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Pffft…. after an entire day navigating the waters of Amsterdam on the craziest day of the year — queen’s day — there’s no way I’m going to try and write big stuff. I’d rather say, here look at these photos, and then talk to you all tomorrow.

One of today’s graduates gave me a warm greeting today during the ceremony. I noticed her Eastern European skin looking quite tan, and I asked where she’d been. “Sri Lanka,” she said, “not a very good time over there right now.”

At that moment I thought back to the last few years and what has taken place in Sri Lanka, a place I’ve long paid attention to. I thought about the disastrous and destructive civil war that tore the country apart for so long. Then in 2002 there came the peace agreement between the Tamil Tigers and the government. My feeling and my hope was that people were tired of war, and that even the soldiers themselves, on both sides, were ready to seek some other (any other!) means of resolving their conflict.
But it has been a shakey cease-fire, with occasional incidents on both sides. And as she spoke she mentioned the recent escallation of violence and how everyone where she was outside Colombo was talking about it and getting crazy-concerned. It was also interesting to hear the contrast, while a fragile peace agreement is on the brink of falling apart, she was looking for peace and quiet at a Sri Lankan resort… very odd.

Hey and while I’m talking Asia, GOOD NEWS, the Nepalese parliament has re-convened for the first time in 4 years! This sounds like a good step.

With another graduation for international masters fish about to take place tomorrow, as I sat in the fishtank today there were a few old familiar faces from last year, wandering around. They typically go home to finish their masters thesis, or they go off to Uganda to observe Ugandan underwater basketweaving and by the time I see them again they are expert basket weavers and ready to graduate.

One particular familiar face came up to me in the fishtank and greeted me with the warmest of smiles and kisses. She came back to Amsterdam just for the weekend, to graduate. After that, she told me, maybe it’s back to Uganda or Uzbekistan, or Ulan Bantuur. (refusing to spell check tonight) After I grilled her about what life plans she has, she turned the heat onto me. It went something like this:

“So you’re here, you’re doing well! I mean, it can’t be that bad to be living in Amsterdam after all?”

Me: Yeah. No big deal really, semesters melt into semesters, it hasn’t really been that long.
Her:

“No it’s great, you’re still here, it’s amazing.”

Me: Is it? I don’t know. But I did get a boat last week. So life is good.

That’s my snippet for today. Tomorrow we can delve into the anniversary of Chernobyl, the future of Thailand, and maybe a little on how I don’t care if Al Gore re-invents himself, again.

Oh, and a vlog about riding in a Duck is now available on my video blog.

Atop any list of underreported nations in Europe, Hungary has handled huge changes over the past 15 years. Henrik of the Hungarian Accent blog joins me to discuss Hungary: from the end of the communist regime, to joining the European Union, to the cold hard truth of what lies ahead for the Hungarian people.

AudioCommunique #124 (mp3)

Music:

K’Naan – In the beginning
Clap Your Hands Say YEah – Over and Over
Pink – Dear Mr. President

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podcast made possible by you the listener and also Springheeljack.net

In honor of my favorite Portuguese holiday of the year:

Also read my previous years’ entries.