Back from my holiday...

I'm back from my holiday travels! I had planned to write more journal entries while I was travelling, but as it turned out Internet access was really limited.

I had a great time though! I saw the pyramids and the Nile river, and I had a great time of rest. I also met a lot of interesting people.

Now its time to dive back into work. There's a lot to be done. I'm beginning to lay the groundwork for a big conference in Glasgow next year, I'm preparing for work in Rwanda, Burundi and the Congo in September, I'm coordinating a very busy speaking schedule for 2006, and I'm also doing work for the church here in Kirkintilloch. However, for once in my life I had a break that was a COMPLETE break and I'm coming back rested up and ready to tackle my work.

I'll try to write more soon.

The Wedding in Armenia

The wedding today was amazing. The culture is so different. It's like something I've seen on movies or something but nothing I've seen in real life. The dancing, for example, was very exotic. It seemed very Persian to me, though I'm not sure if there is a difference between Persian and Armenian dancing as I'm not an expert. It was really cool though. The food was different too, and everything else for that matter.

It's just after one in the morning. We've just returned to the hotel from the wedding. I'm tired and would be going to bed, but I'm waiting for the groom to stop by. He told me he needs to stop by for something before going on to the place their spending their wedding night...not that they're really SPENDING the night in any one place! They've got to get up at 4am to catch a plane!

This is the first time I have ever been in the former Soviet Union. It's a very different land. Armenia is very poor because the economy collapsed when they were released from communism and plunged into the blessings of democracy. The country was almost completely ruined at that time, but they are a resilient people and have been slowly rebuilding. They still maintain a lot of Russian attributes in their culture. I mentioned above that the dancing seemed very Persian to me, but its not always the case. Sometimes its very Russian. At the wedding it was mostly traditional Armenian dance (and Latin, interestingly enough), but at other places we've gone there's been a lot of Russian dancing. They also hold onto Russian customs like cognac and vodka and an immense love of these things.

I saw Mount Ararat the other day. It's beautiful. It's on the Turkey side of the border, so we couldn't actually go up to it because the border's closed due to the two countries being enemies. Armenia still hasn't completely forgiven the Turks for killing 1,500,000 Armenians during the genocide in the early 20th century, and Turkey still denies that the genocide ever happened despite the overwhelming amount of evidence, including the many graphic photographs we saw the other day at the genocide museum.The poverty here was, of course, worsened even more after independence due to a terrible war and then an earthquake that literally wiped the second largest city off the map, but they continue forward and are an admirable people.

I've got to go. The groom is here.