In fact, this becomes perspective becomes pointless when we realize that God’s love, or true love, isn’t something which can even be earned, but instead is something which is always given as a gift, a grace. So the challenge we face is to understand that we have value by virtue our creation, and that we must accept God’s love even when we don’t feel worthy.

One of the reasons that I decided to come to Armenia to continue my education was because I knew that I would be completly useless here. Without having a complete grasp of the language (yet), and being occupied with my studies I knew I would be left alone to do as I saw fit. I also knew that I’m someone, like Henry Nouwen was, who is attracted to work, and is always looking for an opportunity to prove or validate myself through the products of my labor. I’ve always known this was not right, and I’ve always wanted to change that aspect of myself.

I think that without knowing it I’ve learned my first lesson in Armenia, and it was before classes even started! Part of settling in didn’t just mean establishing my abode, but it also meant that I had to adapt myself to this new lifestyle. A lifestyle thats okay with waiting, and offers no shame in taking three weeks to do five things.

I’m now sitting in my room, waiting for my classes to start. I’ve been told they’ll start tomorrow… maybe. If they don’t, perhaps I’ll go for a walk.

Failure to Launch

Mon, 24 Aug 2009 10:29:42 +0500

I have a special talent for making short stories long. Therefore, I will begin this story much earlier then it needs to begin. Annie, my wife, and I went to Armenia together earlier this year in May. Our goal was to explore the possibility to moving there for a period of time so that I could continue my training for the priesthood. Upon returning to the United States we decided that this option would be good for both of us and began making preparations.

Preparing for Departure

In June we purchased our tickets going through Moscow using Aeroflot. Like a good boy I wrote the departure date and time in my Google Calendar. We then began the process of saying Goodbye to all of our family and friends. This was perhaps the most time consuming part of preparing for our departure, but it was also wonderful.

In July we learned some good news that would be changing our plans slightly. The firm that Annie works for, Brantner Design, got a great opportunity to design the interior of a large home in Montecito. The contract was big enough that they were willing to fly Annie back-and-forth from Armenia at least once or twice between now and Thanksgiving, when the project is supposed to be finished. So we would be departing together, then after we were settled and my classes began she would return to the States.

The Failure

The days prior to our departure were hectic with shopping, clearing out our living spaces, making last-minute visitations, and a thousand other small matters. The day before our friend Tammy and Annie’s brother Dan came down to help us pack, and David came all the way up from San Diego to do the same. The last day was filled with activities, but our flight was to depart at 11pm, so it wasn’t that frenetic. A very impromptu gathering came together at my mother’s house where we stopped on the way to the airport. Friends and family had all come together to wish us well in our journey. We got pizza from Lomeli’s, and had a great time.

As we departed for the Airport, a few of our friends decided to come see us off from the International Terminal. In the car on the way over, I began to feel very sad, and some what regretful about leaving. It was due in part to some trepidation I was feeling about making the move, and having to overcome that challenges that would face me in Armenia. I knew I would also really miss Stefanie and my mom, and I felt like I was abandoning them.

We arrived at the airport, and after some significant effort we managed to get our bags from the cars to the terminal. We then started walking around attempting to find the Aeroflot desk. One problem: it wasn’t findable.

The check-in desks at the Bradley Terminal of LAX are not stationary, and rotate position depending on availability, so its not odd to find yourself scouring for the right place, but we did all the scouring we could without results. We were pulling airport employees aside asking them where Aeroflot was. Most weren’t helpful, others said things like “Aeroflot usually doesn’t fly this late, check your itinerary.”

I was quite convinced these people were wrong, but we hadn’t actually printed a copy of the itinerary to confirm it (warning sign). So we pulled it up on my phone. Slowly the Itinerary loaded on my screen. The obvious was made obviouser. The flight was scheduled to leave at 6:55pm. We arrived to the airport at around 8pm. Without going into more detail, I went through the following emotions: denial, confusion, rage, embarrassment, delusion, and then greater embarrassment.

What followed was a slew of smartphone usage by myself, David, Arsen, and Charlie to find phone numbers to call, next available flights, and airline policies . With all of the relevant offices closed or unreachable we decided to head home.

The ride home was a tough one for me. I had been emotionally psyching myself up to do something I was increasingly feeling nervous about, then I was shocked by missing the flight, and ultimately I saw the love and support of all our family and friends. I was very upset. When we got home we picked up where we left off. We all had many Martinis, and stayed up late laughing and joking. It was a fitting end for such an intense day.

This happens all the time, right?

Ultimately, missing a flight isn’t the end of the world. We walked away from the debacle, convinced that we would find a couple open seats on the next flight out, and Aeroflot would transfer tickets. In the days that followed we did whatever we could to resolve the issue.

The day after we missed the flight, we called ever number we could find for Aeroflot. The only number that would connect us with a human being was in Russia, and the operators only spoke Russian. We got a hold of our travel agent, but their response was not positive. They didn’t encourage us to dare to hope that Aeroflot would be amenable. Later on that day we went to LAX hoping that we might be able to speak with someone there. We did, and they did not help. They told us we were designated as “No Shows,” and the value of the ticket would be forfeited. We left dismade.

