&&ot&ot ;html> Notes From Hairenik: A Blog About Life in Armenia

Notes From Hairenik
August 25, 2006
The Fever strikes back
Exactly a year after the demise of my fever from hell, which in Vanadzor kept me under two layers of thick wool blankets so as to attempt to keep my temperature down as well as the pressure building up behind my eyeballs, I came down with another miserable fever, though not as severe, in good ol’ sunny California. For the last five days I’ve been laying about in my hotel room, fighting a temperature of 100 degrees F or sometimes higher. Simultaneously an infection in my mouth formed, causing a bout of gum disease virtually overnight. Thus I’ve been very weak as well since I haven’t been able to eat anything of any substance other than bottles of kefir, which is a thick yoghurt drink that doesn’t require chewing to consume. Nights were spent sleepless, although I lay exhausted in pools of sweat, while I would catch one or two hours of sleep here and there during the day. I felt a bit like a vampire actually, bloody gums and all. For days I was trapped in the room, going out only for short bursts of time to buy some water—I drink a minimum of a gallon a day—and more kefir. A trip to the emergency room at the local hospital in hopes to score some antibiotics proved futile, having waited for two hours and the male nurse on duty essentially convincing me that there was no hope in seeing a doctor anytime soon.

Finally after swishing several different concoctions in succession around in my mouth dozens of times, namely salt water—which I could only use once as the pain was excruciating—a commercial blue mouthwash made with hydrogen peroxide specifically suited for treating mouth wounds, and water with a few drops of tea tree oil added, as well as carefully massaging the gums to extract the microbe-invested thick saliva juices from their hiding places, I’ve been able to partially cure the infection. Not surprisingly, my temperature has dropped to normal almost simultaneously. Then again, I’ve noticed that it’s been fluctuating a bit for some mysterious reason. Thankfully, my wife Ariga who came out here two weeks ago was by my side, helping me recover.

But I’ll have to say, and this may sound crazy seeing that I am in the land of plenty, I would have received better health care had I been in Yerevan. Visits to the emergency room fluctuate in price depending on where you go, but after a bad spill on the ice earlier in the year which really banged up my back, I ended up leaving the hospital having to pay only $40 for both a physical examination and a set of X-rays. Health care is meant to be free now, although that in reality is not practiced for various reasons, the main one being that there are too many doctors who are underpaid and thus request cash handouts from their patients. You can also buy antibiotics at any pharmacy, assuming they stock the brand you want, without needing a prescription. Now that can be dangerous if you have allergies to such medications that you don’t know about—this problem happened with my wife for instance a few years back. But generally you can receive very good health care at bargain prices compared with costs in the US for the same treatment, inferior in my case, as I never saw anyone other than a nurse who took my blood pressure and temperature. It’s another plus for choosing to live in Armenia.

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Posted by Christian Garbis at 10:39 AM.
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August 9, 2006
A few tings…

I’m currently away from Armenia on a business trip outside the Los Angeles area but should be back soon. My wife may be joining me soon, which will be very pleasant for sure. Orange seems to be the color of the month in marketing, so she’ll be ecstatic the whole time she spends here. It should be interesting to watch her reactions wherever we go, then listening to her excitedly exclaim repeatedly, “Look, orange!”

I’ve heard from Onnik and other friends that the dram has strengthened even more, as the street trading rate is now between 390-400 dram to the dollar. This is an all-time high for the national currency, something that again should be applauded but instead will be scorned to some degree. In Armenia as I pointed out before, the laws of economics pertaining to most “westernized” or wanna-be westernized countries are reversed. When the dram gets stronger and thus the dollar weaker, prices on goods and services inflate. This is primarily due to the fact that big businessmen do not conduct commerce with or invest in the dram. And despite a supposed $1 billion in remittances coming into the country as reported for last year, there is a dollar shortage in the country that is still unexplained. People that suspect fraud on the part of the Central Bank of Armenia have been ridiculed as being the same types who believe in UFOs. So the have-nots seem to be increasing, or are doing worse than before despite a booming economy for which the World Bank and the IMF can’t stop applauding. As is the case everywhere I suppose, so long as you have money, life is good. But once you hit hard times, you cannot count on government social services to back you up in Armenia. Most pensioners make about 5,000-6,000 dram, now about $12, a month, more or less.

I am looking forward to returning to Yerevan, obviously. I still yearn for it when I’m away. The materialist climate present in the US has become very humid. There are commercial advertisements everywhere you look--I don’t remember it being so obvious. You can barely find clothing items that do not promote themselves or even other, unrelated products. In films, you see very subtle advertisements in most scenes, whether people are talking on the phone or especially, eating. Television shows are outdone by the commercials--far less focus is notably given to quality programming. Even public television is showing fast food restaurant commercials now, the one network I could always rely on for broadcast excellence. Although decadence has increased significantly in Yerevan, it has not reached the levels that can be noticed in the US. And more than ever, mediocrity has become the standard by which to achieve. It begins with the country’s leadership.

The political climate in Yerevan seems to be turning for the worse. The Defense Minister, Serge Sargsyan, has given up being an independent and suddenly joined the Republican Party, with the hopes of using its support base to gain control of power for the parliamentary elections in 2007, then the presidential elections in 2008--most people think he will take President Robert Kocharian’s place, although that still has yet to be determined by the Armenian voting public, if they ever realize that. The opposition seems to be splitting, with certain prominent individuals deciding to join or support right-wing organizations. I am still waiting for a huge push by the opposition to politically activate the few youth still remaining in the country. It remains to be seen what viable role, if any, they will play in the next 24 months.

In an update to my Air France fiasco, I received a written response to my complaint regarding my mangled suitcase they found and finally returned about 10 hours before I was scheduled to fly out of Boston. They wrote that I should take the suitcase to a cobbler for him to determine whether it can be repaired, then he would be required to call Air France and let them know what the situation is. Why a cobbler would be bothered to do something like that is beyond me. In any case, I called them and told them off, specifically informing them that I already wrote a blog entry casting them in a negative light, and that there reputation has gone down. The representative replied by simply stating, “OK.” So that chapter is closed.

In any case, if all goes as planned I will be back in Yerevan by the end of August at the latest to resume my never-dull adventures. In the meantime, I will keep jotting down my thoughts whenever I can here.

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Posted by Christian Garbis at 11:00 AM.
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