Craigslist

I have a problem when people don't use apostrophes for things like "I'm" - im is not a word. (You can read it out loud as "em" which is amusing when entertaining the lovely Sarah though).

And yet there are those that post ads like this on Craigslist trying to find housing. Incredible. Here's the title, just to get an idea. It's good for a laugh I suppose.

$800 im funny AND good looking. also im really modest.

Uh-huh.

The hunt for apartments is on.... Happy New Year to all!

Oh Christmas Tree...

Fun image from yesterday: I ran into Cheryl, another newish Peet's person (who also works at a fabulous sushi restaurant that we're starting to frequent), on my way biking home from work yesterday on the street. We talked about Christmas presents and plans and I was inspired to go look at Christmas trees that I pass daily on the way to work (though they're not open at 5 or 6 a.m.).

It was quite the Charlie Brown moment. I looked at the little trees (affordable and easier to get home) and picked out the cutest one. It was also not fire-proofed (no need) and the cheapest; the guy told me to go pay and then we'd figure out how to rig it to my new back rack. By the time I got back two fellas had already rigged it with a bungee cord so that it was sitting up right there over my back tire. Totally fun to bike down the street snuggled up to a tree complete with red bow on top; I even swung by Cheryl's other job to show her. Holiday cheer all around.

I was almost home when I saw a protest in support of the Greeks coming down the other side of the street, police escort, banners, chanting and all. It was a juxtaposition of seasons and purpose - I got some stares as I cycled past. Decorations have started and I'm feeling festive. Sarah made chocolate salted caramels yesterday too for her secret santa at work - delicious. Here comes the holiday spirit with full force.

I even found the Muppet Family Christmas on youtube, probably my favorite Christmas special. Pete's party on Friday looped Charlie Brown (silently, but since we all have the dialogue memorized it doesn't matter so much). Now to just figure out presents and solidify plans for the day itself!

And the days go by...

My only excuse for silence has been adapting to this early to bed, early to rise schedule that is then complicated by my attempts to continue having a life and look for another job. However, the time passes so quickly only because it's so good (we'll think on it that way).

Thanksgiving had me working in the morning, then heading to Oakland with Mike to celebrate at Harry and Michael's house with Nate, Alojzya even came down from Tahoe. We ate some excellent chicken (there were 3 of them, a decent ratio), enjoyed delicious sides and even apple pie (courtesy of Harry, a musician magician). The evening ended with a string jam session - ukulele, guitar, 12 string guitar, and bass, which kept the spirits up even as we got stuck in Bay Bridge traffic trying to get back to the city (I had to work at 6 a.m. the next morning). The next day Mike and I road tripped (so California) to North Hollywood to spent time with his folks. It was quite the adventure, our rental lady talked faster than I ever can imagine doing myself and warned us about cows equalling tickets and cops, that we'd need a tank down and a tank up. Overall she was right, though it made for a long day. The weekend was chill fun, Mike got a suit for interviewing, we all went out to dinner, I heard family lore. A very different kind of holiday cheer than the usual Qualls clan gathering, but a decent holiday nevertheless.

I am trying to stay culturally sensitive as people keep trying to convince me that it's cold. It's in the 40s as a low, damp, but still. There's no wind chill. I point this out not to flaunt but to give context - I've started asking where people come from before discussing the winter. Mike and I couldn't believe it the other week when we went on this nice long bike ride through Golden Gate Park all the way to the beach (where there's ocean!). And all this in December. We then biked up a HUGE hill to cut back into the city, went down Geary to find a yummy Chinese place with Dim Sum (he'd never had it) and restore the tissues. Yum. In total the loop was about 15 miles - that and my biking the Berkeley hills last weekend is making legs try to complain though it's a good kind of pain. Standing at work was a bit dodgy but one survives.

Espresso bar is a stressful job; I've been training and it wears me out. But I can now make delicious drinks, which is pretty exciting, and my colleagues have been great helping me out when I am trying not to flounder. I also have discovered the San Francisco Center for the Book, full of binding and printing classes, studio space, and various other amazing things. I've started volunteering there this week with an eye to get into a class (you can trade hours for workshops) and manned the front desk as well as sorted spacers for 24 pt font. I can now tell you the difference between a em and a en space (the first one is square, the second exactly half size), and loved getting my fingers dirty with type once again. Tomorrow there's a Holiday Craft Fair that I'm going to work at - it's been also a fun way meeting new people (like a conservator at one of Stanford's libraries and a woman who raises her own silk worms).

I can't believe it's almost mid-December.

you've been out of the country too much when...

I just got an alert from the US embassy in Serbia about Georgia having a runoff election and my first thought was that it was Georgia the country, confusing me as to why US citizens in Serbia would need to know about such an event.

Also, today I entertained (at least I hope so) a colleague at work with my exclamations over the "new" nickels and George Washington dollar coins - there are vikings thinly disguised as Lewis and Clark on our money. Curious. Her "where have you been?" was abruptly stifled when she realized that, in fact, I've not been here.

Oh, and it's been in the 70's this weekend.

Other exciting news has me hanging out with a Serb (from Belgrade) I met at the coffee shop a few weeks ago, he's working in catering so we munched on leftovers from his most recent job as I tried to put the past few years into a succinct chronology without too many digressions. I'm excited to have someone to chat about Beograd with, he's not been back for awhile so hungry for news. Plus he knows about a big gathering that happens monthly with trumpet music, the whole party atmosphere. Woohoo ex-pat communities!

And Mike is here this week - what joy, what bliss.

Election euphoria

I'm so excited and giddy, what an incredible time. I'm glad I could be in the US for the election - walking around with my dad last night in the Mission was crazy in terms of people's excitement levels. I stayed up late to see that INDIANA IS BLUE for the first time in my life.

Apparently that absentee vote counted.

WOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO!

It's madness to see so many smiling, happy people in the streets. I've never seen anything like this; makes me proud. Incredible.

These are a few....

Some things I have done:

-Worked morning shifts at a coffee shop for a week, starting at 5, 6, or 7 a.m.

-Bought a bike (that wasn't stolen) and subsequent gear (helmet, lock, lights)

-Seen Halloween costumes throughout the Mission District and had Snickers bars thrown at me in Oakland.

-Had lunch with Barb (stopping by on her cross-country trip) and Sarah at 900 Grayson in Berkeley. Chicken and waffles with gravy equal incredibly good.

-Biked practically across San Francisco (over 4 miles, it's roughly only 7 by 7 miles square) in the rain becoming super-saturated with water (I dumped water out of my boots where it was standing inside at the end), though my trusty messenger bag stayed dry on the inside (huzzah!).

-Had a job interview with a fairly major publishing company for their World Languages division (also on Halloween).

-Raided thrift stores for interview appropriate clothing that fit and came away victorious.

-Ate peanut butter M&Ms.

-Turned the clocks for daylight savings and was NOT late to work.

I'll leave you to decide what I'd do again and what I'll try to avoid repeating. Feel free to post your guesses.

Coffee and 60s...

I am now one of the gainfully employed. Got hired last week and started today slinging coffee at Peet's, a venerable coffee chain that has been around forever and sparked such things as Starbucks. Soon I will wow crowds with my espresso machine skills, but today I focused on dealing out beans (ground right then and there or whole) to the masses. And filling out paperwork.

Pretty awesome. I'm still hunting more work, but I'm excited about learning to barista.

And just in case you were wondering, it's in the 60s F here. Low in the 50s. Ahhhh, glorious.

This weekend too was fabulous in that we did everything you can think of that makes up a good weekend: going to the beach, eating out, taking a ferry ride across the bay, more good food and then ice cream, bar-hopping in the Mission with baseball and huge geeks that work for tech companies, dancing to live Brazilian music and then getting invited to a wedding afterparty in Sarah's building when we came home, dancing some more and meeting some neighbors. Exhausting and invigorating. Add to that I got to hang out with Alojzya on Thursday and Friday and actually talk for what seemed like the first time in years; doesn't get much better. I'm excited too because Barb is going to be around Thursday, my dad from Sunday to Weds and Mike moves here 19 Nov!

Now to figure out Halloween plans.

One week in sun-filled splendor

Today marks my being in the Bay Area for a week. It's gorgeous. Completely and totally. Sally's house overlooks the bay from the towering hills of Berkeley (quite the climb on foot, I must say) and all the time it's a distracting sight. Sunset, sunrise, night or day - it's breathtaking. One can't tire of it.

I took the first few days to get over jet lag (I was so keyed up I couldn't sleep really for a few days - trekking around the hills cured that and I slept like a baby Thursday night finally). Met some of Sally's friends on Saturday, reconnected with some people I've not seen in years (with more to come). I now have a cell phone too - excitement - so the job hunting can begin in earnest. Huzzah. People are also very outwardly friendly here, lots of "hello"s as one walks, I've chatted with some dog owners and shopworkers enjoying the fact that it's easy to do linguistically - it's been a long time since that was the case. I'm thrilled because it seems like a bunch of people are coming through in the upcoming months, starting with Alojzya tomorrow. We'll have dinner (knowing chefs I also have an insider's view on eateries in this food-crazed place. It's fantastic.) and catch up, I can't wait.

