Monday, May 28, 2007

Is drought spelled with an “A” or an “O”

Ok so I have officially become a slacker in regards with my blog as I don’t even recall the last time I looked at it, thought about it, let alone added anything to it. However, here I am, still in Moldova, and currently sweating my buns off. Kinda like the cheddar biscuits at Red Lobster (or so I assume). Which takes me to the subject of this email. We are undr serious stress here already as there was very little water from snow this year, and the spring has been ungodly. It has been about 35-38 C (95-98 F) for the last two weeks, without a drop of rain. Villages in the south are running out of water, and already rumors of people dying from the heat are flying around Moldova. The ther rumors have been about the impending drought, mixed with the import ban of Moldovan wine to Russia, forcing a huge economic crisis here. Should be interesting especially seeing as elections also happen in just over a week. The final crappy part (besdes not AC and therefore no escape from the heat) are the mosquitoes. They are worse then many months in Gainseville, and not only outside but in my apartment. All I hear all night is BZZZZZZZZ and if you have been camping you can sympathize. Alas, I digress and I will move on to brighter topics.

Either way, life here has moved along quite quickly, and all has gone well. So a few recaps and then who knows what I will write about. First I traveled to Bender (which is in Trans-Nistria) and all was well there. Pretty interesting situations however. At the border I held up the crossing because the “border guards” were shocked I was an American, and everyone had to see the passport. I don’t think they even wanted to hassle me, but they were just really curious about the passport. Either way, border crossing was more or less uneventful. In Bender I went to a few museums, and ten we had a small conference to celebrate the success of a finished proposal. All was well till a KGB guy showed up, and we left quickly…to not give any reasons for further questioning.

Recently I have been building a website, and it has been a good job for me. http://cjsmith4.5gbfree.com/EnglishRollSite/EngMain.html In the sense that it keeps me really busy because I don’t know anything about it, and that they are happy that our website will be better after I teach myself all about it. I also have taken over managing a few small grants throughout Trans-Nistria including the building of a nature trail (horrible memories of the nature trail I built at Blue Springs keeps me up at night), and also making sure an Ecological corner at a kindergarten get completed in time for the new school year! Should be a good workout for my language as well as management skills.

However, the best thing coming up is my vacation. I am heading to Russia (Moscow, St. Petersburg and maybe a few more), Finland, and Norway. I am super super super excited for this, and am looking forward to a change of pace from Moldova. Sorry for the kinda crappy update, but it has been so long I forgot how to write and everything I did has also been forgotten. Either way, enjoy the pic of me below with long hair (8 months and growing) and know I will have some great storues upon my return from the Northlands!

Cheers,

Charles (See Jay)