Don't be afraid to see what you see.

No trip to Karabach and a landlord with no light

2006-10-18T14:30:00.000+02:00

Hi everybody!

I was supposed to go on a trip to Karabach this weekend but it has been canceled due to bad weather conditions. I do not know what they consider bad here in Armenia, all we have had the last couple of days are something that might just be qualified as rain.

For you who do not know what Karabach is and what is so special about it, here comes an explanation. Karabach are a country that does not exist. It is officially a part of Azerbaijan, but since its inhabitants was mainly Armenian a civil war broke out and as a result we have the Mountainous region of Karabach. Not a part of Armenia or of Azerbaijan although not a country by itself either.

Alas the trip is cancelled I will still go some day some time in the future. They say it is the most beautiful part of Armenia, although it is not Armenia. It is a bit like then Armenians talk about Ararat. “It is our mountain; it is a part of Armenia. Although it is in Turkey”.

So I had a couple of days of since the trip was cancelled. I spent them the best way possible, with friends.

This Friday my work had parent’s day. It was quite fun, my students presented ATC in English (I am so proud) and I had to shake the hands of every parent and smile etc…

After that the Georgians invited me to their place for a dinner and party, the Austrian girl joined to. It was really nice, good food and a great atmosphere. It was quite strange. If young Swedish people (or Austrian) would have a dinner with their parents it would not be so much of a party. Not that it would not be nice, but it would be quite calm and everyone would try to behave. Not the Georgians, do not missunderstand me they behaved but, they had a living party in which everyone their participated. Even the neighboring family came and joined in. It was really fun. It might be as my boss stated, the Georgians have adopted Petter as they see him as a foreigner too. (He did not approve of me participating, since it might look bad (bribe).)

So much happens right now. The Malaysian has left, one of the Germans is leaving today and we have no electricity in our apartment.

I am very sad that she has left (the Malaysian girl), I have had a great time with her, she is a wonderfull and happy person, and it was comforting to know that someone was going to stick out with you for the whole stay here. But she did the right thing to leave; they even told her at her work that they would not have anything for her to do. She is now in Austria and will soon see her family again. Good luck and thanks for everything.

About the apartment. We have had some problems with electricity before, but it has been a fun experience. You can call it a 'welcome to Armenia thing', kind of exotic. Anyhow all the time the landlord has fixed it and everything went back to normal. But recently the safeties have been going off while we were away. We could take it for a couple of days believing that it had something to do with some strange Armenian occurrence, somethings you just have to accept. But this Monday it started to smell burnt wire so we switched everything of and contacted @ so that they could contact the landlord. Don't you think that the landlord refuses to fix the problem! and are blaming us for it!. If he fix it we have to pay for it. We are not going to pay for it. Because we do not have electricity and we have been forced to throw away food for a value of more than 200€ and as innocent people we have to live in the dark. Currently we can have one light bulb on for about ten minutes before the safety switch of. It will not cost us much to pay for the electrician but it is also a matter of principle, furthermore we do not know what he will not be doing the next time. We are currently looking for a new apartment. The problems are that I am willing to take a quite expensive one, since I have only two months left, but there will be coming some trainees that will stay here for a longer period and they have to pay for the rent while I am gone. Also that I have a deposit sum to collect from the landlord, from what I have gathered it is one of the hardest things to do, collect money from a landlord. We will see how it works out.

Now I have to get back to my work and preparation for my parents visit in Armenia. It is going to be fun.

Is a children disco better than a nightclub?

2006-10-04T13:50:00.000+02:00

Life is good in Armenia. I am trying to find some better structure in my life. But as soon as find something to do, something comes in and disturbs the original plans. Usually the problem can be spelled ‘room-mates’ or ‘Germans’.

As example I can take yesterday. I had not been home for a time and planned to take the afternoon of, make some nice food and just chill.

In the morning the roomies asked if I was up for something after work. I said ‘No, to night I will make a lasagna’ and with that I left for work.

To my surprise I got an e-mail stating:

Hi,

we want to cook today Lasagne (Petters idea)? Where? At our place or at Claudias? Please Contact me at home after 7 pm or in my office (number: 524802), because I won't be able to check e-mails anymore today.

Regards
[XXX]

I was not up to make lasagna or spend the whole afternoon being social. I did not express that idea, all I wanted to do was to eat by myself and read a book. So I quickly answered with an email subject ‘Disclaimer’:

Hi,

Where did that idea come from? I just remember today that I said that I will not join you downtown, since I intended to make lasagna. The Lasanga planes are anyhow closed, I have decided not to make any.

Regards
Petter

So, no lasagna. It might have been a bit rude but I wanted to be alone. Instead I went and bought ingredients for chicken breasts filled with Feta cheese and some olive potatoes to go with that. Really jummie.

When I came home one roomy asked if he could join, why not. I thought. So we made and ate the dish, really good tasting. After it I took my book and lay down in my bed and started to read. But, the happiness that last. One of the guys was bored and decided that I to was bored, since I was reading. So to be nice to Petter I will talk to him for three hours. My next chance for solitude is… far away.

This Sunday the MCP came back from her semester and IC. So @ decided to throw a welcome party. Ordinary @ Armenia parties are quite lame, but at least they have them at nightclub. But this time they changed place, from the BB club to a place named Mango. I did not really want to go but one of the girls had just got married and another had a birthday, so I went. They had clearly stated that Mango was a much better place than BB club.

The sign it… scared me. It said Mango organizes birthday’s party and children discos. They moved from a nightclub and a children disco! And a children disco it was, the ‘party’ was over at 22.00.

Half time or early age crises

2006-09-26T15:04:00.005+02:00

Have been in Armenia for half the time. So what do I feel? I think I am going to do a list of the most and the least. I do not know why but it feels like something every blog should have. I know that you should not follow the mass but what the heck.

Most tiresome question?

‘What do you think about Armenia/n guys/girls?’ I hate that question, especially if an Armenian asks it. What am I supposed to answer? Yes?

ATC

I like it, I am really impressed of what America and Americans are doing over here. I am almost ashamed to be part of EU, especially if I compare the commitment of Americans to that of Europeans.

AIESEC

What can I say? They are all really nice but they are not what make AIESEC so unique. I tried to take part and share my experience of organizations. But, they really drained me. They where really happy and listened to my opinions in the beginning, they even gave me some responsibilities. But then I was involved and integrated in the organization my opinions was worthless, so now I have not attended a single meeting for a month and a half.

Strangest meeting

It has to be when my neighbor’s cousin came to visit; he was from örebro in Sweden.

Second most tiresome question

‘Do you miss Sweden?’ What the hell do you think?

Apartments

I have lived in three different apartments so far, well. If you could live without the landlord and have a refrigerator from before the Great War it would be great.

The kids

I love them; I have a whole bunch on the yard. They play football and are always very happy and try to speak with me in English

Armenian girls

The sweetest and most dangerous there is on this planet

Armenian guys

A tip, for the girls reading this blog. Never get an Armenian guy interested in you, ask the Austrian girl who is here.

Strangers

Armenians are very friendly towards strangers; I think only Georgians can compete with them.

Yerevan

Where cannot be any place in the whole world with more Cafes in the center than Yerevan, they do not have parks they have cafes

German speakers

They are everywhere; five has lived in my apartment. Four Germans and the Greece girl have of course attended to a German speaking high school. The Austrians, three so far. The four Germans we have met in different places in Yerevan. Of course every second Armenian knows German to.

Americans

They are more than the Germans.

World Championship in football

I hate the time difference

Strangest thing

That I won the trip to Vienna

Thing I am going to miss after I come back to Sweden?

My office, I will never get such a nice office as a teacher in Sweden

What will I not miss?

Well, the supermarkets they do not even have paprika and unless you want to fight with a lot of old ladies at the market you have to a higher price.