Enjoy procrastination - back to job apps. Know anyone who needs a clever worker to do something with books?

ah, oui, les français

I'm totally validated once again in my talking to strangers. Last Monday I was walking after having lunch with Eric when I overheard two guys speaking in French and looking lost. So I asked them (en français) if they were lost and when learning they were looking for food I offered to take them for cevapcici since it was on my way anyway. Away we went, chatting to the restaurant and while they ate the glory that is cevap. Turns out they are half of a quartet, Quatuor Ebene, playing here as part of BEMUS (Belgrade World music festival). They said could give me tickets for concert the following night (which was classical) and they were playing jazz the night after in Movie Bar. Since my current existence has lots of free time, I was ready, willing, and able to go listen to gorgeous music.

Gorgeous it was. I took Uros (lots of others couldn't make it) and we sat in quite good seats left for us with a guard, listening to a dynamic program. You could feel the music and it was lovely beyond my expectations. Afterwards we found Raphael and Pierre and ended up going with them, the other two in the group and some French embassy types to dinner at this little French restaurant near the hall. Pierre and Uros got into an thick exchange of music and films, it was a meeting of like-minds that one rarely sees. Raphael joined in later a bit, also some people from French Cultural Center discussing politics and the region for over the past 30 years, drinking wine and generally enjoying. We laid plans to hang out the next day and play tourist guide, leaving with the general well-being that eating and music bring.

Wednesday afternoon after an impulse buy of jeans (woohoo!) Uros and I met Raphael (Pierre needed to rest so opted out) and walked up to St. Sava to look at the grandeur of the temple, then have a coffee and chat before strolling back down to center. Found out that the group will be touring in the US this coming March and will be in the Pacific NW (also Boston, NYC, Oklahoma City) so I'll try to see them there. And then we always have Paris - I love having new people to visit in places that I already love (as many of you know). That night we went to see the jazz set with Uros's friend Marko and afterwards ended up having drinks, singing along with the piano and jazz standards until 2 a.m. Then some of us went (after dropping off instruments at their hotel) for rakija at Triangle bar (it's always open, down near Julia's faculty). It was just a thrilling kind of fun that one gets from talking with people who are interesting and interested in similar things (art's big, also language). We got some burek after the drinks and hung out some more - Uros and I were walking home at 6 a.m. completely content with life. He (thankfully) had lessons at 1, I wasn't working at all so no real worries there. Promises to keep in touch were exchanged, now to see if those promises sustain (I've become cynical about such things, especially in recent weeks).

This whole French connection (and oh, wasn't it grand to be speaking French again) once again showed me things I love about my life here in Belgrade, but also that the upcoming transitions will be helped because I talk to, oh, basically anyone. This week I also got to meet Uros's sister (finally!), we all had lunch. I met some of Dragana's journalist friends, have been baking a bunch, and listening to lots of music way loud in Uros's flat. Packing will begin tomorrow... yes. Tomorrow. Thankfully the highs are high enough they can carry me through the next few days and the parts of the past month that have been less than stellar.

Remember that time...

Remember when the US economy decided that a nose dive wasn't enough; no, no, it needed to roll down the hill of economic decline at top speed. If I was into theories I'd say it's because I'm moving back to the US. And will be job hunting.... oh glory.

Got my ticket to San Fran - 15 October I'll be there. Was in Novi Pazar last week exploring some of southern Serbia (accompanying Casse on a business trip). Some fortress ruins, old mosques and churches, a grandiose hotel that looked like a honeycomb and a spaceship mushed together - definitely different. And a long car ride through gorgeous mountains. As always, my photos are behind my writings, but I'll get there. Promise.

Now reading a bunch, teaching less. Ran into old friends on the street yesterday - they were having coffee and I joined. I like the small big cityness of Belgrade, something I'll miss. T minus 15 days and counting I suppose. Bizarre.

Back in Belgrade

The hot climes have become a distant memory after less than a week - going from 25-30 Celsius to 12 Celsius and wet, rainy is a huge difference (to put it mildly). I've started working a bit, more focused on seeing lovely people that I've missed over the past few months, and preparing for the next move (more later on that).

The last weeks of excavation/cleaning up paperwork blur together as time did so often there. Mike and I traveled to see Ekin at her excavation (outside a small town on the way to Adana) for a break that turned out to be more harrowing than normal dig life, but it was good to get out of the compound, see Ekin again, and be on another adventure. It involved being dropped off at a highway intersection (the road goes to the town) and waiting by a gas station, fervently hoping that we were in the right place. Ceyhan (the town - pronouned Jay-han) was much greener than Antakya, it's on a river that still flows mightily (unlike the Orontes) with parks and actual cafes. Very exciting. The team was a mix of Germans and Turks, much smaller than Atchana's team, and we made a welcome diversion (at least that was my impression). I was even able to do a proofreading job for a professor I've worked for here in Belgrade. We stayed at the house of the watchman (where Ekin and her little girl Lale were as well since the excavation house was full up). Battles with mosquitoes lead to trying to sleep through the call to prayer (quite loud since it was Ramadan), roosters crowing and Lale practicing to be an opera singer... exhausting stuff. But one survives. And even enjoys.

I have photos up now of time in Turkey - just to put some faces with names and all that I suppose. For some reason I really like being on top of mountains looking down - apparently the ancients (or at least people in the past) had a similar view since so much is high up. There aren't many photos of our site because not allowed to post unpublished material. When I see you in person I can show those, but not publicly.

Good news too is that both Mike and I have been invited back to the dig for next year, it's nice to be loved. And useful - I find that is hugely important to my state of well-being, the feeling of utility. Darn American values. So assuming all goes well we have an idea for next summer already - talk about long-term planning!

Next adventure is moving to San Francisco. I'm excited about it, looking to get my ticket in the next few days to head there mid-October or so. Hopefully I'll find work with books or food (two of my loves), enjoy seeing folks I've not seen in awhile, and travel up to Seattle/Portland in the not too distant future as well. Mike will be there too (how fun!) and applying to grad schools for next year. Good times. Let me know if you're there, plan to be there - once I have an address I'll be sending it out once again. And you'll be welcome to come and visit (naturally).

Palin - who even knew?

Daily Kos has a whole fact sheet of reasons to be scared, fivethirtyeight shows you how Sarah Palin actually might be more representative of American than you'd think (see creationism for a start) which is even more frightening.

And then there's Dowd at the NYTimes who compares Palin to a chick flick and then later says she "will no more support sex education than polar bears" in this opinion piece. Wonderfully cutting.

Oh politics.

Photo!

So I'm worried about McCain's VP choice - apparently she wants to kill polar bears. And had foreign policy experience because you can see Russia on a clear day from where she is. Hmmm. And then New Orleans will be hit with a hurricane in 12 hours or so. It's a scary world.


I wanted to put up this photo (taken by Hakki, the most relaxed and chill human I've ever met) from the Syria trip because it's actually a decent one and Mum always fusses that there are never any photos of me (there's the original and then what I cropped below). I'm still working on posting the trip itself when I become unmired from entering Bike's locus sheets and edit Maria's senior thesis so she can finally get her hands on her B.S. The compound's beginning to empty too - season really is winding down. But I think we still have enough to try and play volleyball, so that's a good thing.

An incredible food experience

Mike's pretty sick - it seems that the infection he's had for awhile has spread to his hip joint or something, causing a bunch of hospital visits yesterday and then a MRI (among other things) to get a real diagnosis today. In the afternoon I went back with him to the hospital mostly to be a handholder and distraction; it was a long and tiring time with people saying conflicting things in Turkish in the heat. He also hadn't really slept the night before because the pain was so bad, so exhaustion was kicking in.

Thus we stopped to pick up some kebab on the way back home so that he could take the pain-killers doctor gave us. Hanefi took us to a place along the highway towards our village where he seemed to know not only the owner but the men sitting around their drinks at the "kafeteria". So we order, guy asked if wanted garlic, spicey pepper - sure thing, I figure they'll make a sauce to order or something. Then he opens a refrigerator with what seems to be a dead cow or two hanging there, slices off a chunk of meat, weighs it, and then puts it in the meat grinder right in front of me. It looked like one of those old hand grinders but was motorized. So that passes through a bit, then goes into the food processor with the pepper and garlic (this will be Adana kebap that's a bit spicey it seems). Takes it out, throws it on the wooden counter in front of me and proceeds to chop, mash and then form two meat circles the size of dinner plates on pieces of paper. Some tomatoes are thrown on top and a little boy runs them out the door and down the street a ways, presumably to be cooked.

Meanwhile another little boy brings us cola, comes out to talk with Mike and I in the dolmus (since Mike's not supposed to walk and standing hurts). We have a funny English and Turkish conversation involving places we've been, where we're from, and the boys trying to sell us Ali, the Arab boy who's somewhere between6 and 8. Terribly cute, but we resist (they were concerned that I didn't have children I think). Finally after almost too much time the boys appear with giant newspaper packets - the meat circles are on huge ovals of fresh-baked flatbread and too hot to touch. Incredible stuff. And way yummy.

