Thank you Alina

Prof. Sen, the Associate Dean of AUA said that we should meet up at 6:30 for a trip to Astaraki-tzor. He explained that it meant the valley of Astarak. Prof. Jon Pearce said he would bring along some guests. Prof. Ahmad Hosseini hadn't arrived at 6:30... rumour has it that he asked if the outing was 6:30 in the morning!!

Well Jon arrives in the van with his friends. Dr David Stronach and some of his students / ex students. Believe it or not, Prof. Stronach has his own wikipedia page, click on his name above. They were in Armenia to dig at Erebuni. I don't know where JON finds such interesting people. I sat opposite Alina Ayvazian one of Dr. Stronach's student.

Astarakidzor turned out to be one of the most enjoyable evenings I have had in Armenia this time. Alina turned out to be Indiana Jones for one fantastic evening. She told me how a dig is dug. She told me how they first mark an imaginary square and how they start digging. She had heard of some of the people I had heard of, Foucault, Claude Levi_Strauss, etc.

But they say.... "The best things in life cannot be seen or even touched, they must be felt by the heart." After my second vodka the dance floor called out. I asked around and no one seemed to be interested. Finally someone showed interest and when I walked out I found that there was only Alina with me.

It was lovely to dance on the open air with the wind blowing through the valley, a nip in the air and not a care in the world. Soon enough the rest of the gang joined me and Alina on the dance floor.

On the way back I sat next to Prof. Hosseini and I asked him if he had been out with students in Armenia. He said no.... in the US, things are complicated, with all kinds of issues of sexual harassment, etc. I told him that he has no idea of Armenia until he meets some Armenians for real. I wish Alina had more time to reach out to people like Hosseini. I felt sad for a civilization that cannot reach out and enjoy the world around it because of lawyers, courts and rules that did not understand the heart of relationships.

The evening ended with three cheers for Prof. Sen as we drove back to Yerevan. I got dropped off at the university at 11:00 pm. I came straight to write this story. Somehow I am sure I haven't captured the evening, but then again, words can only capture so much.

I am pretty sure I will never hear from Alina or Dr. Stronach again, but I wanted to shout into cyberspace.........THANK YOU ALINA FOR A WONDERFUL EVENING!!