...Armenia

As luck would have it, Alexandria hosted their annual Armenian Festival the weekend I got the news; and it's a good thing cause I know basically nothing about this entire area. I realize I could go somewhere else (like Georgia or Azerbaijan) but I thought I would make a conscience effort to learn as much as I can about all three.

First off, this country is learning to cope with the workings of a free market economy. When I told one lady what I would be doing, she sounded optimistic about the IT industry there. Okay, so far so good. I asked the same lady what the weather is like there, she mentioned that winters extended into May! This is sounding better as the conversation keeps going -- I'm more a fan of winter than summer. Then, I walked over to some Armenian volunteer society booth and discussed what is going on with Armenia and it's neighbors, most notably, Iran. This lady told me Armenia happens to be just 30 minutes by plane to Tehran and that, contrary to our western media and the neo-con community, actually quite safe. While I don't think I'll be breaking bread with the Ayatollah, passport privileges permitting, I could see my curiosity getting the best of me.