The best Georgian

Well if I have to choose it is my guy Ilia, he showed me around Georgia the only problem is that he is retaking my class.

The Coolest uncle

Without doubt Ilia’s and Dato’s uncle; He put together a great vacation for me in Georgia, treated me as I was an old friend lost for five years. Thank you Very much

The best Armenian

Well it is hard. I would say Rebecca among the girls. And among the boys it is Arthur and Arthur

The worst thing with going abroad

I missed my grandmas 80^th birthday : (

The best news from Sweden

That my Grandma had a beautiful birthday:) Looking forward to talk to her on Sunday

Of course I miss you all my friends in Sweden, keep it up

My Family, NNIF, S.A.K prOject, Kladdkaks Frida, Dorm 9:210, Container klubben, LR Uppsalas kansli (faktiskt), @ Uppsala., and soon to be Swede K. And a lot of more people

The thing I wish for Armenia before I leave

Peace with its neighbors

The thing I wish for when I come back to Sweden

A great new years party with as many of my friends as possible

Love you

Petter (now 25 years old)

Kayaking at last

2006-09-22T11:45:00.000+02:00

I did it. I found the kayaking place in Yerevan. It is on top of a hill not far from where I live. Who would think about climbing a hill to find the kayak club? But anyhow, I found it and they welcomed me with open arms. It was great. I do not know why, but I felt like home. There is something about kayak clubs. Maybe the smell, the run down place they hang out in. The ugly clothes that are too old, smelly and need to be thrown away.

Anyhow, I found it. They lent me a kayak and a paddle. Only one problem though; since Armenia like some other countries and kayak club in the backwater of civilization, they use the left hand to turn the paddle. For those who never kayaked or not kayaked long enough have a hard time imagine how difficult it is if you are used to use your right hand and then change it to the left. It is like driving with a car used for left-side driving with a steering wheel that reacts counter-clockwise. You will at least once end up in the ditch. Of course I went into the lake, but just once. It was great to be kayaking again; it has this freedom to it.

The lake they kayak in is only 400m long and about a 100m wide, it is artificial so no rivers going in or out from it. The kayaks are old like hunter class, the good ones. But they have wing paddles. I am already looking forward for the next kayaking session.

Some pieces of information.

2006-09-22T10:14:00.000+02:00

I am getting more and more disturbed over the view of women in this country. From time to time a person likes to come in to my office and discuss different things. He is educated through dictionaries. That is that he knows a lot of complicated words but not when to use them. Anyhow, I told him that I won this trip and a stay at a nice hotel.

‘What are you going to do there?’ he asked.

‘I am going to do some shopping, and tourist stuff.’ I answered.

‘And some hookers!’ he stated.

‘What, did you say?’

‘Yeah, some hookers.’

‘I do not do that!’

‘You do not?’

‘No!’

‘Why?’

‘I think it is degrading, for both. I think it is plain disgusting…’

‘Really?’

‘Yes!’

‘I like your moral! You have a high moral’ he said.

Another Armenian, who is going on traineeship, asked me what country would be best for him to go to.

‘What are you looking for?’

‘I want to party and meet girls!’

‘Well…’

It is not his comment I react on because quite frankly a lot of people wants to party and meet interesting people of the opposite sex when they go abroad. Nothing wrong with that, I am not a strict conservative person. But he has a girlfriend and do not see anything wrong if he goes out and have sex with other girls. But if she does, he will break up with her. That is the thing here. There is nothing wrong with boys having sex, but god forbid if it is with his girlfriend.

Sometimes it feels like I just want to grab hols of them and ask what is wrong with you all. But I will not do it, cause that is trying to enforce your views on someoone else. Now I do not know why I wrote it, but it seems like I wanted it of my chest.

I am in Love.

2006-09-13T08:57:00.000+02:00

If you are supposed to live in a rather undeveloped country you accept that you do not have all the comforts you have in Sweden. One of the things I have come to terms with are the shower. It only works some hours a day, even fewer if you want warm water. There are only four different settings for the temperature: really cold, cold, almost lukewarm and very hot. A couple of weeks back the showerhead fall of so now we only have a hose. But it works you get rather clean.

But, yesterday I found my love. I went spinning at Marriot Hotel fitness center (I have not gone mad and started wasting money on a membership at Marriots (it costs half of my salary a month). No, I will participate in a charity event so now I can spin there for free some days). After the class I took a shower, it was so beautiful. The showerhead was bigger than my palms, and the pressure. My god the pressure, I had to fight it, it was a struggle! I could also set the temperature by degrees. It was a real shower. It doesn’t ask the dirt and sweat to ‘please move along’. No! this shower showed who is the boss. It does not accept any objection, it does not only remove the sweat and dirt it also beats the crap out of it. Like a good shower should do.

I have only one free session left at Marriot now on Thursday, my legs hurt and I need the rest to be in shape on Saturday. Despite that I will go to the spinning, just for the sake of the shower and the free towels of course.

Some notes

2006-09-11T13:58:00.000+02:00

It feels like I am a bit behind on what has been happening in Armenia.

As you might no I was recently in Georgia, it was great. The hospitality of Georgians has no limit; I was treated as a king. But as you all know, Swedish people are not comfortable to always been treated. But I had no choice.

Before I left for Georgia I climbed Mount Aragat, about 4000m. I do not need to explain that the view is quite good. Unfortunately the batteries in my camera died while I was taking some rather meaningless picture before we started to climb. Well at the top we where greeted by some veterans of the Karabagh war. They gather every year to commemorate the friends who died. The oldest ones were flown up with a helicopter to the peak. They gave us some special drink, vodka, which they used to drink during the war. I can stand my ground in drinking, and I can drink most things. But this drink, ohh my god, my throat did not stop burning until we had descended.

During my stay in Georgia we got some new roommates. I have earlier in this blog mentioned that IAESTE has some people here as well. The thing is that we have been looking for some roommates to lower the rent; at the same time the trainees from IAESTE had started a fight with their coordinator. Apparently their coordinator put 50% on the rent to get some extra money from the trainees. So now we are six people living in our apartment (three Germans, one from Greece, Malaysia and Sweden), it is quite crowded and on Tuesday we are getting one more (German). Fortunately the IAESTE people will only have internships for shorter periods (up to eight weeks).

I have now started working again; I have the same course as this summer and the same students. It is quite funny actually, most of the students passed the course. But since they didn’t get the highest grade most of them takes it again!

Before I left for Georgia I saw Casablanca for the first time. It is really good and I will try to see it again since the sound level was to low. In the following discussion one Armenian firmly stated that Casablanca is nothing compared to the modern classics like Pearl Harbor. In my humble opinion Pearl Harbor is one of the biggest mistakes in film history.

In Georgia and back

2006-09-06T08:51:00.000+02:00

After a not so successful beginning of my vacation I set out for Armenia’s northern neighbor Georgia. I did not dare to hope for anything.

Georgia is one of the oldest Christian nations. After the break up with soviet (Georgia was the first country to start the claim for independence) a civil war broke out and lasted until ten years ago. In the year of 2003 the famous Rose revolution took place and Shevardnadze had to resign, this was the start of Georgia moving from Russia towards Europe. I have not seen any country that wants to enter the EU as badly as Georgia.

Back to the trip. It was excellent, I visited my Georgian students in Puti, Batumi and Tblisi. They showed me around and treated me as a king, as did their friends and family. It was so good and so much happened that I cannot write it down right now. I will only say Jigroladh (Great in Georgian). Georgia is everything Armenia is plus a little bit more.

