Taps

I leave to fly back to the States tomorrow.

The trip to Prague was awesome. U Brevnovska is still there, serving the best garlic soup in the world. U Spirku, a little restaurant near Old Town that was affordable (-gasp-) was very closed. U Sedmi Svabu (thank Christ!) is not only still there, but still serves the best hot mead on the planet. The tiny, closet-like Dobra Cajovna, where you could get shisha was TOTALLY a vegetarian restaurant, called something like "Healthy Head" (not kidding) and no longer served shisha. I nearly cried.

This weekend, Katherine and I met up with Anna and Neil, an Irish woman and a Brit respectively, and they made us roast dinner. Neil not only made Yorkshire pudding, but also got it to rise, which is apparently the test of "pudds". It was really great, and then we went out for a drink at a little cafe/bar. I had Alpenzeller Hanfblute, which means beer flavored not with hops, but hemp. An oddly sweet, but really very delicious, option. And no, I didn't get high.

Last night, we met up with Linnea and Jeroen, our Swede and Belgian friends, and ate out at a "chicken" restaurant, as it was described. Chicken, because that's all they serve. Half a chicken and potatoes, or one of three salads, all with chicken. That's it. But it was fantastic, and it was really fun to hear about their experiences with entertainers in Egypt, where some guy was standing in a manger playing a synthesizer and singing John Denver's "Country Roads" with an echo effect. We also discussed the possibilities of Metallica as accordion music; squeezbox "Master of Puppets" or "Suicidal Tendencies".

Katherine is also in the process of negotiating a contract extension. Details are still sketchy, but we may be staying another six months. If its possible, I'm all for it. Of course, this is the UN (or, I should say, a UN agency...), so everything takes longer than you want it to, but we're pushing to stay. If it all works out, we'd be coming back in January for six months, and done in June. That's the situation at this point.