Anyway, since I spend a good 10 hours a days in a beautiful exotic foreign land in front of a computer screen, I should probably take the time to jot down a thought or two. Since my last submission, I've found an apartment, and written probably 50 rewrites of that Bangladesh report. That's it. I might be underestimating. Nothing but the best for Bangladesh and the World Bank. But seriously, Southeast Asia seems like a fascinating place. It definitely seems unfair that I spend so much of my waking time writing about the ins and outs of small business lending in such an interesting country, yet I've never seen the place.
Speaking of never
Oh yeah, so my apartment is pretty nice, but rent costs an arm and a leg. Not literally. But let's just say that my 5 first-born children are going to spend their formative years scrubbing floors for an old Georgian Babushka instead of learning the roman alphabet and the unique American "rrr"s. They say that the housing problem made thieves out of everyone in the old Soviet Union. That'll have to prove true for me to retain my posterity.
In other local knewz, I figure I should resume my commentary on bizarre local political/cultural tidbits. So the Georgian President is in Washington. Yeah, Mr. Bush would've come out here to Georgia but he reportedly
OK, I'll stop trying to be funny. Anyway, I'm not sure the visit is making all the major headlines in the States right now, but all the Georgians here remind me about it. Apparently, El Presidente Bush and President Saakashvili (the Georgian) are tight. Mr. Bush probably looked into his eye at some point, and saw his soul. (Must.... stop.... Bush.... jokes.) Anyway, the Georgian President has good things to say about the Iraq war. And they say the Press never mentions anything positive about the situation. So as a side curiosity, check out the different major Russian and American media spin on the visit. Curious. The Caucasus border disputes are absolutely fascinating little studies in revisionist history, geopolitical posturing, and convenient nationalism. It's interesting how Armenians, Georgians, and Azeris have all told me that they are the "ancient-est" nations in the world, only to sneeze on the pretenses of the other inferior nations when I bring them up. I will repeat myself: absolutely fascinating.
Finally, I've become somewhat involved in the local LDS church activities out here. I was going to attend a Young Single Adult conference in two weeks down in Yerevan. Unfortunately, the Armenian government decided that they aren't down with LDS youth getting together to mingle and do whatever it is they do. So it was cancelled by official order. Of the Armenian Government. I'm sure they see this as a real hot-button issue. Perhaps they're worried that if too many Mormon youth hang out, they'll stay true to tradition, get married, have lots of kids, and solve the declining population problem with.... Mormons! That is truly a scary thought.
In the meantime, it spoiled my big plans for an Armenian bride. Better for her. Her kids might've grown up Georgians.
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Just a foot note... I figure I need to explain my satire so as not to offend anyone. I make fun of President Bush because he's an easy target. It's the "cool" thing to do, and in a way I'm subtly making fun of all the stereotypes about him by pushing them to a ridiculous extreme. I keep my real political beliefs very close, but have found that there is room in my tent for self-described liberals and conservatives. I have a very few rather strong opinions, which find themselves in varying degrees of support of our Chief Executive. That is all.
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