The vacation is now over and I am back at work, it feels okay. I have now four lessons a week compared to twelve during the summer semester. So I have a lot of extra time that I will try to fill out. I will see what I will do. Unfortunately I have grown tired of @ in Armenia and will probably resign from my responsibilities, the meetings has is more like a knitting-circle than a progressive student organization. Some lectures from other universities has asked me if I can do some guest lecturing about Swedish history and the political system of Sweden. But, but we will see.

ps. I have published the pictures from the Georgian trip, just click on the link to the right

My vacation… so far

2006-08-26T09:33:00.000+02:00

So I am on vacation. It has been quite dull. The problem is that everyone has already showed me the most things in Yerevan. The things I have not yet seen I will see later. The reason? Well last weeks it has been over 40 degrees outside. What to do?

Biking.

I found this place that rents bikes. Great I will take a bike trip to the south of Armenia. But it is hot! No problem I will take it easy and rest a lot. But the first best place to sleep is 120 km from Yerevan. No problem I will start really early in the morning.

It was decided I would go biking. The goal was Jermuk a beautiful place with sparkling water-wells and a famous resort. It would take me four days there and back again.

Everything settled I went to bargain for the bike. I got well aware of my lack of bargaining skills. Although the girl responsible clearly stated that she where willing to lower the price about 50%, I somehow managed to only get it down 25%. (I said euros instead of dollars).

Anyway, I bought the best map of the roads of Armenia and set out for the trip. (To get one thing clear, the maps of Armenia are useless. The only good maps are the one the Soviet military made and they are of course classified.) Since no Armenian is as crazy as I and all the other foreigners had to work, I went alone.

The first try.

I started at six o’clock in the morning. I set out on the road that was supposed to take me to the main road towards Yeregnaghzor and finally Jermuk. But to my surprise it was a dead end. After biking over an hour in Yerevan I finally made it out to the main road, or so I thought. I asked some people, who were fixing their car, if it was the right way. Of course not, but they showed me how to get there. Ok, the morning hours were lost, I would have to bike in the heat of the day, but anyhow, I would still make it. No. Approximately ten kilometers outside of Yerevan I got a flat tire. No other thing to do than to walk back to the city. I desperately tried to wave in a minibus. Because I had a bike they refused to take me on. After walking for more than an hour I found a taxi service. It only took half an hour of gesticulating and trying to speak in every language known to me; finally I found my self on a truck that took me to a bike-repair shop and the bike rentals.

They where quite surprised to see me at the rentals. But I was not defeated I was going to go to Jermuk!

The second try

I was not beaten, the day after I set out again. This time I had gotten detailed descriptions of how to get out of Yerevan. Everything was great, except that I had forgotten to bring any breakfast. To see Armenia wake up, farmers herding sheep on the highway, people waking up next to their fruit stands and preparing for a new day to see the sunrise lit up mount Ararat that stands as guard over Armenia and is a constant reminder of the ancient Christianity that still are so present. Ararat seemed so near, it was almost as if you could reach out and touch it.

But, alas, the happiness that lasts. Then I had gotten 40 km outside of Yerevan, at the village by Khor Virap, I got a flat tire again. (Khor Virap is a monastry, placed as close as you can get to mount Ararat in Armenia. In Khor Virap Gregory the Illuminator was imprisoned before he could convert Armenia’s king in 301 and thus Armenia became the first Christian country.) In that village I got help by a ten-year-old boy to fix my bike. And we got the tube out. Found two holes, sent a friend of his to buy glue, lapped it together and of I go. Twenty meters, flat tire. Fix it again two new holes, no thorns or anything like that stuck in the tire. Ten meters, flat tire. Argghhh! Imagine my how I became more and more desperate.

We went by bus to the closest town, bought a new tube and put that in. Fifty meters, flat tire. We fixed it again and… flat tire!!!! They told me that they would try to help me get to Yerevan, but maybe they could not get me their until the day after. It would not be so bad, stay one day in a farmhouse and see how they lived and so.

But, I could not take it. I was the best thing that ever happened to the kids in the village. A Swede in our village! They would not let me alone. The only way I could get them to leave me alone was to give one of them my Mp3 player and the next one my camera. It only worked for so long. After a while they started to ask me for money, and they asked me for money again and again and again. So after two hours I had enough, I managed to get some help to get a cab that was willing to bring the bike and me to Yerevan.

In Yerevan at 20.00 I dumped the bike at the rental place. I was sweaty, I stank, I was tired and I realized that I have to do something to cheer me up. What to do? I went to Claudia and took a shower (the water gets turned of at eight every night at my place) and bought a bottle of good whiskey and chocolate from a shop. I had decided to do nothing the next day. I lay undressed in bed eating chocolate, drinking whiskey (single malt of course) and read a good book.

What next?

This week I will go to Georgia with my boss. The original plan was that we would go to a conference in Batumi for a week. He in the conference working and I at the beach. But the conference got cancelled, so now he will go to Tblisi for one night and then leave me in Georgia. Will see what I will do in Georgia. Who knows with my luck?

Hope you all had better luck with your vacation so far

P

ps. check in the pictures, the link to the right

I am taking a break.

2006-08-12T13:26:00.000+02:00

I do not know for how long or anything. I will send you all a mail and a report after I come back.

All I will leave you with are an explanation of how equal Armenia is. Well Armenia is not so equal especially not between men and women. But the language is so equal that Gudrun Schymann would suggest that Sweden would make Armenian its official language.

So how is it so equal? Well I noticed it then every other person referred to me as she, I do not care so much but I decided to ask why? The thing is that they do not separate between he and she in Armenian. It must count for something, right?

/
P

He or She or what ever

2006-08-09T13:25:00.000+02:00

Swedish Rock Party! In Yerevan?

Well it happened. I am really promoting Sweden here. Doing Radio, throwing parties. I am like… Well I do not know what I am like.

What ever people thought we managed to throw a Swedish Rock Party with only Swedish music. Unfortunately we did not have so many groups to choose from so we played mostly Kent and The Hives, also because the DJ likes them. Despite what I thought a lot of people came, mainly my students but it does not matter. Most of the people danced and some drank. I had to hold several speeches, it is in Armenia, and sing drinking songs, but it is a Swedish party. We had competitions and games. It was like a mixture of a party and a birthday for ten year olds.

I have started my summer vacation, actually it started a couple of days ago but I do not know what to do and it is to hot outside so I am still in the office. But as it seems I will spend this weekend with friends in Yerevan. On Monday I will get a bike and bike south on the Silk Road for a couple of days. Some time I will also go to Tiblisi.

Last time I told you I would write why I like to sit in the end of the first wagon. Why? Well sometimes the driver (do you call them drivers?) Likes to think it is a race and wants to go as fast as possible. The high speed makes the train skip on the track. So if you sit at the end of the first wagon it is like going on a roller coaster. Everyone knows how boring it can be going to work in the morning. Imagine doing it on a roller coaster.

/
P

By the way. I will explain the title the next time.

Come here my love; or how I stopped trying to learn Armenian and fell in love with body language.

2006-07-30T09:47:00.000+02:00

This weekend is actually quite strange. It is the first time that I haven’t gone anywhere or will do anything special. I decided not to go anywhere since I am to tired and have to work a lot. But next week I will have the Swedish Rock Party and will climb mount Aragat (the highest mountain).

I have tried to learn Armenian. One of the first thing I ever learned to say was “Icet’erh Gag’nigch’” It gets the mini-buss to stop and must mean something like “stop here” or something like that. A couple of weeks ago I asked some friends to help me with the pronunciation of the word. They helped me and I got the pronunciation “Isct’erh Gag’nikch”, then they suddenly asked me if I was married. Why I wondered? Well what I said was “come here my love”. To stop the mini-buss you are supposed to say “Icet’erjh Gag’nighk”. So I decided to start mumble and show what I want with body language instead.