Today we just got back from the private hospital (my blogging is half digging, half medical issues it seems this summer). It was a long time and lots of doctors, but they squeezed him into the MRI and found liquid in his hip but seemingly no infection there. So days of rest are in order - since digging ends tomorrow and then people just stick around for a week or however long it takes to get their paperwork and final reports done, that's pretty ok. The best part was probably being in air conditioning for more than 2 seconds... huzzah! Gotta love those silver linings.

Stormy weather

I've seen something I never imagined I'd see- rain here on the compound. Yesterday field crew had to stay home because of the wet, in the evening what promised to be a huge storm turned out to be a whole bunch of nothing. But playing volleyball in the sprinkling rain with it actually being cool was a lovely time. And we won a bunch -wooha!

Time here is winding down, digging ends Friday (and Ramadan begins!), people will be leaving right and left come 2/3rd Sept. Folks hold on in their own ways. I realized I never got to watch any Olympics - it makes me sad. And also that I keep not downloading photos, it's on the list to do I swear! (Although because of publication rights I can't post any of the site itself, so you'll have to see them in person if you're interested).

One cool project also mostly completed was my looking at over 40 pages of references to make them stylistically consistent. A big editing job, but I'm glad to have it done (I'm always wary these things will make their way back to me somehow - dealing with 2003-04 objects taught me that lesson already). I also learned the word for "publisher" in a couple languages, for example 'verlag' is German. Just to add to the bag of tricks I suppose.

Two days ago a girl here asked me "Are you really an English teacher?", her voice incredulous. I assured her that I'm just as, if not more so, goofy in class as I am often here. Can't believe I'll be going back to that in just a few weeks, although the plan to head back stateside is still going strong.

Other news of note was that I made some incredible brownies too - rich and gooey. Was proud considering I approximated some things and made other parts up. Chocolate helps when tension mounts.

That could become a peace-keeping strategy.

Syria? Yeah, I've been there.

Last Friday we escaped the compound (an intrepid group of 15) on a bus to Syria that we've gotten in what seemed to be a sweet deal with a tour company. The deal soured quickly, much to everyone's chagrin, as what was supposed to be included kept magically disappearing. Lesson learned - get mega-specific details BEFORE crossing borders.

Still, we went to Ebla (HUMONGOUS site) that was the seat of a big empire back in the day(yes, I should be better about dates and all that stuff I'm learning. It's late though). And Aleppo, a wonderful city. Mike and I got dinner on the street for what turned out to be perhaps 2 dollars for us both - incredible ice cream for dessert and everything. Our hotel was gorgeous old complex house with courtyards and roof terrace that was perhaps for an evening drink and narguile with some of the crew. The next morning we went to the incredible National Museum (so many artifacts to see) where I found figurines that look like fragments I've been seeing here at Atchana (very cool). Afterwards Mike and I wandered the bazaar with Stella (she and I tried to bargain up a storm, she got some great deals too) and looked at the outside of the citadel (the problem with group things is the time limits). Then another loooong bus ride to the temple of Ain Dara (where there were huge footprints in the rock). And finally back over the border (the way to Syria we sat there a few hours, the way back was quicker).

Thus there were maybe 18 hours of real vacation involved in the two day break we had. Exhausting. To top things off, we're having a heat wave with no wind (terrible) and it saps motivation to do much of anything. Thus my lack of photos online... I'll get there. Eventually. My current job is editing/proofreading a massive manuscript and spending lots of time in front of the computer - I hope to get out to site before excavation ends next week! (Where does the time go?). Meanwhile sickness runs rampant and the quest for cool continues.

Shot in the...

Somehow it's Saturday again. Saturdays mean sleeping in to 9 a.m. or even later - sheer decadence. Since I spend way too much time in front of the computer during working hours, I'm fighting my aversion now for another update.

Last Saturday I went into Antakya with Ferhat and Guzin for late afternoon. We went for food, wandered around the mysterious twistings of an older section and then ate Kunefe, this incredibly rich dessert that Hatay is known for. It's very good but I shouldn't have eaten a whole one - on top of our awesomely good dinner I was sick as a dog (literally and figuratively) afterwards. Even more thrilling was when we went to get the dolmush back to our village they'd stopped running - there was a bunch of our team members who'd also been in town for the day/evening there too, the company actually called another one to come and get us all half hour later - but an unfun ride for me trying not to vomit along the way (I was successful in that endeavor at least).

Monday Bike (pronounced Bee-kay) was going to see an eye doctor and I went along because my ear was getting worse again. After she did her thing at the eye clinic/hospital we went along to the private hospital of Antakya where all the girls who work the desks and assist the doctors wear green and white striped shirts and lots of makeup as well as look vaguely similar. The doctor there sent a camera down my ear, then a vacuum tube and water, then stuffed it full of gauze drenched in iodine. All in the space of 2 minutes. Ouch.

Apparently it was serious - not gravely but almost. The pharmacy provided me with a bunch of drugs including shots - yikes. Bike's dad is an ear, nose and throat specialist so she talked to him that evening to get a second opinion on what seemed an extreme treatment. He agreed and so I began the fun of shots twice a day of antibiotics for five days. That first night Mara on our team wielded the needle, but the following day and since I've had Barrati, the village handyman, as my shot-giver. He inoculates the village children and obviously knows what he's doing, which is a relief. 500 ml of antibiotic twice a day along with two kinds of ear drops and painkiller seem to be doing the trick, I have 2 shots left and then my hope is that this ear will actually stay open instead of teasing as it's been doing. I've been striving to take care of myself and get lots of sleep, all that jazz... I'm not a patient patient.

What's nice though is that so many people care. And are entertained by my injections (which is silly). A little tiny bit of gold has been discovered on site, squares are fighting to find features in some, others to make sense of the seeming mess they have in front of them. I've learned about Cypriot pottery from Ekin, our expert, as I helped her enter data and proof-read a paper she'd written. Drama continues but at a minimum (seemingly), now I'm here wondering what to do with the swiftly disappearing free hours I have left for today. Perhaps I'll venture to the museum in Antakya, work up the energy for farther afield once I'm whole again. At least the Turkish is coming along bit by bit - the young ladies that wash bones and pottery chatter with us in the mornings in a mix of English and Turkish, so that's helping a bunch too. Once again one has to be an utter fool to survive.

Some photos

I had a mini-break, here are some photos from the dig camera to give some ambiance - a little on site, our compound during last Friday's fiesta. I'll take more soon, promise.

Now that's an earful!

It's been a week now - where has the time gone? Friday we visited neighboring Tayinat site (our site is cooler and we could totally take them in a fight even if there are more of them. Adam said "There's a great view of Atchana" when Mike asked how our visit had been.) Their crew came over to our compound for a cookout/fiesta. Yummy burritos and chili and grill - here's Ferhat on the right (my boss man) setting things up with Murat, our fiercely competent site manager.

On Saturday we had an excursion to the seaside after visiting the beginnings of a new site (it was on what was the coast and start of a river delta). Our lunch of yummy salads and grilled fish was the very thing before going to play in the water. It was dirty but the sea looked so appealing I and several others decided what the hey and jumped in anyway - totally fabulous. Just nice to float for awhile and I didn't even get that sunburned! (Just a little, not a surprise).

But on Sunday I awoke with my ear pounding and it got worse throughout the day. So a trip to the local emergency room made it on the agenda for Monday (since a trip to town was planned for then anyway). I had the lovely Guzen to translate for me as well as Ezgi (our conservator who was also sick) and away we went after lunch, some others along for other errands as well. Got to the hospital and found man behind the glass who checks people in. I don't have a health card so had to show my passport. And explain my name, give my parents' names as well. When we got the printout it showed they'd taken away my last name - I'm now Bethan Erin - and Turkified "Andrew" into something else. Another window let us pay (since I'm not a citizen don't have free meds) and then we went to wait. The doctors would be there at 4 we'd been told (it was about five till). At 4:15 we're contemplating breaking people's legs in order to get to a place to be served. Ezgi went in and got looked at, then I get called.

The doctor picks up probe to look in my ear and it falls apart when he tries to attach the plastic piece that will go into the canal. So we have to go out of curtained cubicle #1 to wait and see if can get into another one. #3 has an already broken instrument as well. And #2 has a large man sprawled across a bed but they rouse him after awhile, put him in #1 and there I am now with a new doctor. I get asked for the second time if I have a fever - I don't know - but they don't take my temp. After the pain of having my ear probed, twisted and torqued I'm told I have an outer ear infection. We make sure there's no penicillin in the prescription meds, then leave to find a nearby pharmacy. The man there marks my boxes of drugs with slashes and lines to indicate frequency and dosage before or after eating. Pretty cool. The adventure rounds out by finding the menfolk we'd dropped for personal shopping, going to a big supermarket for the general supplies as well as getting personal items (I now own Priates of the Caribbean flip flops since the puppies (guard dogs in training) here chewed on my others). Chocolate with pistachios inside fueled our trip home. And the craziest part - my hospital visit AND drugs was under $30.