The next day, which was Sunday, was The Feast of the Assumption of Mother Mary, so I went to church. This was an excercise in humility, as every member of church was shocked to me, and I would have to retell our not-so-heroing story. The week before an announcement had been made that Annie and I were leaving for Armenia, and the congregation had been asked to pray for our safety and success. This was also a tough day because it was the day we were supposed to arrive in Armenia. One of Annie’s cousins was getting married, and we were expected to attend. They were very disappointed that we wouldn’t be there.

Monday was the day we had been waiting for. On Monday morning the Aeroflot Office in LA would open and we go there and tell them our story, and they would have mercy on us, and we’d find ourselves on the next flight to Moscow. This is what we hoped. Let me sum up our experience with Aeroflot with the following sentiment: Never expect mercy from Aeroflot. The icy cold attitude of Ivan Drago is alive and well in the buearacray of Aeroflot. They turned us away, Annie in tears, and confronted the reality of the situation. We had to repurchase our tickets.

This time though we would only purchase one ticket. Annie was already planning to return to LA within a few weeks of our departure. Our delay and the expense made it clear: Annie wouldn’t be leaving with me.

Of course this, again, would not be the end of the world. We both realized that this would mean that we would be apart for an additional couple weeks, but the affect was potent. This trip is an adventure that we were looking forward to sharing and experiancing together. I was forelorn that I would start this adventure alone, and I knew Annie felt the same way.

Thanks to some quick work by our travel agents, we found a flight departing on Thursday with a decent fare. Annie and I spent the next couple days enjoying eachother’s company.

The Actual Departure

Thursday came quickly, and we started the day early. My bags had been repacked, and thanks to Annie’s space optimizing skills, they were filled to the brim. Mom, Annie, and myself set off the airport with plenty of time to spare. After some time, we checked in, and I was ready to brave my way through one of the longest security lines I’ve every seen.

I’ve never really left home before. Though I like to think that I’m a travelled person, I’m almost 30 years-old and the longest I ever been away from my hometown is four weeks. Some summer camps last longer than that. My heart was heavy as I said goodbye to my mother. I knew I would miss her a great deal, but she has always been very supportive of my vocation, and on this occasion she was no different. Lovingly, but acceptingly she said goodbye.

Saying goodbye to Annie was very difficult. I’ll just say that.

As I walked through the terminal, and sat at the gate, I was overcome with a feeling that I was experiencing something unreal. If not unreal, then unnatural. It was ludicrous that I should be doing this without Annie. Natural or not, the next thing I knew I was on the plane, and we were taking off . As we rose in the sky, and we passed the smog-o-sphere, I realized something important: I love my life.

I love my family, my friends, my city, and my work. This is why my vocation is my dream. That I am so blessed is that much more reason for me to glorify God. In order for me to follow my dreams I’ve got to leave those things for a little while. God willing during that time, I’ll grow in knowledge and spiritually and I’ll be ready to serve.

As I’m getting ready to move to Armenia, I’m...

Thu, 13 Aug 2009 00:21:00 +0500

As I’m getting ready to move to Armenia, I’m increasingly feeling as though I need to get rid of all the baggage that I’ve been dragging around from place to place over the years. like most, I’ve got tons of clothes that I haven’t worn in years, nic-nacs of dubious sentimental value, many books which I haven’t looked at in years, and lastly, files and files of documents.

So my purging process went as follows:

Bag up any clothes you haven’t worn in 9 months, and give it away. (tuxedos are an acceptable exception)
Prioritize nic-nacs in terms of sentimental value. If it takes you any amount of time to remember where you got the item from, it should be purged.
Books. If I haven’t read or refferd to it in 6 months, its out. I’m in a phase were book ownership is very unappealing to me. Having moved about 3.5 times in the past 4 years, my books have become a burden. If I can by a book digitally in the future, that’ll be the preferred way. Of course not all books are digital, so if they’re necessary I’ll just have to live them.
Any files that haven’t been used, referenced in at least one year (that aren’t tax documents or vital records), also must be gotten rid of. Aside from my office files, I have a ton of personal files that I’ve kept. Files from my previous and current jobs, bills, and random documents.
1. Scan what you need.
2. Burn documents with sensitive info.
3. Recycle the rest.

Sharing is caring

Thu, 16 Jul 2009 23:18:32 +0500

I just had a chance to read up on all the awesome new social features that Google Reader has added, and I am very pleased. I am a very avid Google Reader user. I keep track of 244 news feeds, from which Reader tells me I have read (or glanced at) almost 2500 items over the past 30 days. It is by far my #1 source for news.

I’ve always shared the news I’ve found through reader. Friends of mine have probably become accustomed to received random links to news stories that I thought they would be interested in on a regular basis. I have it linked up with my facebook account, so all of my “shared” items are posted to my wall. Therefore, I am all the more happy that they’ve enhanced the service to include a more robust internal system for sharing the items you like with your friends.

If you’re interested in all of the awesome stuff that I read and share then follow my shared items feed.