I feel better than before ;)

 Haven't posted my photos for a while :)

Here are 30+ reasons why Max is the best dog in the world :)



Photos are clickable :)

The Great Lent starts today. Since the recent weeks I was mostly at home and spent a lot of time sitting at a computer, a small weight loss will be only good. And thus, the Lent is a good occasion. Although I must admit - I'm doing it not because of religious beliefs (I'm not very religious), but to clean my organism. I have friends that had been fasting this period for some years and they were feeling really good after that, with a refreshed organism.



Armenian Apostolic Church declares the beginning of the Great Lent on February 23. It will last 48 days, until Easter on April 12. Fasting by Armenian religious traditions include abstaining from any kind of food not of vegetable origin. While during Catholic Lent eggs and dairy products are allowed, on ours (similar to Orthodox traditions), on the contrary, the meat, dairy products and eggs, seafood are forbidden.



This will be a tough job for me since meat is a frequent ingredient for dinners at our home (like in most Armenian families). And I'm not saying about cheese and other dairy products ! I cannot yet imagine my life without cheese :((



So I need to prepare my food myself which can include:

• Rice


• Potatoes


• Corn


• Lentil


• Haricot, pea and other beans


• Mushrooms


• All sorts of vegetables (hello, spring!)
  
  


• Spinach and other greens


• Oatmeal


• Noodles (soya or rice)


• Yeast baking 


• Honey (luckily it's allowed)


• Cereals


• From the sweets - dried fruits

And from the following things i should abstain:

• Milk, sour cream, butter


• Cheese
  
  


• Meat, chicken, fish


• Eggs 


• Cakes, pastry, donuts
  
  


• Sandwiches, pizzas, most pastas...
  
  


• Olive oil


• Wine (! :( )

I concluded that i can make my beloved pizza with yeast dough, cover it with vegetables and tomato pasta (?), but somehow resist to put cheese. This could work :) And also I can make a wide range of salads with vegetables.





I cannot guarantee that I will resist and abstain from all the forbidden food, and so maybe I will sometimes become catholic :D (eating dairy products) but I will try my best to fast for the first time. In fact, I've never been on any kind of diets before.



Now, that I have written about my commitment in my blog, it became kind of an obligation, so I will keep it updated on the process.

Today the weather in Yerevan was like in Rotterdam exactly one year ago. And one year ago this day I decided to escape from it to sunny Italy for a weekend. That were the best 3 days of my entire 10 week of staying in Europe (mostly in The Netherlands) for an internship.

On Saturday, Feb. 23, I was meeting my Italian friend Roby in the Piazza Duomo. If I had read the wikitravel page on Milan carefully, I would know how to avoid scam there, which i didn't do. When we were walking together on the square, a black guy approached us and tied a thin colorful band on my left wrist, asking to make a wish. It was a wish (friendship *) bracelet. It's common for all over Europe. They approach, tie a bracelet, then ask for money, though at first, when you refuse to take it, they insist that it's completely free :) My friend had to give the guy couple of euro coins, but he was insisting on more and it was hard to escape from him.

He told me that i shouldn't tear it myself, it has to be worn out and fall off naturally. And the day it happens, my wish will come true.



I don't remember exactly what was my wish, but i'm waiting impatiently for it to wear out. Hey, it's been with me like a part of my body for already a year! Wherever i went, whatever i was wearing - swimsuit, fancy dress at a wedding, it was with me!

* Friendship bracelets are usually given to friends. According to indigenous tradition of Native Americans (where it came from), the recipient of a friendship bracelet must wear it until the cords wear out and fall off naturally. The idea is that the friend paid for it with the hard work and love that made it, and the recipient repays the friend by honoring the work. Removing the bracelet before it naturally falls off is a sign that the friendship has gone sour. Another variation of this tradition is that the recipient of a bracelet is entitled to a wish. After the bracelet wears out and falls off naturally, the wish will come true.

We call them "fenechki" here - the Russian way.

2009 was announced to be the International Year of Astronomy. 400 years ago Galileo Galilei was the first to use telescope for observing the sky.

In 1609, Galileo Galilei first turned one of his telescopes to the night sky and made astounding discoveries that changed mankind’s understanding of our position in the Universe: mountains and craters on the Moon, a plethora of stars invisible to the naked eye and moons around Jupiter. In the same year, Johannes Kepler published his work Astronomia nova – in which he described the fundamental laws of planetary motions. - Wikipedia

Space Expo and the diploma

I am a big astronomy fan since childhood. It started in February 1994, when I was in The Netherlands and was taken to the Noordwijk Space Expo.

It made a huge impression on me and after that I began watching the night sky with different eyes. I have an "Astronaut's diploma" from that space expo that is hanging on my wall for the recent years and sometimes when I watch it, it makes me think "Gosh, I have an Astronaut's diploma!!!!" :D

I was so much passionate about astronomy, reading and watching documentaries a lot, that one day at school i announced that i am going be the first woman on Mars :) Classmates laughed at first, then some of them asked for my autograph for future ;)



My first astronomy book

One day when I was 14, walking in Vernissage (flea market in Yerevan) with my mother, I saw a wonderful book on astronomy in Armenian. It was among some old books from old home libraries that people usually sell in Vernissage. It costed 2000 dram and my mother bought it for me without any hesitation. It was my first and best astronomy book ever. It was brand new and even published in the same year ! I haven't had any book of that quality before. Called "ASTRONOMY" from the "eyewitness guide" series, it turned to be an Armenian translation of the Dorling Kindersly edition. It was hard covered, high-quality publishing on a glossy paper with colorful illustrations that was published in Armenian with the help of Vatche & Tamar Manookian charitable fund. Taking into account the quality of books we were studying with at schools that years, this book was more than wonderful. It helped me not only to satisfy my curiosity, it meant a lot ! I felt it as it was sent to me from above.



That time and many years later I was carrying that book whenever i was going out of the city overnight, to watch the sky and tell my friends about the constellations and some interesting astronomy facts.



Byurakan observatory

I was always using the occasion to visit the famous Byurakan observatory. We were watching the Moon, Jupiter rings, Mars and some stars with the 3m telescope and asking questions to the astronomer that was guiding the excursion. I liked to ask more advanced questions to make them ask me if i wanted to work there :D But they never asked me :(





I don't know what events are planned to be organized in Armenia this year but I'll try to participate and restore and renew my hobby.



And I will try to find this film: http://www.eyesontheskies.org/

About the film and download links in Russian.

Website dedicated to the IYA2009



Greetings to my astronomer friends ;)