Now I'm feeling more human and hope to hear properly soon. Yesterday Ferhat and I went to site and I finally got to see where all these things I've been recording come from. We started out in a far square, were shown around and then got to help out picking away a thin layer as the workers went to the next level. Hot work in the sun (yay for longer sleeves) and I found bones, pottery sherds. And flint! Nuri, the supervisor who's a bit of a clown, regularly came over and yelled "work! work!" at me. We were there two hours, I'd no idea of time passing. The workers didn't want us to leave but we rambled up and around to all the squares seeing what's going on. There's a lot of dirt. And some very cool things - I'll take my camera next time and post more photos. The set up for a square is a supervisor and usually an assistant, then 5 or so local workers. I want to know more Turkish - now that my brain seems to be settled I can work on that a bit more. I think that Ferhat just wanted to keep me sane after two days of entering in records from 2004 - today I attached photos to some of them. I'm developing a grudge against Access, but you work with what you've got. Here's hoping my ears decide to become normal soon!

Look ma there's Syria or I'm in Turkey!

I made it to the Alalakh dig in the weesmalls of Tuesday morning. Leaving Belgrade went ok except that I felt gross with stuffy head and general achey-ness. Hung out for many hours in the domestic terminal of Istanbul airport reading during my layover before 22:55 flight to Hatay. I wasn't sure if there'd be anyone there since never got a confirmation to my emails, but after helping a Ecuadorian film-maker with her bags and chatting with a police officer in English I saw a man with my name on a sign. Huzzah! We drove down the deserted roads out into the middle of nowhere Turkey speaking a mix of Turkish, English, and German as he told me about where we were going, asked me questions and tried to answer mine. We arrived to the dig compound at 2 a.m. and I was shown a bed, quickly got into it.

People were up and moving to go to site at 5 a.m. so I got up with them, looked for someone in charge to tell me what the heck I was supposed to do. Murat, our general man with a plan, told me to sleep more and not worry. Easy enough. Mike was also sick with heatstroke, so got to chat with him a bit as well (he's better now). Found Aslihan (our fearless director, she hides out in this little office that wasn't too hard to find) and she told me what was going on, gave me the grand tour of the compound, and then handed me over to Ferhat, my new leader.

My job here is assisting (or being a minion) to Ferhat, the recorder of the excavation. That means that he looks at all the objects and writes up what they are, then I type the sheets into the database. He's into heavy metal, has long black ponytail down his back, studied American Lit for his BA, is totally fearsome and laughs at things I say. We get on well. Except that I type too fast and keep finishing up the little amount of work they have for me (there's this database backlog project that looms but we're running into technical glitches that I can't fix so I keep not having it to do). Thus I made coffee yesterday in the morning, today entered all the conservator's data from this season... and am writing this as he looks at more objects so I can enter them soon. He even let me switch the music from metal to a mix on my ipod - apparently I'm liked and accepted. Which is awesome.

The tone of the dig is relaxed and long. Field crew leaves about 5:15-30 in the morning, we house crew (since stay at the dig house compound here where we also all sleep and eat) start around 6 (or so). There's first breakfast then, 2nd breakfast at 8:30 (which reminds me of hobbits), we're working all morning with official coffeebreak at 11ish. Field crew gets back and we all lunch at 13:30, chill out until tea at 4ish, then back to work (others sort pottery, enter their data for the day or what have you - I do same kind of stuff regardless). Dinner is at 7:30, we've watched some cartoons one night, there are a bunch of movies that will debut soon too. People wander to bed starting around 10 and it begins again. I got my own bed yesterday - been using someone else's who was sleeping on the roof until some people left (their season had started way earlier), so now settled for real I suppose.

You can see Syria from the roof of the dig house - it's a mountain right there (20 km) after a heavily guarded border. The sky at night is gorgeous and starry as is watching the sunset over the mountains. I've not made it into Antakya yet (the city nearby), there's no reason yet and the massive amount of sun means this girl stays in the shade a whole bunch.

Speaking of which, I should go and get those records recorded before lunch (to justify my "slacking" right now). It's a good place and I'm glad to be here (and already making jokes like the box that contains "non-artifacts" (a response to the pottery expert's box of artifacts which are pieces of stone that are worked but have no context because they come from the gravel in the compound, thus are no good for us)). Look at me learning.

Sell your life on Ebay

As I pack up my Beograd apartment, I ran across this article about a British man who is selling his "entire life" on Ebay. House and contents, introduction to friends, even his job - he plans to walk out with just wallet and passport, see where life takes him. As I look at all the paper and things I've managed to acquire over the past year I'll admit the notion is quite attractive. Inspirational even.

Reason number #230 I'm not in politics

Someone told me once that Bush always maneuvers handshakes so his hand is on the side facing the camera. Yet Sarko was able to get the, shall we say, upper hand? BBC story about the leaders' meeting, discussing the 200 year friendship of the countries and Sarko's hot wife tickled me for some reason. So I thought I'd share.

I'm glad I'm not a short politician though - you always come off looking just a bit funny in photos with other people, especially other world leaders. Medvedev also springs to mind as another of this breed (although Koštunica also adds his own, hmmmm, shall we say, flair?, to any photo). (Also, this photo is just funny - I was tempted to photoshop someone else in since that arm obviously wants someone to hold).

one more thing

A shoutout to all those all over the world who are looking at this blog thing - I see more and more countries visiting including (in no particular order) the Netherlands, France, Belgium, Canada, Bulgaria, Romania, Sweden, Hungary, Korea (Simon, is that you? =), Serbia, Indonesia, and the US of A.

Let me know if you're reading - comments are always welcome (especially when they aren't from people just trying to sell things!) - and know that I'm glad you're looking!

A study in embassies

So, as some of you know, I'm all set up to go on this dig in Turkey this summer. Everything's pretty much in order, I'll just wrap up classes and these orientations in the next few weeks and then fly out. All I need to do (famous last words) is get my research visa from the embassy. Since I requested it be sent to Serbian embassy, I went on Tuesday to go and pick it up after being told by dig director they had been released a few weeks before.

To give some context, that same afternoon I went to the US embassy to get additional pages put into my passport (I've run out of complete blanks thanks to Ukraine entry/exit stamps, so figured it was best to have virgin pages for this Turkish visa). My appointment was for 3, after going through the security check, leaving cellphone and ipod behind I penetrate the consular section. Security guy there (after going through a door labeled exit at the a narrow stairway) asks my name, there is no one at the check-in desk so he tells me to go sit down and wait for my name to be called. I go, I sit (I listen to directions).

After maybe 10 minutes I find a person through the thick plate glass of one of the windows (it's like a high security bank with numbered teller windows) and they "check me in". A disembodied voice announces who needs to go where, directing people to both payment kiosk and other places for papers. I'm the only one whose announcement is in English, give a lady my passport through a little slot along with paperwork I've filled out, told to wait. I'd called Eric beforehand, he actually is able to make it down and find me, so we while away the time chatting a bit in the completely sterile white environment with blue plastic chairs. The whole passport thing takes maybe 45 minutes, my visiting a bit longer.

I then head to Turkish embassy, a building I pass daily. This isn't the high security edifice of my compatriots. There's a metal detector when I walk in the door but no security guard to man it. I make my way up worn marble steps to a glassed in waiting area with a door that gives access to the rest of the main hall (the building is an old one with interesting marble tile work and period motifs on the walls and ceiling). There are two chairs, a desk that faces the window with a phone on it and a little tiny slot to desk on opposite side (where the embassy types roam free).

Because I've been verbose I won't go into excruciating detail but it takes me 15 minutes to convince the people that I do need a visa because it's for research. They take my papers with information about director, project, etc, leave, come back, leave again. One man comes through the door and tells me that he is not allowed to leave because of me (what can you say to that?). Finally I'm told they have nothing for me, I need to call my people and get back to them later. The others who have trickled in during this interlude all get their passports back with documents inside, the last being a pair who are taking a group of kids on an excursion (over 40 passports for them - can you imagine?).

It turns out that all the visas for the dig ended up going to the DC embassy. And that they cannot send visas to other embassies. So my passport left this morning for a trip across the Atlantic without me, here's hoping it makes it back in time for my flight in early July. I'm a bit more relaxed about the whole thing now that the deed has been done, but feel even more empathy for my Serbian compatriots and the rigors they must go through to get any kind of visa. As Uroš put it, it's like they deliberately set out to humiliate you. And yes, I'm still not in the pit of despair, but it's disconcerting being abroad without ones documents. To put it mildly. But the DHL guy today was totally helpful and I'm optimistic (again, not a big surprise, right?) that everything will work out for the best.

PLUS my birthday is next Friday! And how can I not be excited about that? Also got to hang out with Bogdan Rakic on my terrace this evening, catching up as the evening deepened into night. Who would have thought when I had him in class all those years ago we'd end up here like this? Life is a beautiful thing - as the incredible grandmother I was sitting next to in the park today said "Don't worry, be happy." Words to live by.

Enough (pseudo) moralizing. Enjoy summer truly beginning!

Science shoutout

Because I remember this from physics.


Sometimes I remember too why I don't follow webcomics - way too easy to be sucked in! But enjoy this one about romance, sarcasm, math and language

B-town and beyond

Yes, it's been a crazy few weeks. Totally true statement.

Oh wait, you say, what a surprise! I mean, Bethany actually busy? GASP!

