Prattlin’ On

Things are pretty similar to in the States. I would not have known I was in another country except for the odd little cars, and even odder road signs. Some other novel differences have become evident. (keep readin’…)

The last our Media (US) left his region, is was awful and completely “war torn.” Driving around, it is not readily evident, but as my eyes adjust to my new environment, I see more. (keep readin’…)

Well. I am made it ok. No issues really. I have an entry or 2 saved on the PC, but those will have to wait. I need to get an adapter. I understand they are very cheap, and my friend didn’t have an extra one as he supposed.

I was pretty tired by the time I got to Sarajevo. I wasnt able to sleep on the planes, really, and was kind of disoriented anyway.

When I arrived in Zagreb, we got to walk down a rolling set of stairs to the runway. A bus took us the 100 feet or so to the terminal building. When inside, I waited in line until the customs person and I got to mumble at each other.

When you get your bags, you have to have them scanned on the way out, and then you go through the doors to meet your pickup person. We proceeded to Banja Luka, changed vehicles, and went straight to Sarajevo.

In Sarajevo, I met Jelena’s aunt and checked out the place. Its been a few days, so its really quite a blur. I didn’t write much because I was very tired, and disoriented, and was whisked from one event or place to another. That first night we just hung out and talked. I got to bed about midnight and slept like a rock.

The next day, Sunday, we went to this mountain/park area my friends like to go. It was very nice. The snow was pretty fresh so we didn’t go to far. Very peaceful though, and very pretty. After that, we went to Jelena’s parent’s for dinner.

There I was stuffed with some great food. The have a kind of stuffed cabbage that is out of this world. My apologies to the Poles, but it was by far the best I have ever had.

Monday was a holiday, so Scott and I wandered the city a bit. the architecture is amazing! Truly. I went past all sorts of things I really cannot recall. Makes the old building in the US seem modern, to be sure. I got shown embassies, and even stood in the spot where Arch Duke Ferdinand was shot! (Started a World War, you may recall.)

I got to see a number of shops, though many were closed do to the Holiday. I got to eat some great food again. =-) More talk. =-)

Tuesday morning I got processed. It was a matter of filling out some forms and habing over some KM for my health insurance. Thanks to the dollar going down (Thank you, Mr President.) The exchange went from nearly 1:2 to $1:.54KM. Still no real worries.

That night, I was taken to dinner with my boss, and the director of the entire department. Rough life eh? I got to meet some people who work in the Sarajevo office, and have some good food again. I can’t tell you much of the conversation. It was pretty general, and so many names and places flying around I can’t tell the difference.

We left Early Wednesday morning for the office (4am) and drove through the worst fog I have ever seen for nearly 70km. I mean, thick. I was like, “Wow. This stuff is the thickest I have seen.” Then it doubles. Imagine getting out of the shower with a steamy room. Visibility was maybe 3 meters. Maybe.

So, that brings you up to me getting to Banja Luka. Its been very tiring, to be sure. Sorry if it doesnt have tons of details, but a lot has slipped through with me being tired and lost. =-)

Much of my preparation has been shopping. Plane tickets, proper clothes, shoes, allergy medications, etc. I had a big old list that I was slowly ticking things off of. It feels a little sick that a chunk of my budget for the trip has gone into buying things to take with.

On the upside, most of it is durable goods that I will have for some time. Long sleeve, nice shirts so I don’t embarrass myself in the office. I had some good ones, but I tend to be opposed to long sleeves. Too much a pain to find them that fit. I usually need an 18 1/2 inch neck, and 36/37 sleeves. Even when I find a 2X, they tend to have shorter sleeves. My arms aren’t even that long… Its all in the shoulder. And some, oi!, they assume that if you have an 18 1/2 neck, your waist is double the size of your chest. While I am not skinny mini, I am certainly not THAT out of shape.