To go with a mini-buss are really convenient. They go through all of Armenia all the time (till 1.00 in the morning) and with out any time plan. You have to figure out what number that goes by your place and then jump on anywhere. The drivers’ stops anywhere in the street and pick up more people than you think are possible. So sometimes you can’t see where you are where you are going since you have your head in the bosom of a stranger and your but a couple of inches from someone else face. Then you can only hope that someone that can see out will go of close to there you live. So long everything has worked out fine.

The next blog will probably explain why I like to sit in the end of the first wagon then I go with the Metro

Still poking, waiting for a response

2006-07-25T12:15:00.001+02:00

Well I remembered that I have forgotten to write what has happened since last time. As you might have guest, I choose some parts of what happens and tries to describe it.

So what have I done? Most of my time I have spent working, the final test are being created, taken and corrected. I have come to one conclusion: I hate correcting ESSAYS!!!!

I ended my last blog stated that I would keep poking @-Armenia in their backs. I can say that so far I have kept that promise. Since the conference they have had two public meetings. The first I got informed of 24.00 the day before, the second I got informed of three hours before it took place. The only reason I got informed of it was because I wrote to the MCP and asked.

One big problem that was present through both of the meetings where structure! During the first meeting I forced them to select a secretary, they refused to have anyone adjusting the protocol. Then under the second meeting they had some kind of AA meeting in Armenian, for more than three hours, before they started.

The results from these meeting are questionable, but I am leading a group of people whom shall create a booklet over @ Armenia. Neither the new MCP or old where selected to my group, but for some strange reason they both invited themselves to my first meeting. We will see for what reason they want to be present…

Everything is not bad in Armenia thou, I met some people during the @ conference that are more liberal. They are my oases in this desert. So this weekend I went clubbing for the first time in Armenia and on Sunday it was time for Lake Sevan again. This Sunday they had some kind of cleansing holiday in Armenia, everyone are throwing water on everyone to clean them. Then it was good to get away from Yerevan for the whole day. It started with a bus-ride that was like going on a roller coaster. First they stopped close to an island with a lot of sea gulls. But I was wrong it was not sea gulls, apparently it was Armenian gulls. I looked like sea gulls to me. As soon as my Armenian friends was informed that the plan was that we should stay there, they became really mad and started a heated discussion. My friends won the discussion so it was just to jump back on the bus for another 30 minutes and to a private beach.

AIESEC conference

2006-07-18T15:58:00.000+02:00

So this weekend I had an @ conference. The national AIESEC conference of Armenia. I was a little worried and wondered how it would be. I have been to two conferences before and they have booth been wonderful. But this one would be smaller than the once I have been on before and we would do so much in so little time. I also got worried then I learned that none AIESECERS where welcomed. Not that I dislike everyone outside of @, but @ are like a sect with its own rituals and culture. I invited some friends I have met here to get more international delegates on the conference.

We started of being an hour late, then two hours. Finally it started just to get the schedule thrown out the window. What happened? Well, it started out fine with some discussions over the importance of cultural exchange and the benefits of getting trainees involved in the local organization. An Alumni from the early years of @ told us how it used to be and so on. The next thing on the schedule was the MCP candidates’ speeches (National president of @), only one problem they had no candidate!

What happened? They started discussing in Armenian. All my protests were answered with “This is to important to be discussed in English”. The discussions took more or less the whole day. What I did? Well after protesting for about ten minutes I and some other persons went to my room and started the global village there.

The second day was even worse, still no clear MCP candidate and the conference started a couple of hours later than planned. Some Alumni who would have some presentations cancelled, the MCVP candidate could not hold her speech in English. A girl where friendly enough to translate for me, but if I wanted a clarification since my translator were not used with the @ language I was told to wait. So then I wanted to ask questions most of my time went to get clarification of her speech. Then we went in to planning the planning of the next year, we were informed that you couldn’t sell leadership in Armenia! The planning where formed so that we were divided into groups and where told to start brainstorm. Well we did, but where soon stopped to be informed that we would fill in the statistics of this year and then fill in the numbers of the years to come. All of these numbers the MC had already filled in and did not accept any others. Then I started to ask to many questions about the numbers, like, “I understand that you can’t keep up the same progress in percent, 150, but why would we set a goal that are lower in absolute numbers than last year?” It didn’t take long until the discussion went over to Armenian. So I left a paper of my questions for them to answer, “In any possible way, as long as it is in English.” And took a cup of coffee at the coffee shop. I seriously considered applying for MCP just to force them to speak in English.

The last day was the best; we even had two MCP candidates! They held their speeches in English!! That day they informed us that only ten people where allowed to vote on the MCP candidates! Why where Shirley and I at the conference at all? Where we just there to let people take pictures of us and serve some national dishes and drinks at the global village? By that time no one could avoid see my annoyance with everything.

But I had to keep a straight face. The speakers of the day where from my University so, I had to sit calmly at my seat and look interested. I got some kind of redress; they held three elections of the MCP. First they didn’t manage to fill in the forms correctly. The second time they voted five – five, that is what you get for having an even number of voters. Third and not last they voted five – five again, this time they had a discussion for two hours before. So how could they decide, I had suggestions of anything from arm wrestling to flip a coin, they selected five new persons to vote. Three newies and Shirley and I. We managed to get things filled in correctly and we got the new MCP.

Well in conclusion, this was the most useless, least organized conference I have ever been on. But since I couldn’t shut up and had to express my views some people raised the idea to get me as an CEE in Armenia, working for AIESEC in Armenia, among these people where the newly elected MCP. Well one thing is sure I will at least keep poking their backs.

An Even more Tired Swede

2006-07-10T13:47:00.000+02:00

Hi, Everybody!!

Another week with no sleep while Armenia are becoming stranger every day that goes. Roland the Austrian guy is doing his farewell tour and apparently Austrians does not need to have any sleep. I on the other hand am mortal and needs my eight hours of beauty sleep. Unfortunately the prospects of sleeping this week are gloomy at least.

Last week I saw a lot of football games and since the games starts at midnight and ends at three in the morning, for you that do not watch the games they always ends 0-0 and finally penalties have to decide the outcome.

This week will not give so much sleep. Because this week I have a double workload, will have to attend the farewell parties of Roland and Ken (Ken is a Japanese trainee from IAESTE), see the Armenian Navy Band; apparently a really good Armenian band. Finally I have agreed to do a radio show and there is the national conference of AIESEC Armenia.

The @-conference will be interesting; it is a combined TEACH/MC-election/Goal setting conference. I will be the only foreigner at the conference since Shirley cannot afford it. Additionally Armenians do not how to party at least if they have to guards the girls. The last party the one where you are supposed to be all dressed and so on will end at 22.00. Unfortunately the only Armenians I have meet that knows how to party will not be joining. :. ( But I will have to do the best of it.

I am becoming a good teacher then it has come to guarding and even expanding my hours. Last Tuesday my students came and asked me what they where supposed to prepare for Wednesdays class. Since they wanted to have lessons on a holiday they got it. This week I have managed to go from 6 lessons a week to 12! I hope I can cope with the workload. One of the partners of ATC has suggested that I should go to the American University of Armenia and get a second job. I think I will wait and see if I will have any free time.

ATC took my class to Lake Sevan this Saturday of course I joined. Who can say now to go to the lake, with barbeque for free?? I you will check my link to my pictures you will see.

Strange things in Armenia:

If you get a car in Armenia you have to get a passport for it. You have to get authorized people to check your engine and so on. One person for everything, it does not matter if the car is new or not. Finally you have to get an address for your car. In practice it is that you have to pay an old lady that will stamp some paper. If you are a foreigner you need to bribe them.

Since Roland is leaving we planned a tourist tour through Yerevan. We only got to the train station. Unfortunately you are not allowed to photograph the station since it is a strategic target. Roland was yelled at then he was taking pictures at the trains, because no one will believe him.