Been enjoying my time stateside even if things didn't always go as planned. I got to party in the pre-wedding festivities for Munirih and Krishna (my cousin and her new husband) on Friday night (and got sweet henna "tattoo" on my hand and arm). Then came the joy of thunderstorms and tornadoes between me and where I wanted to go, so Mike and I simply got up WAY early on Saturday to drive to Spencer for Michael D's graduation - egads! The ceremony was short and the longest speaker funny although one does tire of "this isn't an end, but a new beginning" speech that is obligatory at every single graduation ceremony. Still, the open house party was fun afterwards - (what do you call a bar that isn't yours? nacho bar!) and sleeping that evening also a joy. As always I strive to find that balance between family, friends, and rest

Just watched this clip about McCain - as elections heat up past the high simmer they are on currently it's curious to see how people have, shall we say, changed. (On that note, I'm off to renew my driver's license - woohoo for new photos.)

Hither, thither and yon

There and back again (as a famous hobbit once said). My dad (a.k.a. Bear) came to visit these past 10 days and it was marvelous, wonderful and all those other superlatives you can think of. Including busy. The saga began with lost luggage (fortunately it wasn't his clothes but a present for a friend of mine), continued with complications with getting back to the airport the next day to fly to Italy. Thankfully everything worked itself out and thus we could dedicate ourselves to walking.

And walking.

Did I mention we walked a lot? Finally got to see inside of St. Marco's church - splendidly beautiful. Bear had the camera, so when he posts photos I'll link them here. Reading Ruskin's The Stones of Venice also gave added insight. A full couple of days, but glad that we got to adventure in two countries (taking almost every form of transport possible during the course of the jaunt: car, plane, boat, train, bus & foot. What did we miss?)

Belgrade adventures included lots of meat (no surprise there), walking (ditto), and meeting friends (who now understand that my craziness isn't a total accident). I'm becoming quite the tour guide, if I could figure out how to make a business from it I totally would (and then I'd have work here in the summer! What a novel idea!). We even got to mosey around Museum night Saturday - my third one in a row! - mostly to watch the people, although there was also some great art.

Sunday we went with Cassie to Topola (driven by Miša who's quite the character himself), got to see the gorgeous church (mosaics were a theme of this visit) and sites connected to royal family. Our luck held as we left the last museum just as THREE tour buses pulled up filled with elementary school kids on excursions. Lunch at roadside restaurant contained perhaps equal parts grease and meat (although still good), and once again we were lucky with the slow service since it meant we avoided the major HAIL storm that blew through Beograd and left lots of wreckage (gushing waterfalls, large chunks of ice everywhere, tree limbs down, things broken).

This morning had us up at 4:30 (after a late night over last drinks of hot chocolate with Julia and Uroš at Bre cafe), but we made it to the airport for his 6:45 flight. Woohoo! I'll be heading back to Indiana myself next Tuesday, 27 May. Time is flying like mad... must be spring for real.

Kiev - a few more details

I'll try and make this amusing, yet brief.

Branko and I traveled together to Kiev on 22 April, eating little meals from different shaped trays (triangles, squares, rectangles all had their turns). We decided too that Ukrainian Airlines had better uniforms than Austrian. Our driver met us at airport, sign in hand, and I was incredibly thankful that Branko could pull out his elementary school Russian because it's a heck of a sight more than I have. We made it to conference center, checked in and were given one room key. Eh? Just after unpacking Cassie knocked on the door with the other training staff behind her and told us that since we'd met that afternoon we weren't expected to stay together and would in fact both be moving in with different people. I had the lovely Liliya, the TA mentor, as my new roommate - we found ourselves chatting a ton as the week went on, even having our neighbor come and knock on our door because being "too loud" in the evening (the walls were perhaps a bit thicker than paper but not by much).

The conference was by American Councils to train teachers to run orientations for high schoolers who've won a scholarship to go and live in the US for a year. Branko and I represented Serbia, there were others from Ukraine, Georgia, Moldova and Armenia. Most of the teachers were Peace Corps volunteers; Sean (doing a Fulbright) and I were "Hard core" since were were the only non PCVs. Learned a bunch, got to tryout teaching with Branko and went well, there was silliness and a bunch of walks whenever I could find a free 15 or 20 minutes - having my day totally programmed was totally bizarre. As was 8 a.m. breakfast.

On the last day (Saturday) after photos and goodbyes, the Georgian and Serbian representatives went to a hotel in city center since we had later planes to catch. It took four people to get me checked into the hotel - my name doesn't transliterate into cyrillic easily and I still don't speak Russian or Ukrainian... Martha and I took a walk to the gorgeous churches, then down St. Andrew's street - Cassie had told us we could find eggs and other souvenirs there, lots of little stalls with almost anything you could think of. But no postcards (I looked all around never found any). We met up with the others staying at hotel and some Ukraine PCVs who had later trains to catch to get a little walking tour, go to dinner at a buffet restaurant with cheap traditional food (better than hotel catering for sure). We were thrown out a bit after 7 since they were closing early (Orthodox Easter was the next day), they just started turning off lights. Wandered a bit more, then had a few drinks in beer tent equidistant between the two churches I took tons of photos of. Some thought to go to midnight service, but I headed back for some sleep with idea of early rising and walking some more.

Sunday (Easter) had me meeting Martha at 7:15 a.m. (YIKES!!!) and going to explore some more. My favorite thing was this incredible building across from the president's house - it was covered in stone animals for apparently no reason. We couldn't find out what it was but on drive to airport driver said that the architect was just a creative guy, president now uses it for receptions. Got back for breakfast, goodbyes and then picked up to head to airport. I asked Branko before we got into the car if he had wallet, passport, foreigner card - all there, we're good to go.

But... almost to airport Cassie asks us if we've got plane tickets. I do, but Branko says, "tickets?" He thinks he might have thrown them away thinking that we had e-tix or something; the poor guy hasn't flown much and apparently misunderstood when I'd said on the day we left how we'd get new boarding passes for return voyage. He starts digging through bag, our driver (who was very droll) is incredulous. At airport Branko ransacks bags on the curb, can't find tickets. We go inside and after talking to three windows finally get the Austrian Air ladies who say that they can't do anything with the reservation because of how it's ticketed. Cassie asks how we can get him back that day - we can buy another ticket. Meanwhile Branko is digging through his bags one last time and shouts "I found them!" Whew. Everyone laughs, all is well.

We go to check-in desk next, passing odd waiting line of customs. Cassie checks in, I do the same. Branko is now looking for his foreigner card (Cassie had handed it to him with some other papers from his passport when talking to airline humans) and realizes it's in his wallet. Which he can't find. Repeat the last 15 minutes - digging through bags, the stress, the irritation of doing something so boneheaded. He goes back to where we were (ticket and passport in hand so can get back in), can't find any trace. There's no lost and found for things at the airport, only luggage, and the check-in lady tells us he should get up to the counter since a team of 25 will be coming through shortly. The poor guy gives wallet up for lost and we manage to catch our plane without further mishap, even seeing famous Serbian musicians and a filmmaker in Vienna airport (we all have the same flight). Lesson learned - when stressed, never put down important documents unless they're in something you're carrying.

Alright, I wasn't brief. But hope you were at least a little amused. And looked at the photos... gorgeous place.

Ukraine, the quick run down

As some of you know I was in Kiev (Kyiv) Ukraine here recently for a training conference with American Councils. As per usual, I met a whole host of dynamic and interesting people, learned things, and generally enjoyed. Looking forward to working on the orientations themselves end of June.

Learned a bunch from Branko as well, my colleague, including the important travel lesson of knowing where all of your documents are at all times. And to be wary of passing attacks by people with baseball bats. Or vampires - take your pick. I couldn't believe it myself :)

contrast in cultures

Saw this photo on BBC from festivities surrounding celebration of founding of Rome. I like the contrast with old and new, the costumes of all parties involved (fishnets meet shields and helmets). Also some advantages about old meeting new - reenacting is such a layered business.

But at least they have port-a-potties.

These are the people in your neighborhood...

Entertained because walking to work the other day saw two guys looking a map, taking photos. Perhaps my trip to Venice has re-honed these instincts, but immediately I thought "Ah ha! Tourists!" and asked if they were lost. They weren't but we chatted a bit anyway, gave them some pointers and ended up inviting to meet me the next day to go get coffee with another friend. Why not? It was fun - ended up being Dragan, both Chris (a mechanical engineer from Oklahoma City taking 2 weeks vacation in Budapest and Belgrade) and Hayden (Brit studying classics who went to Greece to see what he's been reading about and decided to train it back instead of fly) came along, we went far out near Ada and just had a really good time. Lots of nerd/geek talk, swapping ghost stories, silliness. Hayden went to catch his train but Dragan and I took Chris for good homecooking (there's a little hut near to my house) mixing up talk of the Simpsons with current politics, stereotypes about Serbia. I greatly respect that the reason Chris came here was because he didn't know anyone else who'd ever been here - there's a spirit of adventure for you. And he's planning to come back - makes the heart glad.

So yes, I keep talking to strangers. And I even have new students! Strangers I get paid to talk to! How much better can it get?

Venice photos!

I posted most of them there photos from Venice - enjoy!

No Death in Venice

Listening to my father's words, I did not die in Venice, allowing me to escape the fate of having parallels made between me and Thomas Mann (a blessing for sure). Although redheaded men currently do play a leading role in my life, I had no contact with any whilst there this time.

