Bucket Baths in India

This email is from a friend of mine training Burmese reporters in Thailand, and now India:

got to bangkok..literally dropped off on four lane highway
at bus stop..not bus station....had to take taxi....this was
4:40 a.m driver spoke no english..luckily had cell phone
and hotel number to call - pass cell to driver - get
directions to hotel..

i'm in india....wondered why there was bucket of water with
scoop in my shower...went to turn on shower..no
water....asked downstairs..they say bucket is for "bath" as
shower doesn't work...asked for room with working
shower...they sent maintenance..installed new shower
head..now it works...

the odd neighbor: Cleaning out the drawers...

the odd neighbor: Cleaning out the drawers...

Coffee, Black Cabs, Underpants

Remi and I just got back from our morning coffee at the Landman Cafe. I read my book while she wagged her tail off her butt whenever Herr Landman was in sight.
As we pulled the Black Cab out of the space to leave, I saw Uncle Billy--whose house is across the street from the Landman--standing in his window, waving furiously, his hair askew, his broad belly filling the window frame. "Guten Morgen!!!!" he said, grinning, standing in nothing but his underpants. "Guten Morgen!!!!"

Easy Rider for the Geriatric Farming Community

There's a fat, squat, babushka-esque grandma who straps on a Wallace and Gromit helmet and takes to the streets of Hainburg in her red Honda scooter.

Being behind her is a sight to behold.

How to Carry a Pig's Head Through a Crowded Market

Forget museums and historical sites--everything you want to know about a culture is right there at the market.
Take, for instance, the Republic of Georgia. Domino Market is vast--I'd estimate the size to be something around 10 football fields-- and you have everything from skinny ladies selling single rolls of toilet paper, to a black market pharmacy selling every conceivable antibiotic, antidepressant, anti-impotence, anti-pregnancy, antiyounameit known to the human world. The medicine is stacked in piles about 5 feet high, and if a little Russian script doesn't intimidate you, you're free to root through the heaps and find whatever it is you're looking for.
And then on to the Grain Ladies, who stand behind ginormous mounds of grain or seasonings--rice, salt, sugar, corn. They are the happiest--smiling and chatting back and forth all day. Must be the sugar.
But the meat section should be entered only with adult supervision, and only if you don't ever fancy eating again. On my day there, a one-handed butcher charged his stump arm into a huge boar's head, held it high above the crowds and shouted something akin to: Move Out of the Way! Coming Through!

Again About the Air Conditioning...

It was 100 degrees today, 90 percent humidity, and no air conditioning. Anywhere.. Again, my complaint... these guys can smoke 4 packs of cigarettes a day, but are worried about the AC hurting their health?!?!?!?

Thinking About Vietnam

Can't sleep. So I upload photos. This was taken outside of Hanoi last year. I went back to Vietnam May 06 (click on the McCracken Archives link for the article), but this time only to Saigon.

Europeans Flee Air Conditioning

There's been a heat wave here in Central Europe, too. Temperatures are in the upper 90s, and will creep over 100 Monday and Tuesday.

Unlike the US, Europe is not a continent partial to air conditioning. They think it's bad for the health, and should only be used in emergencies.

My friend Rainer owns the bar in town. It is a windowless building on the second floor, and without AC.
Needless to say, his booming winter business slows to a crawl in the dog days of summer.

I told him yesterday that if he put air conditioning in, his business would triple this time of year.

"No, it wouldn't," he said. "AC is bad for you, everybody knows that. When I use it in my car, it gives me the sniffles and a cough. It's just really bad for your health."
Then he took another drag off his cigarette.

Dig Those Jack Rusells!

Remi (background) and Camilla digging again!

Brother Can You Spare a Non-Filter Cigarette?

Most everyone smokes in the Republic of Georgia, and being a poor country, cigarettes are often sold at kiosks not by the pack, but singly. And taxi drivers will sometimes accept them from locals as payment for fare.

And those pesky filters....
I spent a total of six months teaching journalism in Tbilisi, and in our classroom, I kept finding these little white cylindrical things, which I kept mistaking for chalk.
What ARE these? I finally asked.
"Filters. We cut them off because we don't like them."

It's Not What You Mean, But What You Say

A guy told me he enjoyed vintage cucumbers.
Turns out he likes pickles.

When the Key Lady is a Pimp

Gloria and her boyfriend just got back from their two week motorcycle trip through Eastern Europe.

Things she liked:
Sheep in the countryside.

Things she didn't like:
Cockroaches
Ancient furniture heavier than boulders
Cold showers
Paying $100 a night for rooms with cockroaches, heavy ancient furniture and no hot water.

Other things she didn't like:
Rude waiters
Milk in a bag

She complained most about the hotels, and how the key lady on her floor ignored her, refusing to answer direct questions.
Gloria was stunned when I told her the Key Lady was really a pimp.

For men staying alone at some East Europen hotels, the Key Lady's job is to call his room every hour to ask if he wants a girl.
When he says No, she asks if he wants a boy.
When he takes the phone off the hook to stop the incessant ringing, Key Lady comes knocking at his door.

Jack Russells--Fifth Class to China

Remi (on the right--with the brown spot on her rump) and her friend diggin' diggin' diggin!

The Dubai Diva's Guide To Life

The Dubai Diva's Guide To Life

The Dreaded Malaria

So this morning I get skyped by N, who is calling to say things are not going so well at her journalism training there on the Burmese border, and here is a shortlist of Why:
1) Interpreter got stuck in India---first with a visa problem, next with a broken down car.
2) The reporters keeps showing up to the workshop wicked drunk.
3) She has malaria.
Ohhh no. The dreaded malaria. She's stuck in remotevillageland, there is no airport, she is an 8-hour drive on horrific roads to the nearest major city (Bangkok) and about a 5-day journey from the comforts of home if she started RIGHT NOW.

After several emails and skypes, and a couple of quick calls to her husband in Illinois, things don't seem as dire. Of course, that's me talking--I'm not all alone on the edge of the Earth, driving a porcelain bus.

Little pay, no job security, drunk reporters, no interpreter and malaria.... Why anyone considers journalism a glam job is an absolute mystery to me.

Ring, Ring. Ring, Ring. Click

Will the person who has been calling my cell phone every day for the past two weeks on a Withheld number--and then hangs up if I answer---please, please, please continue.

Dog Guards Doctor's Office

I went to the doctor and then had a return appt. at 6 for some therapy on my neck. I brought Remi with me, to put her out in the front yard of the building on her leash. She was already with me in the town, and I thought it would be better anyway, rather than leaving her home in a hot house.
Anyhow, the front door to the building --which is an apartment building with the dr.'s office inside--was propped open because of the heat.
I'm in the middle of my therapy when the doctor comes in and asks if I had my dog with me.
I said yes, that she was outside.
No, the doc says, she's lying in the lobby and won't let anyone past.

I hurried down there, doctor and two nurses behind me (no one here wants to miss something good), and there was Remi---lounging like a queen--all sprawled out at the bottom of the stairs, her leash snaking around the corner to its attachment to a pole on the outside; and before her, a confused, befuddled, and slightly ticked off crowd of about 8, standing a several feet away at a safe distance, waiting for me to come scoop up the little Jack Russell --so they could either slip past to their apartment or their doctor's appointment.

The Whole Family

There's a guy I sometimes see on the field walking his two kids to school, followed a few paces back by the family dog, and ten paces behind all of them, the family cat. The last day of school was last Friday, so I'll miss seeing them til Fall.