This is probably the worst posting in my blog but whatever.

Rainy Sevan

2006-07-04T10:25:00.000+02:00

I did not have any luck with the weather. We where a couple of hardcore people who went to lake Sevan for a BBQ. Originally we were fifteen but one after another people cancelled our just did not show. Anyhow we were seven who went and had a good time at the lake. Unfortunately it was rainy and cloudy the whole day long. But the food and the company were good so we did not mind as much. The Armenians sure knows how to barbeque.

Yesterday we got a new intern here at ATC or ICARE as it is called. He is from Switzerland and is a member of IAESTA (@ for people studying science or something like that). People IAESTA does not seem to be as real as @-people since he is only going to be here for six weeks. Anyhow since I am a foreigner and have been here a couple of weeks ATC expect me to show him around and so on. He (Martin) is nice and we will see the semifinal today. I guess Shirley and I will be the only foreigners here during winter.

I have really starting to become a real teacher fighting for my lessons, as everyone always tries to steal my time. I even considered forcing my students to attend my class this Wednesday, refusing to admit some kind of holiday they have tomorrow (5/7). Different Armenians all give different reasons for why they have a holiday the 5^th. But I think Shirley is right then she ‘said it is some kind of Golden Apricot day or something like that’.

I finally installed Skype on my computer or rather Shirley did. So now I have been able to phone home!!

More from Armenia

2006-06-30T09:11:00.000+02:00

I am sitting here in my office. I should be working but I actually have nothing to do. On Sunday I will go to Lake Sevan again, this time for a real traditional Armenian Barbeque. A traditional barbeque consists of a lot of different kinds of meat and even more alcohol. Fortunately I will not be the only foreigner as Shirley and Craig (an American working as a volunteer for a housing organization). If I am lucky they will not only focus on me. Most of this week I have been drinking every night, this for three different reasons. First there is some kind of festival the whole week “one nation, one culture”. Second, I have been making friends with the bosses of a music club that have parties’ everyday this week. I just happened to drop by for a coffee around midday and they gave me V.I.P. tickets for the whole week. I felt forced to go and they served vodka in ordinary glasses. Thirdly Roland, an Austrian guy, whom I have been acquainted with are leaving in a couple of weeks and wants to go out every day.

I have already written that have been talking about Kent on Armenian Radio. Well it was not only one show but three. Today the producer found me and said that they wanted me to record something similar about ‘the Hives’. Unfortunately the only things I know about ‘the Hives’ are that they have released at least two albums and that they dress similar. So if anyone have any information please feel free to send me any kind of information.

Ps. By the way if you by some reason are thinking about sending me some stuff please do not. Shirley got some stuff sent to her and took her six hours, 94$ and a fit of rage to get the stuff.

Preservation

2006-06-26T12:36:00.000+02:00

Well, I might have said this before but in Armenia you have to buy every vegetable and fruit according to season. Armenia is a country that is very isolated and are in some sense actually becoming more and more isolated for every day that comes. If you want to buy anything imported you have to pay for it. However, if the product is a knife of "Japanese" steel from Iran it are rather cheap.

So you have to buy the fruits and vegetables then they are at the cheapest and preserve them for wintertime. I have told you that we are drying fruits and have made some jam. This weekend or the next we will start to preserve tomatoes and cucumbers in different ways. The Armenians are very impressed that I know how too cook.

I have come to the conclusion that Armenia are becoming more and more isolated after some discussions with different people. The airport has come into the hands of the wrong people. The numbers of people flying in and out from Yerevan are steadily declining. Every one of the air companies are doing a loss on the route to Yerevan. Actually Yerevan is the most expensive airport that Austria Airlines are flying to. A a passenger you have to pay 30$ to enter, even if you have an E-VISA, and 25$ to leave!!. After the independence of Armenia, as well as after the big earthquake a lot of Diaspora Armenians came back to help their “mother”-country. Since then the numbers have steadily been falling and are no so low that you hardly can see them in the statistics over people comming and going to Armenia.

It is sad. Because, Armenia is a very beautiful country with a friendly people and an interesting history and culture. If you want to go to an unspoiled country without having to worry about bandits, mosquitoes or having to pay a lot of dollars. I can recommend Armenia.
This Sunday I was out hiking again. We followed the southern part of the Silk Trade Route to lake Sevan, one of the largest high altitude lakes in the world, and after a good swim we continued to a fortress guarding the Silk Trade Route. The fortress was of course on the top of a mountain. I argued that we should take the short way, which is climbing the steep side of the mountain. Unfortunately we had two pregnant women in the group and some children. But we managed to lose sight of the road and had to climb through some rough nature, I loved it. The tour started at 08.45 and I came home at 23.30. A whole day of hiking is about 10 $.

Yet another history of Armenia: I mentioned Diaspora Armenians in this text. Actually most of the Armenians do not live in Armenia. It has its explanation in the genocide that took place in what we now call Turkey. It was in the early twentieth century the old Ottoman Empire was falling apart due to civil war during the First World War and a new country, Turkey, was coming to life. During this time between 600,000 to 1,500,000 Armenians living in present Turkey died due to a state sponsored genocide. In fact the killing and death of the Armenian people started earlier. Since the loss of what is now called Armenia to the Russian Empire in 1870’s the Armenians where blamed. In the Ottoman Empire the Armenians had before been labeled as good citizens of country, they where now seen with suspicion. Not only because they where Christians and not Muslim but also because the Russians proudly proclaimed that they tried to free all the Christians in the Ottoman Empire, and some Armenians began to dream about a free Armenia. From the start of 1870’s the situation only became worse and worse for the Armenians, they had to leave their homes, move to different ghettos and was later forced to live in concentration camps.

Turkey refuses to acknowledge any genocide and says that the deaths of the Armenians (56,000 according to official Turkish numbers) were mainly because of the turmoil during the last years of the Ottoman Empire. A lot countries has officially acknowledge the Armenian genocide, among them Sweden.

The genocide places a big part of contemporary Armenian culture. Because of the significance almost everyone I met asks me if I know about the Armenian Genocide. Shamefully I do not know enough but I intend to go to the memorial park of the victims of the Genocide.

Two different cultures in Armenia

2006-06-21T10:27:00.000+02:00

I have seen and will probably see a lot of different cultural activities in Yerevan.

Last weekend Shirley and I have been preparing for winter. You are not able to get fresh fruits or vegetables in Armenia during winter, and every improved product. We have been making different kinds of jams and we are now trying to dry different fruits.

I have also found an Avant-garde music club. They play all kinds of music, they have had bands from the whole world, and I saw the performance of a cat-jazz band. Before the concert I spooked to the manager and she was very interested in getting Swedish bands to come and play in the club. So if any of you know of any band, which wants to play in Armenia (Swedish or any other country), feel free to contact me.

Yesterday I saw a performance of the world’s most famous choir, the Vienna Boy Choir. So during my stay in Armenia I saw the Vienna Boy Choir. In Armenia!! The ticket was just 6000 Drams (less than 12 €) for a seat in the front row. I could more or less touch the kids. They where amazing, so small and so they where good. Apparently they start training then they are three four and the boys have quite at then they are fourteen.

Culture is very important in Armenia, they have a lot of arts exhibitions and in every park they have at least two statues of dead poets, writers or composer. As friend of mine said “They have no one that has actually done something real.” You can compare them to the Greeks of Ancient times, there is only theater and poems no one invents anything new.

So now over to the second culture of Armenia. I have applied for a residence ship. We had to fill out the forms four times and it took more than three hours. I was where with a new member of Aiesec Armenia; I understand why they tricked her into it.

The things we did wrong were:

My extra photographs were wrong – You have to look like a criminal with the eyes open to maximum and no smiles. Luckily for me they have all the pictures so no one will be able to see them.

