Just to let my faithful readers know...
It looks like I will be heading to Mali at the end of November for a few months. I should be departing on November 27th to spend four months working on designing a new project. I'm sure it will be an interesting trip with lots of lanugage struggles (I haven't worked in French in 4 years), interesting development issues (we're designing a large irrigation program which is quite contentious), and lost of interesting adventures (I am planning on visiting Timbuktu and going to the Ali Farka Toure memorial music festival).
So stay tuned at the end of November!
Tuesday, November 07, 2006
Ice Cream Ending
My last day in Macedonia was spent on yet another field trip – this time to Gostivar in the West of the country. Macedonians I have spoken with disagree with me, but out of all the parts of Macedonia that I have seen (and granted I missed the big tourist destinations) this was the most beautiful. It is in the “Albanian” area of Macedonia and is predominantly Muslim. In 2001 there was a civil war (sometimes downgraded to civil conflict depending on who you are talking to) in this region with Albanian-Macedonians pitted against mainstream Macedonians. There is some concern that this conflict could flare up again at some point as the underlying issues have not really been dealt with.
Regardless, I was awestruck by the beautiful mountains, picturesque villages, crystal clear Vardar River and trees on the hillsides. There is a lot of deforestation ongoing in Macedonia given that wood is the main fuel for heating and cooking, but this region still has some of it trees left. I would love to come back sometime and do some hiking or maybe even try my hand at skiing again – there are some good slopes in the area.
But I was there for business – sort of. My first stop was visiting a cheese factory. This family owned business owns a second production plant in Rome, Italy which is where they learned the art of cheese-making and let me tell you, they learned it well. The mozzarella, smoked provolone, and ricotta that I tried were all to US standards if not beyond. They are all made with sheep cheese so have a distinctive and delicious flavor. So yes, we talked for a while and ate cheese – I have a hard life. The second stop was a juice factory, and once again I sipped strawberry juice as we discussed the juice business in Macedonia.
This has been a great trip and not only because of all the sampling of local delicacies. Macedonia has a rare opportunity right now. Their labor is very inexpensive compared to the nearby European market, plus they are getting support to be able to enter the EU, so if all goes to plan, there will be major changes in the country over the next few years (hopefully with my company helping them along the way if we are successful in this bid). In my opinion their biggest obstacle is corruption.
My last evening my colleagues and I went out to dinner with our translator and the woman who has managed logistics while we were here. They are both great fun so it was an evening with lots of laughter and the evening ended with a trip to the gelateria. Who could ask for a better end?
Regardless, I was awestruck by the beautiful mountains, picturesque villages, crystal clear Vardar River and trees on the hillsides. There is a lot of deforestation ongoing in Macedonia given that wood is the main fuel for heating and cooking, but this region still has some of it trees left. I would love to come back sometime and do some hiking or maybe even try my hand at skiing again – there are some good slopes in the area.
But I was there for business – sort of. My first stop was visiting a cheese factory. This family owned business owns a second production plant in Rome, Italy which is where they learned the art of cheese-making and let me tell you, they learned it well. The mozzarella, smoked provolone, and ricotta that I tried were all to US standards if not beyond. They are all made with sheep cheese so have a distinctive and delicious flavor. So yes, we talked for a while and ate cheese – I have a hard life. The second stop was a juice factory, and once again I sipped strawberry juice as we discussed the juice business in Macedonia.
This has been a great trip and not only because of all the sampling of local delicacies. Macedonia has a rare opportunity right now. Their labor is very inexpensive compared to the nearby European market, plus they are getting support to be able to enter the EU, so if all goes to plan, there will be major changes in the country over the next few years (hopefully with my company helping them along the way if we are successful in this bid). In my opinion their biggest obstacle is corruption.
My last evening my colleagues and I went out to dinner with our translator and the woman who has managed logistics while we were here. They are both great fun so it was an evening with lots of laughter and the evening ended with a trip to the gelateria. Who could ask for a better end?
Walking the Gauntlet
I went on a very interesting drive today and feel lucky to have come out alive. I went by taxi to the town of Kavadarci which is 1.5 hours from Skopje to visit a peach farmer who is exporting his peaches to Europe. The main road east from Skopje was previously a very nice four-lane divided highway, but as of Monday they closed one half of the highway and moved all four lanes into half the size. Needless to say, the road is now far too narrow for two cars to drive in the same direction, never mind all the trucks that use that route to transport goods to and from Greece and Bulgaria. When my driver dodged through the barriers dividing the directions in order to pass the first of a long line of trucks crawling up a hill creeping around the curves, I decided it was time to intervene and tell him that I would rather arrive in one piece 5 minutes late than not arrive at all. Even with a severe language barrier, he was made to understand my intention and we crawled along the rest of the way.
On the way back from the visit I saw a car lose its wing mirror on the barrier and we passed an accident (only one). There were three cars involved, and two of the cars were Parliamentarian’s vehicles. Maybe this will change the decision about the road? It’s a disaster waiting to happen.
When your life flashes before your eyes, it makes you want to make the most out of the time that you have left. So I went out to dinner with some colleagues from Washington that are based here and sampled the nightlife of Skopje. Who knew that I would be out at a salsa bar in Macedonia!
On the way back from the visit I saw a car lose its wing mirror on the barrier and we passed an accident (only one). There were three cars involved, and two of the cars were Parliamentarian’s vehicles. Maybe this will change the decision about the road? It’s a disaster waiting to happen.
When your life flashes before your eyes, it makes you want to make the most out of the time that you have left. So I went out to dinner with some colleagues from Washington that are based here and sampled the nightlife of Skopje. Who knew that I would be out at a salsa bar in Macedonia!
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