Triathlon 2.0

Not satsified with last month's first go-a-round at two-thirds of a triathlon, Sarah was back out at Lake Sevan this Saturday for Triathlon 2.0, competing alongside Zach - who missed the first triathlon due to the recent hostilities in Georgia. Brian was on-hand to call the play-by-play below.

Storm clouds, stiff winds and choppy seas greeted the contestants on arrival, but it was nothing a little coffee couldn't fortify against.

Sarah was all smiles as she got ready to face the whitecaps in borrowed wetsuit.

At water's edge.

In the water - Sarah (bottom center, left) and Zach (top center, right).

After the swim.

Onto the bike.

A windy 40 kilometers later.

And she's off for a 10k jog.

Water stop at 5k.

Sarah and Zach at the finish, ready to do it all again.

Sarah's times: 1000 meter (est.) swim: 00:25:22 / 40 kilometer bike: 01:52:35 / 10 kilometer run: 01:11:00. Total time without transitions: 03:28:57. Total elapsed time: 03:39:12.

Number of king-sized snickers bars that Brian ate during the race: 1.

Football Diplomacy

A bit of news from our neighborhood (this is a brief excerpt from an article in The Guardian which I thought was particularly good, not least because it quotes two people I've worked with on Armenia-Turkey programs!):

The first tentative steps towards healing generations of bitterness between Turkey and Armenia will take place in a football stadium in Yerevan tomorrow when the two nations meet in a World Cup qualifier watched by their respective presidents.

In what has been termed "football diplomacy", Turkey's president, Abdullah Gul, will attend the match after accepting an invitation from his Armenian counterpart, Serge Sarkisian, in an attempt to kick-start relations between the two neighbours, who do not have diplomatic ties.

We'll be at the match tomorrow!

Lunch, Armenian style

I went on a site visit to one of our projects near lake Sevan today. I was a big tourist and took this picture at the little roadside cafe where we had lunch on the way home. This guy was a good sport about posing for the camera with our kebabs, which had a delicious smoky flavor from being cooked in a tonir. Here I am with some of my colleagues waiting for our food to arrive:

Some more vacation photos...

... and more in the slideshow view.

Countries we have visited

create your own visited country map

Yes, we're not lying when we call it notes from Eurasia (obviously no notes from the southern hemisphere for this crew!)