The rest of my trip involved lots of history - I visited at least a museum a day. Tuesday was an exhibition about Romans and Barbarians where I wished they had better (or at least a big more descriptive) labeling. Wednesday began with the Dodge's Palace and all its splendor. The waiting room covered in maps with two large globes (one of the earth, other of the heavens) really struck me as did the enormous chamber where the Grand Council would meet. My ticket got me into a few other museums so I decided to take advantage. That afternoon I headed to Museo Correr (which focuses on history of the Venetian republic) and enjoyed a globe exhibition - incredible details and art from so long ago. Attached was also the Archaeological Museum and rooms in the National library (now exhibition space). I was glad there was so much as a thunderstorm blew in maybe a half hour after I'd entered, allowing me to peruse at leisure the overwhelming richness therein. When not only the walls but ceilings are covered in art it can get a bit too much. I'll not drone on about the cool statues, etc. I saw but if you go to Venice it's worth the visit. Thursday afternooon brought me to Ca'Pesaro, a modern art museum that also houses an oriental/Asian art and artifact collection. I was glad to rest my eyes on something more familiar and not drenched in history that I don't know much about.

Met some more artists when I tried to find Stefan (the Bulgarian painter) again. The address I had wasn't the place I was looking for but another gallery instead. Thus I got to meet a woman who does striking things mixing cloth, paint and transferring photographs over top. I did manage to locate him and the others too, making new acquaintances in the process. Roamed around a bunch, ate gelatto, and hung out with Pia and company late in the evenings. A good balance of work and play overall. Thursday night we went out to meet some of her acquaintances - a few girls were from Belgrade and confirmed this as truth by the first thing they asked me: "Where do you live in Beograd?" Location is everything, even when away from home I suppose. Also got to chat with a great guy from Chad in French (huzzah), it was nice to be free once more in a foreign tongue. It was a fun last night but getting home in the wee smalls and then chatting more made our planned departure time on Friday of 10 a.m. impossible. Instead took a more leisurely time, had one last cappuccino with Pia in the square by the apartment (here we are below), and then hit the road (well, the valporetto that took us to the road).


Swung through Trieste - wish that had more time to visit there, it was simply gorgeous with the coast in the sun - and continued the drive back home. But took longer than planned (stopping to eat helped that) so I didn't get to my apartment until 1 a.m. And I had classes at 10 a.m. that morning (which I still had to prep). Still, I did it and survived (and slept a whole ton last night finally). In short a good trip where I learned a bunch. I'll post photos soon so you can enjoy the plethora of pretty old buildings that surrounded me for the past 10 days.

Venice... no, I don't speak Italian

Made it to Venice Weds, the trip was a long one (about 8 hours and the traffic outside of Venice didn't help) but finally made it, met Pia (a fabulous architecture student from Istria) and began the trek from the parking garage to boat to walking and walking to the apartment, right on Campo St. Maria Formosa. It's a lovely big square and extremely central. Dinner that night was our tourist trap experience (get that out of the way quickly I suppose), although tasty, and walking along the main canal was lovely in the darkness.

All that beauty begins to become a bit mundane after awhile, I'm sure. I caught myself today simply nodding over a canal that, had I seen the view a few days ago, would have been incredibly picturesque. Living in a postcard, that's what people do here.

Been exploring a lot, both alone and with Momcilo. I found a great little restaurant on Thursday tucked away near Rialdo bridge, we went for dinner that night and it was a fantastic time. Food was excellent, the place was warm and cosy (and full of Italians, always a good sign). Had cicchetti to start (like tapas), then great pasta and fish, homemade tiramisu for dessert. I've eaten more pasta in the past few days, but it's so good I can't help myself. Figure with all the walking I'm doing no harm will be done.

Friday night went out with Pia, her roommate Sara (from Ljubljana, also studying architecture) met up with us. First was a cozy little wine bar where outside seats are from a theater of some sort. Venice is totally no smoking inside, so we sat outside and enjoyed our glass together while chatting about this and that (the craziness of family is always a good starting point). Later went to a courtyard full of places near Rialdi teaming with people; everyone just stands outside and talks, many of the bars there have no space inside nor any seating. Met Igor (another from Serbia/Bosnia) and some others, lots of chatting in a funny mix of Serbo-Croatian, Italian, English.

Saturday went to Lido (after aborted trip to San Lorenzo - the monastery is only open in the afternoon for visitors), strolled along the beaches in the sun. I went around solo later on eating gelatto (sooo yummy), got a bit pink by the end. On the boat back talked a little with a woman who had met a Venetian and here she is with 2 kids, one 8, the other a baby. We both agreed about how life is full of surprising twists. In the evening I took myself out for a glass of wine and chatted with the bartender Andre (we'd met the night before). Ended up sharing champagne with a group of Italians (the girl had opened the bottle with a sword; most impressive), then talking with others who came and went at the bar. The funniest was a Bulgarian painter, his Italian friend and Swiss girlfriend. Stefan, the Bulgarian, was shocked that I could speak Serbian - he doesn't know English at all - so we were talking na srpskom, I was discussing nuance in French with the lady and getting insider information about Venice from the Italian in English. Crazy times, but a whole lot of fun.

Murano was my destination yesterday. Met a Iraqi vet and his family on the boat there - the man's leg was a graphic mess of scars from a roadside bomb as well as over a dozen surgeries. Originally he was told he'd lose the leg, then that he'd never walk again. But there he was only one crutch and a bit of a hobble. He said that now hard because doesn't know exactly what he'll do; he's always been a solider and plans to stay in the army. They were enjoying Venice so much though that they'd decided to stay instead of going to Rome as planned. I love this part of traveling solo, just touching people's stories is moving (unfortunately it seems to be moving me towards cliche, so I'll avoiding sweeping philosophy right now). Murano was cute and little, learned about glass in the museum - pieces from 1st century AD were INCREDIBLE to see. Strolled, got espresso in little bar with only minimal counters (one of the stand outside since there are no seats variety). Looked in a bunch of glass shops and realized that everything is made for people with houses- glass is not the nomadic possession. Also kitch abounds in incredible amounts.

I missed meeting up with the people from the night before since had class (yes, I am still working daily). Later in the evening Pia, Sara, their friend Ana (all three are blonde with one syllable names. Such a crew) met up with Momcilo and I, we went looking for a lively looking (or at least not totally dead) bar, talked and joked into the evening. There are so many tourist places here that actual places were locals gather are few; Venice is also not a night life kind of town.

Today was more wandering - I ran into the woman from the boat with the baby and she recommended my going to the Ghetto, so I checked that out. The sun is covered in a faint haze, but still I'm glad the rain is gone for now. Not sure plans for the rest of the week but between relaxing with good books, teaching, and wandering I'm sure to keep myself occupied....

Comings and Goings

Mike left this morning - I wish that traveling didn't require leaving sometimes. We had a rockin' good time here in BGD and it was beyond wonderful to have him around once again. I threw an impromptu party Saturday (invited people Friday morning) and while my apartment was STUFFED with people, everyone had a fantastic time (or so they said). Finally I got a bunch of people together that I've been wanting to meet for a long time. Knowing people in such convoluted ways, it's even more amusing to try and explain to them how we all know each other (even better was that many brought friends I didn't know, the circle ever-expands). The downside was having to be awake, dressed and functional for a lesson at noon on Sunday (yes, I worked on Easter); but totally worth it. Now if only a bunch of restaurants/cafes hadn't decided they would close for renovations this week (one night two out of three of my ideas for dinner weren't open) life would be even more perfect.

I head to Venice tomorrow morning for a little over a week. I'm sure there will be many stories to tell afterwards; here's seeing how Italian goes after all this Slavic language exposure. It's late and I have to get up early, so here's hoping your Easter was a good one (that included chocolate bunnies if possible) and that this weird March weather settles down a bit (snow, rain, sleet, and sun happened today in almost every sequence imaginable).

Late nights... and late nights

It's been a bit since my last posting - politics are still running amok but daily life has slipped back into that seductive lull of "I'll do my thing, the government will do its, and there's nothing I can do about it." Perhaps dangerous mindset, but here it is once again (hmmmm, where have we seen this before? It sounds so familiar).

Operating on the 'when it rains it pours' theory of existence, my sparsely filled days with barely any work and not much going out have morphed into a plethora of plans. I'm proud of getting to 2 films in FEST- "Le Scaphandre et le papillon" ("The Diving Bell and the Butterfly") was moving and beautiful to see. I had no idea what it was about going in, just knew that I'd be able to understand it (since French with Serbian subtitles I can handle). A man has sudden stroke, wakes up paralyzed and still manages to write a book - incredible. Both movies I saw ("Brokeback Mountain" was the other) spoke to be trapped in a situation you can't change and how varied reactions are to that state of affairs. I ponder on those who think they are trapped when they really could find a way out; we're good at placing blame far away from ourselves. But then again, sometimes you really are stuck in a situation - then it's figuring out how you yourself can make it at least livable, right?

Got to see The Belgrade Dixieland Orchestra play earlier in the week (spreading the music of the oppressors (note the sarcasm) for a Day of Jazz celebration; good tunes. Ate guacamole and played Scrabble, had really good Saturday classes and dinner with a new friend, went to Chinatown market... generally a good weekend and preparation for what will be a busy week as I cover adult classes.