The event that has inspired this entry is actually “The Final Shopping Trip,” to Target. I was surprised and happy to find a pair of black chinos that fit the way I like. They assume your gut is Monster sized, and that you have what I affectionately refer to as “stoner-legs.” This caused many esteem issues just after high school (but what wasn’ causing them?).

The great fun came at check out. I had 5 boxes of the house-brand allergy sinus stuff. Scott told me that meds are hard to get there, even over the counter stuff. Being allergic to nature, I resolved to take quite a supply with me. I don’t want to be caught miserable, especially when spring kicks in.

There is some ingredient in the meds that Target is obligated in some way to monitor the sale of. I don’t know if this is an internal mechanism, or part of the “War on Drugs.” It is goofy, though. I had to make to separate purchases. Their equipment won’t allow the sale of too much. It’s just fine to make back to back purchases though. Riiight. I was trying to buy 5 boxes, which contain 6 days of pills each, if taken all the time. 3 boxes is the limit.

At least they didn’t finger print me, or take blood so I can get a clear nose.

Hello!

Welcome to the ‘Blog’. Nice to have you here.

Just a quick note to let you know what the deal is here.

The end of Nov 03, I accepted an overseas internship with OSCE, the Office for Security and Co-operation in Europe. There is a link on the right if you want to check them out.

This means I will be working in Banja Luka, Bosnia and Herzegovina (BiH) for 4.5 months. I fly out Jan 30, and return June 13. My last day at work in Jan 23, which you can see is rapidly approaching.

While in BiH, I will be staying with an old friend. We haven’t seen each other in some time, so its quite exciting. Also, my job promises to give me scads of skills, and a chance to really see some of the country.

I have wanted to go to Eastern Europe for over a decade. I think it started with the height of the “cold war” propganda with Reagan. I couldn’t get my head around the idea that folks in communist countries were all just evil, and so forth. BiH is no longer communist, but that doesn’t change the thrill of going for me.

Anyway, I will be staying in a one bedroom apartment with my friend, Scott. We will live about 25 mintues walking from where I will work, and 15 minutes from the town center. I will let you know how that is. ;-)

The whole deal has me both excited and nervous. Its my first time out of the country, so I figure it is a typical anxiety. I have very few things left on my to do list, aside from some purchases. So far, the only down sides are leaving Dana behind for a bit, and having to remove my earrings. I plan another entry about the earrings, and why, and why I care and all that.

Ok. I have it now! You can write me or send something and HOPE it arrives before I go, lol.

My Address:

OSCE Mission to Bosnia and Herzegovina Regional Centre Banja Luka Kneza Milosa 19 Banja Luka, 78000 Bosnia and Herzegovina Attention: Democratisation Department – Andrew Vargo

This is a reply I got when asking about what my job will be like:

Regarding what you are going to be doing, I’m going to have you do some stuff with databases at first and then in the meantime you’ll have time to latch onto an idea and then we can develop it into a specific project for you to work on. If you have some ideas already, put them on paper and send them along to me and we can start working on them. In the meantime since you said that are interested in civil society, I think that you should start doing some research on things regarding civil society development. Look at DIFID, USAID, UNDP, NDI, IFES and anything else you can find. Also try to see what has already been done in Bosnia or in any other post-communist or post-conflict country in this area. Think of it as a literature review that you would normally conduct for a paper. Identify some strands and start thinking what you would like to find out more about here in Bosnia. If we develop it far enough we could even propose it as a project for implementation. Other than that you’ll be supporting me and I’ll try to give you/teach you things that you should know for jobs in this area including: writing reports, talking points, speeches, backgrounds, proposals, etc. Also, I’ll bring you to most of my meetings so you can get an idea of how these things go.

This time with no extended text, so that I can check the link placement to find where the issue on it is.

This is an entry to test out the new web-log.

— This entry has been edited.

Ok. I made this a top level entry that wont change. I can do this however I want to whatever I want. Like maybe a FAQ.

Anyway, please use THIS entry, to play around with the technology.

Thanks! (keep readin’…)