new mostar digs etc.

Howdy all,

Up until two weeks ago I refused to believe the naysayers, the pessimists, and the gloomy Gus(es) around town who predicted a Mostar winter of bitter cold and relentless wind. At the end of October the nights here were still balmy, people were still in short sleeves, and the ubiquitous sidewalk cafes were still packed throughout the day with loads of fashionably-dressed Mostarians sipping their espressos in the glorious Mediterranean sun.

But last Monday the cold from the “continent” arrived. And now I believe.

To celebrate the start of this infamous 4 month “howling wind” season I moved out of my former newly-renovated, well-insulated, energy efficient (but rather characterless) place on a car-dominated arterial road and into a funky, drafty little house with no insulation but lots of character, not far from the mostly reconstructed Old Town, and right in the bustling heart of the (car-free!) pedestrian zone.

I’m sharing the place with the friendly Shawn Convey, an American photographer/film-maker, and (since all of our many couches are pull-outs) we have beds to comfortably sleep 10-15 people. If you (and your sizable entourage) find yourself in the neighbourhood you are most welcome to crash here.

I haven’t written (rambled on?) much yet about life in Mostar. I intend to. Having recently purchased my first mobile phone and having recently made my first skype call, I figured I should go for the hat trick and also start my first blog. I will post future musings and the occasional photo to:

http://glavni-trg.blogspot.com/

I have also finally managed to post some photos to flickr.com. For Kenya pics and some initial Mostar pics, click on the links below and then select “view as slideshow” in the top right hand corner. If you set it to run at 2 seconds per slide, each slideshow set should take about 10 minutes (on a good internet connection).

Kenya photos

Mostar photos


Well, I should get back to my fresh, locally grown, organic figs, pomegranates, oranges, olives etc. etc. and leave you all to your respective businesses. Looking forward to hearing from y’all!

Ciao,
Andrew

Mostar, BiH

Greetings friends and family far and wide,

There are some people on this list to whom I haven't spoken for many many moons. A big warm hello to you! If you fall into this category, send me an e-mail and let me know what you have been up to!

And there are some people on this list whom I just saw yesterday. If you fall into this category you probably live in Mostar - the loveliest city in Bosnia and Hercegovina and my home for the next 6 months. For some general info on UN-HABITAT's Mostar project visit this page.

And for some stunning images of this city, do a google image search for "Mostar." Come and visit! I promise a comfy couch, good food, and outstanding Balkan hospitality!

A quick update on my recent adventures (abridged version):

• For the last two years I've enjoyed life on Canada's east coast, made lots of wonderful friends, sang lots of sea-shanties, and graduated from the Master of Planning program at Dalhousie.

• I spent much of June conference-hopping in Vancouver (Planners for Tomorrow, World Planners Congress, World Urban Forum...) and much of the rest of the summer planting trees in the great wide open clear cuts south of Grande Prairie AB. After planting, I joined my girlfriend Jane at her friends' place in Demmitt AB where we generally relaxed and I recovered from a particularly nasty skin infection in my leg (mental note - avoid public hot tubs filled with poopy little kids).

• Back East, I met the handsome new Curran cousin Liam, had a blast with many of you at Tariq and Tiffany's wedding, spent a week at my sister Liz's organic CSA farm in Montreal, and made my way to Halifax where I caught the red-eye to Amsterdam and then the wide-eye to Nairobi.

• After one week of orientation at the UN-HABITAT headquarters in Nairobi I spent another week hiking and driving around in safari vans oogling at charismatic mega-fauna on the plains of the Serengeti. Well, shucks, lion cubs really are darned cute.

• From bicycle-nightmare Nairobi to bicycle-heaven Amsterdam, a quick hop to Zagreb and then onto Mostar where I was met at the airport by the fabulous Aleksander Stular, UN-HABITAT senior planner, the mayor of Mostar's special advisor on planning issues, and my supervisor here for the next 6 months.

I will keep you posted as I get settled in, find myself a more permanent mailing address, and maybe even an internet and phone connection to call my own. I'm leaving early tomorrow morning for a 1-week conference in Pristina, Kosovo so this business of settling in will have to wait until early October (just in time for national elections here in BiH - stay tuned...).

Laku noc,
Andrew