Also looks like I should be working with American Councils for their summer pre-departure orientation for high schoolers going to spend a year in host families in the US; it would mean going to Ukraine for a few days end of April to get trained (where I've never been), then working end of June/start of July here in Beograd before heading to Turkey... plans they keep evolving.

OH! And funny thing - the artists have been having a lot of fun with the opportunities for satiric art current affairs have created. Here are some of my favorites based on actual posters (more here):

Sunday, sunny Sunday

So the travel alert I mentioned earlier has turned into a travel warning. The US embassy took out non-necessary personnel and dependents. But there's no need to panic - so stop panicking! Seems to be a bit more overcautious than needed, also sends political message? Again, my personal safety isn't in danger so I'm staying put.

Yesterday turned out to be a fine one. I have a new student starting next weekend, meeting with another one tomorrow (huzzah), so work appears to be picking up (knock wood). Had an excellent evening at Casa Garica with sangria and a good group of people - it was funny when Miha came because we had the Slovene, the American, and a crew of Serbs. Later on met some Brazilians... oh, the international mixing. Lots of laughter, decompressing and silliness in Serbian and English. One of my favorites was when Miha prepared to tell a joke saying it was funny in Czech, Serbian, Slovene, but not English - which was why he was telling it in English? Wordplay is a good time...

Today talked with the girls who live next door - I really like their family - as we sat on the terrace in the last of the sun and warmth of the day. It was an unexpected language lesson as we went from work/school doings to their reactions to the protests, news coverage, why Kosovo is Serbia. They pretty much felt that idiots shouldn't be destroying stuff and that it was a pity even more since all the protest/rally doings were peaceful. They'd gone down by the Parliament and said they couldn't move it was so crowded.

I find myself with not much more to say - been a quiet day, everything seems normal and that feels extremely good. You can only live with constant tension for so long after all. I'm supposed to go meet a friend here soon, so I'll post later when have more to say.

Why not legged force? Or charming force?

I've decided that in an attempt to balance out the media that keeps focusing on negative actions, let's look at some more positive things. Like the fact that most of the protests were peaceful last night, tons of people DIDN'T burn things or destroy anything.

Today walking down the street saw little kids going to or from school on their own. Things are mostly peaceful, it was a gorgeous sunny day. I'm amused by the "Serbia is Kosovo" signs in most shop windows - suspect that some of them might be there as accident insurance (which if that's the case it worked). I'll put out there too that no one is attacking people in the streets; the hooligans are going after police and buildings. I feel a strange echo of my words during the Paris car burnings/riots - I'm still not a police officer OR a building. So I'll be alright.

Meanwhile I'll keep making jokes about being "zlo" (evil); perhaps they're tasteless but gotta keep laughing. Thanks to those who have been checking in to see if I'm ok - I'm resisting the potential existential crisis of the question "Are you ok?" (Because then I start wondering "Am I ok?"). I am and have lots of class tomorrow, meeting with a new student, and then going for drinks with a motley crew (ok, my crews are always motley, but still) - life continues as normal. And that's important

Still safe...

As CNN and the rest of the world media have announced, a body was found in the US embassy (although it's not an embassy member). The news keeps replaying the same coverage, I've been getting calls and texts and emails/chats all evening as folks make sure I'm ok, both locally and in US. One pointed out that only "the greatest enemies of Serbia" could have planned such measures with the embassy attacks (rioters went after Croatian, British and some others). He has a point - none of this is helping Serbians or anyone else for that matter, at least that I can see. There's even a travel alert now for Serbia.

But I'm home. I'm safe. And I have yummy banana bread to munch on.

I'm still confused about why Kosovo invokes so much emotion, is so important. Been told it's a long story but I wish that someone would just tell it already. Although I think that I need to get some sleep before that happens - that's been yet one more thing that's hard to come by here recently. But tomorrow, as always, is another day.

Burning...

US Embassy was breached. Twitter is a decent blog, although take a grain of salt and verify things. Also Belgrade 2.0, (although not updating). Saw images of fire (like this one above), it's now been picked up by CNN and others.

The crowds were big (200-300,000) at the protest, pretty calm although some instances of kids throwing things, burning trash cans, etc. in side streets. There was rally at Parliament at 5 (photo), then service at St. Sava at 7 - things were quiet there, peaceful and beautiful in a way with candles and folks of all ages gathering. Someone said today that Serbia needs to mourn its loss of Kosovo - I'm fine with mourning but not destructive pyres.

Going to make banana bread. Watch the news some more. Was told this afternoon that there's no reason that I should need to leave in a hurry. Here's hoping that still holds tomorrow.

Spy alliance for life!

Nothing much new to report to be perfectly honest. There's tension in the air like I've never felt before; everyone is waiting, waiting. Life is moving on, yet on hold. Friends are becoming more paranoid, the question everyone is asking is "what will happen?"

And no one seems to know.

Yesterday I didn't have any classes - this week I'm not working very much due to cancellations and these potential new students playing the waiting game before starting anything new. It timed out well because I could meet with Anne-Sophie, a lovely française I met in December who has been traveling around the region for almost 6 months now. I could once more speak in French (yay!) and drink fabulous hot chocolate as well as talk about the difficulties with transitioning home after travels, the constant pressures of being foreign, becoming an "other" at home and away, ideas about the future, and compare the US, France, Serbia, and other Balkan countries. After my English reading circle (I do like those lit discussions) I met up with some fellow crazy Americans, Anne-Sophie came too and we toasted Lafayette, were silly and serious at turns. Did everyone good I think - with all this pressure you have to be silly otherwise you'll crack. It was a good night with a motley crew assembled by the end laughing like mad.

Today I had two classes, ran some errands, saw other friends for drinks in the evening. We finished up with Anne-Sophie, Nicholas and I walking homewards discussing (in French naturally) how everyone assumes that we're spies. I mean, I've stopped fighting it. And when the French conspiracy to overthrow everything so that Sarkozy can manage his marital woes and make everyone eat snails daily comes to light, well, you'll know where you heard it first. And that classy dame on his arm? Well, let's just say I met her in Belgrade in the wee smalls of a December evening...

Seriously, the big protest tomorrow will be a (if not the) turning point. Nicholas (who sticks out a bit being a tall black man from Congo even though he claims to be Montenegrin) said that the way people look at him has changed for the worse as the week has gone on. He's used to being stared at but it's become more pointed. A policeman stopped him today and told him not to go out tomorrow for his own sake (rioters don't check ID before beating you after all). Tense. Things are supposed to be peaceful, but who knows what will actually happen. I'll be going nowhere near the center but watching it on TV (perhaps). I'd just like this miasma of fear to go away, is that too much to ask?

Kosovo recognition: Afghanistan first, France, U.S. follow

This is a real headline from B92. Sounds like the US and France said, "Hey, if Afghanistan is doing it, well, we should too! Then we'll be super cool. Like they are!" The comments are great on the article as well, worth reading.

So it was my first day out in a few - felt good to be outside my four walls. The city seemed full of its normal kind of busyness with people everywhere, although there were more police out and about, directing traffic and being present in front of public buildings. Plans are being made for protests, the government is heading up one Thursday and there is talk of students doing something but nothing definite. After my lesson I saw riot police (they so look like Ninja Turtles) at Zeleni Vrenac (a market and big bus stop), some vandal youth shouting at each other. The McD's there was already trashed as well; Mercator (a Slovene owner supermarket) was evacuated this afternoon because of bomb threat (they had a little explosion earlier this week when the store was empty). Most of the destruction has been done by this kind of crowd - teens who are bored and see a good excuse to break some stuff. Why not?

Heard stories from other friends about October 5th revolution and how organizers during that time would change cell numbers daily, keep everyone on their call list memorized and leave no trace in their phones at all. No contact info, call history, or text messages. Now there's dedication to a cause.

Speaking of texts, got one from a friend that said "don't go protest even if you can run ;-) this is crazy country - i told you so." Taxi driver tonight told me that every country has its radicals - she's totally right. (She didn't realize either that I'm not Serbian - my "disguise" of comprehension pays off again!) It's unfortunate that they are often the ones who get media coverage. But then again, moderates don't give quite as exciting quotes or do quite such boneheaded actions. Usually.

My students keep canceling lessons as well - who knows what's connected to what.

I just want someone to give me a good reason or two that Serbia would actually want to keep Kosovo - in many ways they're better off without it. By the same token, I wonder how those in Kosovo will really benefit from being independent. Infrastructure doesn't grow overnight.

And for all of you wondering out there - I've packed away my American flag cape since this is obviously not the time to be wearing it on the streets. Which are quiet, safe, and FULL of police. I'll update more frequently this week as I rocket around and see what I can find out (without, of course, putting myself in danger).

Riots

Yes, there were riots at the US Embassy today in Belgrade. Also Slovenian Embassy. There's some video here. Also here is B92 coverage.

I've learned also that I'm a bringer of evil. That's what some of them say on the news - my Serbian has definitely improved.

Perhaps on a slightly irreverent note, I must add that today my cumin lost its will to live and plunged from my spice rack. Coincidence? No. Moved by its plight (as well as its own identity being in question - was it really cumin seeds after all? Or caraway?), separated from other spices by glass, perhaps also it harbored sympathies for those who also want to be apart, independent. Even if that independence means leaving via the trash bag. Sacrifice and all that.