I filled out the three forms in English, two of them had to be in Armenian, with Armenian letters.

I spelled my name with Swedish letters – Since my surname has both ö and ä in it the Armenians refuse to translate my passport. But all I had to do was to remove the dots and there was no problem.

The address was wrong – My address here in Yerevan does not exist according to the official. So I had to go back to my office get in contact with @ and they sent me an address that the official could not deny.

The most frustrating thing is that he was not helpful at all. I was the only job he had during those hours since the only thing he did then we entered his office he was playing different computer games. I wonder what he did to pass his time during the communist era?

Greetings from warm Swede

ps. We now have electricity, gas and for most time water in our apartment

One out of three things work

2006-06-16T12:02:00.000+02:00

A tired hello from a Swede

So I have moved again, it was by itself an adventure (you can read about it below), and I do not know if I should cry or laugh.

When we first came to the apartment we had electricity but no water, phone or even gas for the stove, which by the way probably are older than the fridge. Later we got some water, coldwater that is. Yesterday the electricity went and later that evening the water to, but on the bright side we managed to get some gas and the phone started to work. So Shirley and I are forced to walk around our apartment with candles. The worst thing is not that we do not have any water or electricity; the worst thing is that we should have it but we do not. The main thing I live on is bread and Kebab. The Armenians are very proud of their fruits and berries but neither Shirley nor I has managed to find any around our apartment.

I have found this restaurant that shows football games on a big screen just two minutes from there I live. So I went there at midnight to see the Swedish game. I was the only one at the restaurant and the personal did not like it. Because I forced them to stay open until the game was over at 02.00 in the morning. I will do the same then it comes to the English game. The beer is not that cheep in Armenia. Since it is so warm and I do not manage to drink or eat enough, two beers are enough to get tipsy. Unfortunately I had to get up for work at seven o’clock

Today I had a presentation of Sweden for my class. It went really well, they came up afterwards and told me that they liked it. They even tried the snuff. It is becoming more and more relaxed in the classroom and I think they understand more and more of what I am saying.

And now some Armenian history.

Then the Soviet Union collapsed Armenia broke free. But the whole society collapsed. From 1991 to 1997 they did not have any running water, gas or electricity. They had to build special heating-ovens so that could manage the winter. The parents of the families had to stay awake and wait for the hour of electricity that could come for an hour each day. During this time most of the trees of Armenia was cut down to heat the apartments, you can still see the darkened stones after the homemade chimneys. A story that Armenians likes to tell to illustrate the Armenians ability to sell anything: As an experiment they looked in a Russian, a Georgian and an Armenian in separate rooms with just two balls made of titans in it. After a day they found the Russian rolling one of the balls hitting every wall and finally hitting the second ball. The Georgian where juggling with the two balls. The Russian and the Georgian where both keeping themselves busy. Then they came to the room of the Armenian they saw him laying on the floor sleeping. So they asked him what he had done to the balls. ‘I lost one and the other was broken’ he answered.

Another move and some promotion of Sweden and Aiesec

2006-06-14T09:51:00.000+02:00

Hi everyone,

Yesterday I did a radio show of Kent for Hai FM, an Armenian radio station. They are apparently crazy over Kent here in Armenia and of Swedish rock music. Well I had to read a lot of Kent history before I did the show. During the show I managed to get in some promotion of Aiesec and Swedish nature. I will get a recording of the show but you can safely presume that it will never be heard outside Armenia. Actually the show went so well that they want me to come back and do a similar show of the Hives (if you have any information of them, please share it with me). I think I will start of with a qoute from Nile City next time.

It seems that I finally got to see how real Armenians live.

Yesterday Shirley and I moved. We were supposed to be ready to go at 6.00 pm. Unfortunately Shirley did not quite her job until 6.00 o’clock, and she got the only set of keys. So anyhow I went to the apartment at ten past six and waited. And waited… at seven the guys Areg and Zorro came to pick us up, still no Shirley. 7.45 pm. Was the time then she finally came. She had got lost and walked around for over an hour and a half.

Then we arrived to the new apartment it was a shock. Were where no running water for 24 hours and we will only be able to take showers between 7 and 11 in the morning. We have a gas-stove but no gas. The beds that we are supposed to sleep in are only 190 centimeters long and so soft that we decided to sleep on the floor. We have two closets and a room that is looked and we cannot open the doors. No kitchen equipment and the fridge are manufactured during the peak of communism, approximately around 1950. The rent for the place is 150 $ which will give Shirley and me a budget of about 1000 drams a day. That is less than two €.

This is just a short message as I have to get back to work

/
P

Am I doing to much?

2006-06-12T14:40:00.000+02:00

I got a rommie! A chinese girl from Malaysia named Shirley. She is also an intern of @. Shirley is 32 years old, married and has two children. She arrived on Thursday and on Friday we had a welcome party for both of us. Well I can safely say that this Armenian adventure will be one without a lot of alcohol. The girls are kept so strict that they are not allowed to drink alcohol and have to be home before 11 o’clock pm. Well so at midnight there where three people left. Me, Shirley and an Austrian guy named Roland. That is not a welcome party according to my standards. But it was fun, although it ended a little abrupt.

Since I have arrived to Armenia I cannot recall ever saying no to anything, except beggars that is.

This Sunday I was out on a hiking trip with the same group of people. I brought Shirley with me. It was a much shorter hiking-tour than the last one but we both where exhausted because of the heat.

Today I will be meeting the new @ members and go out for a walk in the nature, again. It is in about one hour I should be heading home to change before the trip. I will be fun. I also had my first classes today. That was exciting. They where so afraid of speaking English that they would only say, “My name is Ani.” I had finished all what I had and still had half an hour to spare. What could I do? Well I managed to kill of another ten minutes and then I dismissed them. But, to my surprise none of my students moved they sat there a bit uneasy looking around. Apparently no one had ever dismissed a class before the bell! So I had to leave the classroom before they would dare to leave their seats. That incident was not the last this day. In the afternoon I had something called English Lab. I told the students it was voluntarily to join and that I had booked a small classroom. I told them it was more individual based teaching and they had to come to me for help. Everyone showed up. Every one of my students showed up; the classroom only fit for 18 people, we where 35 all in all. The class was during the warmest time of the day, without any air-conditioning! Of course I couldn’t individually help 35 students at the same time. So now I had to divide them in to three groups, it took 20 minutes.

Tomorrow the Armenian Radio about Swedish rock music will interview me. It will be interesting since do not so much about Swedish rock music and so. Any help would be appreciated.

I think I have to say no soon, but it is all so fun

Moving in Yerevan and working for Americans.

2006-06-08T12:39:00.000+02:00

So the people of Aiesec (@) told med that I needed to move. How come? Well a four-bedroom apartment is a waste of space for two persons. So yesterday morning I packed my things and waited for someone from @ to pick me up with a car and take me to my transit apartment, I will have to move again in five days. So I stood there ready to leave at 08.00 o’clock as they told me, a good time for me as I was supposed to meet my new boss Dr. Dan at 10.00 o’clock. At 08.30 it rang at the door. It was an unknown guy standing there. He did not speak a word of English but he pointed at my bags and outside. Well I thought maybe none of them could make so they sent a friend to take me to the transit apartment. He helped me carry down my luggage to the street took my key and left. It was then I realized that he had nothing to do with @. So there I stood at 08.35 on the street with all my bags. It became 08.40 I was still rather calm. 08.45 I started making up plans on how to carry my luggage to the closest phone. 08.50 Finally a person, Zorro, came. Zorro does not speak any English he either so he thought that something might have happened. Five phone calls later we started traveling to my new place.