So yes, they've stormed the McDonald's downtown. But I'm safe. And plan to continue being so. Reminds me of when I was in Paris during the riots - there I wasn't a car or police officer; here I'm not a public building so not a good target for rioting. I'll post more as I know it. But still no one seems to be really worried yet.

Oh the pain...

Some excitement here in Beograd. I hear there are tons of cops outside the US Embassy but no protesters. Kosovo is talking about "sticking to its agenda" (whatever that means exactly), I'm watching my news sources but everyone I've talked to expects it to stay a governmental, non-violent affair. Whew. Our recent warden notice (sent to registered US citizens in this fair nation) simply warned against going to public demonstrations of any sort because they could become messy. They always say that though.

We also had a low-level earthquake the other day - I'd thought it was just my neighbor doing something odd below, but no. Crazy. See, anything can happen here. No lie.

Past few days have been very quiet for me - my low back decided that it hated me on Valentine's Day (which I have no explanation for) despite my chocolate consumption. I went to a lesson anyway but could barely walk afterwards. Stayed over at Julia's and two doctors told me they didn't see anything wrong, so loaded me with painkillers and I lay on a bed of pain since I couldn't really do anything else. I did make it home the next day though (and up all those stairs) and haven't left my place since. I've had some visitors for coffee, watched some good movies, just taking it totally slow. Frustrating how my first three day weekend in months and I can't do anything on it (and I for once had what looked like a full social calendar, just to add insult to injury). Since the weather is totally freezing (could this be the reason for no protesters? Possibly.) being inside and warm isn't such a bad plan after all. Today I'm moving less like an old woman and plan to be back on my feet tomorrow no longer taking the simple miracle of locomotion for granted.

That way I can not attend protests more easily if nothing else.

Party photos!

I'm inordinately proud of the party I threw before I went to the states in Dec - more people than I'd expected came, it ended up being an all-night affair and lots of fun for just being a "gathering." There were foreigners from the US, France, Congo, a mix of Serbs from English teachers to art students to doctors - truly a motley crew and a lovely way to see folks before going away for a month. Just when things seemed to be winding down (Nicholas, Raphael and I were the only ones left) Miloš showed up with a French girl, two American/Serbian girls, and sandwiches, starting us off again until past 6 a.m.

Finally I've gotten the photos up - I even had Christmas lights courtesy of Julia and Kata (hvala!). Hope to get some other winter photos of Beograd and beyond posted soon as well. Enjoy!

Elections

In case you've not heard, Tadić won the elections here on Sunday night. It was a close election, although there were record numbers of voters that came out to pick the new president. I didn't vote (for some reason I think I'd have a hard time passing for a guy named Vojin at the polls), but everyone I know did. Which is great to hear. I'll freely admit some relief that the pro-EU guy won (I don't think I'll need to pack up my bags anytime soon for political reasons), but the results show the country's deep divide, he only had about 3% more than his pro-Russia opponent.

Huh. Where have we heard this before? Again I'm struck with the similarities between Serbia and the USA, especially among the people I call my friends as well as those I meet randomly. Figured that elections are a good subject to write about on Super Tuesday- chatted with Tom this morning who freely admitted to being obsessed even though we're both transatlantic. Read a great opinion piece on Obama that made me want to believe so very much that our country might actually turn around, or at least start going down a different path.

So here's to believing that change can actually happen still. Even in this era of cynicism.

(And here's hoping you enjoy Mardis Gras! I went to Carnival party on Friday night thrown by Brazilian embassy types; there were some costumes, lots of dancing, generally a great time. The counsel dressed as an old lady for half the night and rocked out on his guitar, his mother playing percussion. Fabulous. I ended up chatting with a pocket of consultants for US Steel near the end who came from Columbia, Argentina, India, the US (but all based in USA) - again, small random world. Perhaps someday I'll stop saying that...)

Back in Beograd

Now that the jet-lag seems to be mostly gone, I think I can string enough sentences together to actually write something pseudo coherent. But be forewarned...

The rest of my time stateside was mostly a whole lot of fun - Minneapolis was a blast even if it was colder than, well, cold. I met excellent people, got to walk on a lake (how cool is that?), learned that I'm not good at guitar hero but still decent at foosball. Returning home meant facing the not-as-fun task of cleaning out most of my room so Barb can turn it into an office. Still, probably should have been done a long time ago and I was able to see/chat with lovely folks to split up the time. Also read a whole ton of things glutting myself on basically unlimited English book access. A small joy that unfortunately is a downside of living abroad - what I can get my hands on is a bit bizarre at times. And anyone who likes books should read Leave Me Alone, I'm Reading by Maureen Corrigan. It's funny and reflective, she makes good points about work and literature that I appreciated a whole bunch.

Coming back across the Atlantic was a bit more eventful than I'd planned. For one my flight time changed and I'd never gotten an email telling me so, thus rushing up to Indy. I also traveled with a friend's trombone - it got to travel up in first class closets, lucky thing that it is - although it wasn't too much of a hardship (I also had no close connections). In DC I ran into Anna, a fellow American who was a colleague in the spring, she's back in Belgrade on a language learning grant for the semester. We used the long layover in Munich to catch up. Small world. Even funnier is that another friend runs the NGO that gave the grant.

The other unlooked for excitement came on the plane to Munich Thursday. I was trying to sleep and started thinking about some notes that I wanted to write. This prevented me from sleeping so I decided to pull out my computer and start typing. Turned it on and then everything froze. Odd, I thought, so pushed to restart. Except that then it wouldn't boot correctly, got this blinking question marked folder. In airport later looked at a manual on Anna's computer and tried to fix to no avail. So the first real thing I did after getting home and being welcomed by dear friends was find an Apple store. And then learned a few hours later that my hard drive was toast. To-ast. And that it was going to be a decent chunk of money to fix; but I had no choice. Then on Friday morning my befogged brain cleared a smidgen and I got my Applecare number from Barb; went in to pick it up and asked if it was covered. They had to ask basically everyone in the store it seemed but apparently yes! Apple comes through again! So I now have a bigger drive and I didn't have to pay for it (although I suppose they could still call me later demanding my first born or something). The next hurtle was figuring out how to get the backup I made before I left to load since it now has a newer OS... oh, the joys of technology. But everything seems to be in order now and I didn't loose anything that I can tell. Whew. Lesson: ALWAYS get extended warranties.

This weekend also saw me back in the classroom for two groggy hours - thankfully my teens were mostly kind to me (I wooed them with stories from my travels, breaking the golden rule of keeping "teacher talking time" to a minimum). Sunday I went to Zagreb with Bodin and some of his colleagues to return an instrument (gotta love these orchestra types). Even though I'd vowed to stay out of cars for awhile it was good to see some countryside, actually walk around city center (even if that wasn't for very long - the lunch at his friend's place took longer than anyone anticipated and thus we only could scurry a bit in the center before hitting the highway again). There was a funny moment when Roland introduced himself to everyone and a little later asked me where I'd learned English. Everyone laughed when I said I'm American, that's how (he's a tuba player from Hungary). It was yet another multi-national, multi-lingual extravaganza. My Serbian still exists (yay!) and I'm playing around with the idea of starting lessons again just to get things regulated a bit more.

So there you go, I'm back mostly catching up with friends and settling back into Beograd life. The next nine months promise to be anything but boring; here's hoping everyone has a grand new year (since it's still January we can still wish happy new year, right?) and that we all do better about keeping in touch!

From the cold north...

I figured that I'd write a little something here in the post holiday aftermath. It's been wondrous to be back home again, although I don't feel like I've really stopped moving since mid-December. Somehow Christmas was celebrated six times among my various family branches, I saw a good number of old friends, whisked Mike around Bloomington and tried not to overwhelm him with people (although think that I might have failed). I had to explain that Serbia isn't Saudi Arabia (which was more than a bit silly) one night as well.... don't even ask.

The trip north has been grand as well. My sister Cassie and I went and saw The Phantom of the Opera in Chicago, a fabulous production with lights that made me want to get back into tech theatre. It's been cool to walk around cities again, I also now am the proud owner of red cowboy boots and ridiculously excited about that fact. New Year's Eve rocked with silliness and a ton of food at Gray's house with Katie and Jim, a Night Club reunion from Greece that included way too many jokes made about Thunderball... As if that's possible.

Another fun thing is that my summer appears to be set - I'll be working on a dig in Turkey! Will go end of June to mid-September, check out the site because it's incredible. Met with the director in Chicago and looks like I'll be helping out with some photography work, assisting the ceramics specialist, and actually digging. So that'll be rad even though bug bites and heat aren't my favorite companions ever.

So yes, puns and fun have abounded over the past few weeks. I'm not sure why I'm so into the passive voice right now, but I'll admit that I'm very glad to finally be in Minneapolis and not having to drive for at least a week. Saw Elly in Madison yesterday, we chatted with random people as she tried to convince Mike and I to move there. I'm validated that others also talk to strangers much as I do.

Hope you've been enjoying the holidays and the transition back to "real life" - if you're around the twin cities in the next week and a half let me know! Stay warm!