Well I found out that Zorro did not know exactly where my new place was. Ten phone calls later we enter the place there I will stay for about a week, at 09.45. It was an apartment of a former member of @. She has to places so I could use one of them. But she absolutely had to show me everything, even how to light the gas-stove. At 10.00 o’clock we finally leaves the apartment to go and met Dr. Dan.

Dr. Dan was very friendly and he showed me around everywhere and gave me an office. It has a computer with a fast Internet connection and AIR-CONDITIONING. So today I have been working, in a cool office (it goes down to 19 degrees), from 08.00 till 15.40 trying to plan my English classes. Dr. Dan told me that this school is a part of ICARE (for thoose who knows about it) and is more or less totally funded by Americans and they even have two cars registered at the American Embassy. So I am working in Armenia employed by Americans to help Armenians and Georgians.

Yesterday I learnt that every map I have seen over Armenia is wrong. Since the war in the 90’s Armenia is controlling some parts of Azerbaijan and vice versa. Since there is no peace agreement the borders have not changed.

You learn something new every day.

Petter

To withstand the heat

2006-06-05T12:06:00.000+02:00

The hardest thing in Armenia is to stand the heat. It is so warm that even the Armenians are complaining. I myself looks like a boiled crayfish. Especially since yesterday as I was out hiking for the whole day. The Armenian nature is sure breath-taking. I have never been in any nature close to this. I took a couple of pictures but I need to find a computer that are more modern than this one before I can publish them. This computer is running on Windows 98!

In Armenia it is common to refer to the mountain Ararat as if it belonged to Armenia. I can undetstand them since you can see it from Yerevan. It is so huge an monumenteos that it by itself is worth half of the ticket price.

I have done so much since I last published anything on this blog. One of the most interesting parts is acctualy to buy food. Since
I have to name every product and how many grams of each you can undeerstand my situation. But I have found this great store there one of the ladies speaks english and she has the time of her life helping me. Introducing me to everyone and are trying to get a flirt going between me and the younger girls in the foodstore.

Since I arrived I have been swept uo in the work with the Armenian @-oranization. @ in Armenia is realy small and the local oraganization is the national organization. Although they have like five national universities and over a hundred private they still only has one organization (80% of the young armenians goes to a university). This last saturday I was involved in the interviewing of candidates for membership and this monday I had a presentation of Sweden at a University of International Economics Relations.

In Armenia the level of English varies aloot from person to person. There are universities there the students hardly knows any English and then there are universities there all of the studies are made in English.

I think I have to go and get some water.

That's all for now folks. Simma lugnt!

Armenia here I am

2006-05-31T15:33:00.000+02:00

Hi everyone

Just want to inform you all that I have landed in Armenia now and are currently trying to settle.

They let me sleep in for a while then I came to my apartment. It is rather broken-down, I hope that it is not flee-bites I have on me knee. Today I have been shopping some food that I managed with some help from an @-ar. You are not allowed to get the groceries by yourself, you have to inform some old ladies what you want and how much. I think we needed to go to five stores to get what I wanted and in some store we had to go to as much as three different cashiers. I fear for then I have to do this by myself.

The place I currently stay in are a three room apartment and it have not been cleaned for at least a year. It seems to be a rather calm area of Yerevan and it is only a 10 minutes buss ride from work. I bus ride is 100 dalmer (25 cent or 2 swedish kronor).
My place does not have running water during the whole day. Which I noticed at 05.30 in the morning after a toilet visit.

The view of mount Ararat from Yerevan is breathtaking. That alone is a reason for the trip. The Armenians claims that it is a part of Armenia despite its location in Turkey.

Later today there will be some sort of welcoming party and this weekend we will hike up some big mountain. I am so glad I decided to do this.

I know it is a little bit messy but a better update will come then I settle

Petter

Uppsala Goodbye & preparations

2006-05-05T08:12:00.000+02:00

Well it has been some time since I last published anything on my blog. But that is mostly because I do not think that people want to read as much from my preparations and goodbyes to friends.

But screw people I will do it anyway.
Last weekend I spent in Uppsala and "celebrated" Walpurgis (Valborg). It was fun, but it felt like I was always walking around between different groups of friends and always talking about Armenia. I even got in to an argument with two girls who told me that I must have mixed up Romania and Armenia, because there is no country named Armenia!!!
The problem and what is great about Walpurgis and Uppsala are that everyone is out partying. So it is impossible to find your friends and on your way of finding them you will bump into ten other friends on the way. So to get from point A to point B could take anywhere between five minutes to two hours.

I just want to say to want to tell my friends who lives in our have lived in Uppsala:

Thank you for six wonderful years!! Petter has left the city!

I just realised one thing, it struck me yesterday. I am realy going to Armenia. Yesterday the University sent over some newsletters so that I could get up to date and get a bigger grip of things. I do not know what to do. It seems so serious, it is serious.
There are so many things that has to be done and so little time. I even have a farewell tour planed. I will go to Linköping, Lund, Stockholm and I will be finishing it of with a big wedding. (Not my wedding, but it will still be fun)

Right now I do not know if I have any more to add. take care and remember:

Almost nobody dances sober, unless they happen to be insane.

So in English from now on!

2006-04-08T10:31:00.000+02:00

To make this blog more accessible for the public ; ) I have decided to change the language from Swedish to English.

So for the people who are new to this blog, I will summarize some stuff.

First: The adress of this blog "blogg-heter-svammel" well it is in Swedish and if you translate it into English it would be something like this "the blogs name is drivel". I took that name because I think that most blogs are personal bullshiting of everyday experiences. But bullshit from a friend could be amusing.

Second: If someone (probably I) has told you that I was about to go abroad and work in places like Russia, Indonesia, Hong-Kong, Nigeria, Brasil, Bangladesh, Turkey or the North Pole you have been missinformed. I will as a matter of fact be going to Armenia soon, to the capital Yerevan to be more precise. There I will be teaching students at the Agribusiness University in Business English. ( I am well aware that I myself never have studied Business English or Business for that sake, but the professors at the university didn't seem to mind that much.)
I will be living in Armenia for about six to seven months. Thus I will be going to Armenia after my cousins wedding the 27th of May and I will come back to Sweden some time around Christmas.
I started this blog after a suggestion from a friend as a way to keep everyone updated of my experiences in Armenia. Actually it was a way to keep my Swedish friends informed of what I did during my visit to Hungary and my first Aiesec conference abroad.

Third: For you who don't know it I have joined this strange thing called Aiesec ( Aiesec will be @ from now on). @ is an organisation for students, by students. @ arrange alot of things but mainly they arrange different inturnships around the world and that is how I got this Armenia thing. So if I write some strange words like LC. You just have to post a comment and I will explain what it is. (LC is short for the local @ organisation).

Fourth: As it is a public blog I will not publish the most obscene stories and photos. I will try to keep a general subjective story of my experiences in Armenia.
If you want to know something more or if you think that I leave something out you can always write to my e-mail and ask for more details, I am not the guy that refuses to answer questions.
If people think that I am being prudish you are welcome to visit my old flat and look at the pictures on the refrigerator. I just think that somethings are not ment to be publicly distrubuted.

Conclusion: I will use this blog to make it possible for my friends to get an general idea of what I will be doing and thinking during my preperations before - as well as during - my time in Armenia.

I hope you will enjoy it
Petter

ps. for my friends who do not remember what I look like I have put in a picture. The picture was taken at my fathers birthday last summer/spring. So it is a picture of a younger me. The only thing that has changed is the amount of hair growing out of my face.

överlevt konferensen!!

2006-04-03T10:19:00.002+02:00

Hej alla glada

Vill bara lite snabbt meddela att jag överlevt konferensen!

Det har varit riktigt roligt. Det enda trakiga kan nog vara att jag inte har sovit mer än sex timmar allt som allt. Ungrarna vet hur man festar, OC (de ansvariga) sov i början i festen för att i slutet komma och vara med till the bitter end. Alltsa tva timmar efter att alla andra gatt och lagt sig. Dock har kommunikationsmissarna fortsatt, jag har tre erbjudanden om vart jag ska sova inatt och vet inte vilket som det blir. Men det blir nog roligt!!

Jag kan stolt erkänna att jag hade det bästa bordet pa global village (Man ordnar bord med typiska saker fran sitt land). Det roligaste var att se alla som försökte ata saltlakritsen.

Ska nu ta och handla lite saker och hämta min väska för att möta upp en unfgrare vid namn Ákos som är vid ett annat LC (universitet).

Jag vet att det är lite hafsigt skrivet men en bättre redogörelse kommer efter att jag landat och sovit ut i Sverige!!

Petter

Framme i Ungern

2006-03-29T17:57:00.000+02:00

Hej alla glada

Nu har jag varit i Ungern ett bra tag. Nästan fem timmar!! (Det ungerska tangentbordet är inte kompis med mig)

Resan gick bra och mina farhagor om att det inte skulle finnas nagon som möter mig basannades inte. Tva trevliga ungrare väntade pa mig vid flygplatsen. Därefter tog vi buss, tunnelbana och sparvagn till AIESEC kontoret i budapest. Information verkar inte vara ungrarnas starka sida da de som hämtade upp mig inte visste var jag skulle sova. De informerade mig att jag var en av manga internationella delegater som kommit till ungern idag och att vi skulle direkt till Balaton och hotellet för konferensen. Sa var inte fallet.

Jag är hittills den enda internationella deltagaren som kommit och de vet bara om en till som ska komma. Om man nu kan lita pa deras information. Pa kontoret lämpade de av mig pa den allt för stressade personen som har ansvar för allt, Chili tror jag han heter, han rabblade en massa fakta och gav mig en penna. Den gav jag tillbaka till honom efter att ha hallt den i 10 minuter, den läckte nämligen. Istället fick en kvinna vid namn Berta (obs alla ungerska namn är fonetiska). Hon visade mig till mitt hotell, dock först efter att ha fatt en väg beskrivning själv. Hotellet ifraga hölls pa att renoveras sa vi fick aka till ett annat, efter en ny vagbeskrivning. Det kostade en del men jag var trött pa att aka omkring.

Berta informerade mig om att de inte var vana att fa internationella deltagare och hade glömt!!! att mejla dem. Därav mina svarigheter att fa min anmälan bekräftad.

Just nu sitter jag i en bokaffär pa ett stort köpcentra och försöker finna en sportbar som jag kan kolla pa fotboll i.
Imorgon ska jag pa egenhand ta mig till centralstation och finna den plats där AIESEC ska mötas. Man far se hur det gar.

Aterkommer till er snart ska nu köpa alkohol

Petter

Kan man lita på Ungrare?

2006-03-28T21:43:00.000+02:00

Ja, jag har inte gjort många knop efter telefon intevjun med folket från Armenien. När jag får ett allt för positivt besked vet jag inte vad jag ska göra. Jag kan inte koncentrera mig mer än fem minuter. Då gör man ganska många olika saker men man får inte så mycket gjort. Idag har jag bakat, sytt, handlat, bloggat, packat och kollat upp en väldigt massa saker till Ungern.
För er som inte vet, far jag till Ungern imorgonbitti. Det ska nämligen bli min första internationella konferens med AIESEC (de som inte vet vad AIESEC är får mejla mig). Dessvärre har inte ungrarna samma krav på kontakt som jag har och de som känner mig vet att jag inte detaljplanerar direkt. Jag fick nämligen jaga rätt på dem för att få reda på att de ens fått min anmälan.
När jag väl meddelat när jag anländer till Ungern och frågar vart jag ska ta mig härnäst så meddelar de att de ska hämta upp mig på flygplatsen, dock vet de inte vem som skall hämta upp mig. Där är vi nu.
Jag vet inte om det kommer att finnas en ungrare som skall ta hand om mig när jag anländer eller om jag får försöka att finna mig till konferensen på egen hand. Till saken hör att jag kommer en dag för tidigt och måste övernatta i Budapest en natt. Men tydligen är det flera som ska göra det. Jag vet inte vilket hotell eller något.

Ja ja den som lever får se.
Just nu hoppas jag bara att överföringen av pengar till mitt konto funkar annars blir det en skral reskassa

Petter

ps. för er som har synpunkter på språket (Jag är inte alltid den tydligaste personen). Vill jag bara säga: Om man sätter 100 apor framför 100 skrivmaskiner får man tillslut ett shakespear manus. Man kan väl säga att internet dödade det påståendet.

Armenien, I didn't bust

2006-03-28T08:41:00.000+02:00

Japp då var det klart. På telefon har jag nu blivit intervjuad av två Universitetslärare som ställde en massa frågor till mig om mina kunskaper och motiv. Det svåraste var att motivera varför jag ville åka till Armenien.

Jag ska undervisa i Business English under sommarskolan och under hösten ska jag undervisa i Business English och Business Ethics. Inget som jag direkt har pluggat till men det kan väl gå ändå?

Det mest intressanta var att Armenien är känt för sin vintillverkning samt att universitet jag ska jobba på skickar ut sina studenter till ostfabrikanter. Mmmmm cheese, arrrhhh.

Nu är jag så upprymd att jag inte riktigt vet vad jag ska göra. Jag vet att jag borde packa och planera inför ungernresan men.... det går bara inte.

Ska åka till Armenien i slutet av Maj början av Juni och vara kvar till Jul ungefär. Alla är välkomna att hälsa på mig och min Malaysiska rumskompis.

Nu ska jag ut på äventyr nu ska jag ut och röva!!!!!

Åter till listan

2006-03-27T19:01:00.000+02:00

Jag anser att bloggning egentligen är offentligt svammel. Men även svammel kan ha sina fördelar. Nu ska jag återgå till vad som göras bör:

Få se jag har ätit.

Jag ska studera Agribusiness tills imorgon då de kommer att ringa från Armenien och intervjua mig om ett jobb hos institutionen för Agribusiness. Så de som kan något om Agribusiness och gått vilse i etern samt läser detta kan gärna höra av sig.

Ska börja förbereda mig inför min resa till ungern på onsdag. Har inte ens börjat fundera över att packa. Resan kommer att bli grymt rolig. Jag är ensam från Sverige och ska representera mitt land inför 200 okända människor. Jag planerar att göra mig känd som "the crazy Swede". Mitt mål med konferensen är att få folk att bada nakna i Balaton sjön. Det må va kallt. Men kan man bada naken så ska man.

Jag ska skicka iväg en förfrågan om finasiellt stöd till min ungern resa. Då jag är Sveriges enda representant borde det vara möjligt med ekonomiskt bistånd.

Jag ska skriva ett motiveringsbrev till Eucador, det är nästa jobb som står på tur om de inte vill ha mig i Armenien. Tänk er vilken förnedring att bli nekad en tjänst i Armenien!

Ja nu tycker jag att jag har svamlat tillräckligt. Dessutom har ugnspannkakan gjort mig däsig. Den satt bättre än den allt för snålt tilltagna och hett kryddade köttfärslasagnen, som jag fick på Norrlands. Som tur var var sällskapet underhållande, tack Mr. T.

2006-03-27T18:32:00.000+02:00

Jaha, nu har man blivit en svensson och börjat svammla ute på etern som alla andra. Fast än alla människor gör samma sak så är man i gemen livrädd för kloning....

Sitter här och vet inte riktigt vad jag ska göra. Det är inte så att jag inte har saker att göra, det är bara det att jag inte vet var jag ska börja.

Det jag borde göra är följande:
Äta middag. Jag har en redan färdig gjord ugnspannkaka nere i köket....

förresten återkommer