| 100 in 1000 |
- Spend a week up a mountain learning to ski
- Visit Karoline's place in Moravia
Hold a conversation in Czech (only)- Drink 500ml of each of the following beers:
PilsnerStaroprammen- Budvar
- Velke Popovice
- U Fleku
GambrinusKrusovice
Respond to at least one GOARN request (WHO and MSF are
also acceptable)Travel across the AtlanticReturn to South America- Read a book to, or with, an impressionably aged child
- Participate in one NanoWriMo Challenge and come within at least 10,000 words of the goal length
Have my nose pierced- Have my next tattoo drawn
Purchase the perfect jeans (x 2 pairs)- Attend a spin class 3 times a week for 8 consecutive weeks
- Bake Viv's cheesecake
Make David's casserole Make David's Chicken Cashew-nut StirfryInvite 4 people who don't know one another too well to dinner- Ride from Vienna to Venice on a motorbike (pillion acceptable, those less desirable)
- Attend a book group for at least two books
- Go on a choir weekend (learn and perform difficult piece in two/three days)
- Visit Madame Tussaud's (in London)
- Take an architecture appreciation course
Join an all-girl group and sing a soloPublish in a scientific journal (top two authors)Cook a duck or other 'waterfowl'. Locate the Al-Timimi's from Doha Veterinary PractiseHave a pedicureMaintain a Brazilian (ouch) for three months.Find a trustworthy Czech hairdresser- Treat my inner-6-year-old twice a week (at least)
- Do the liver-cleansing diet properly (12 weeks)
- Don't eat out for one month
Find a flat and flatmate- Purchase one Joseph sweater
- Purchase one of the following pairs of
designer shoes (they MUST also be COMFORTABLE, and be able to be worn with 4
different outfits and 2 types of occasion): Jimmy Choos, Manolo Blahniks,
Christian Louboutin (Ebay or 2nd hand are acceptable)
- Send 5 books to the booksphere and track them.
- Go hanggliding
- Read 10 'classic' books (from 1001 Books to Read before you Die)
Moll FlandersEverything is illuminatedMadam BovaryZen & the Art of Motorcycle MaintainanceCatch-22OdysseusOn the Road
- Run (non-stop!) for 5kms outside (preferably in a street race thingy)
- Send Christmas Cards on time
Make a collage/mural out of street lights on my wallBuy a bed, build it, and sleep soundly in itGo to AfricaHost an 'event' (classified as and when)Organise a 30th Birthday PartyWear a costume- Sing on stage
- Buy a painting that evokes memories of Prague (cannot involve queues!)
Learn a god-damned card game that stays in my memory (other than fish/snap)See sunrise. Be sober. Have woken for it. Excludes months Nov-Mar- Take a walk and flip coins at each intersection
Win something- Draft a will
- Take a roadtrip
Go to Italy already- Sea Kayak around Abel Tasman Park (NZ)
Get plantsTake a train to another Eastern European Destination (accession countries are acceptable) alone preferably.- Get UK to give me a provisional motorcyclists license and simultaneously get a 'card' license.
- Go SCUBA diving again - at least two dives lasting 30mins each.
Go to a dentist. *sigh*- Do a Czech Wine Trail. And live to tell the tale
- Make an 'outbreak emergency kit'.
- Go to bed prior to 11pm every night (inc weekends) for four consecutive weeks.
- Marvel over lack of tiredness
- Dine at a Gordon Ramsey restaurant (or Nobu)- preferably for free.
Bet on the nags- Do something for charity (applying and getting a 'red card' will count)
- Walk along the Champs Elysee
- Do 100 sit ups in a row
- Do 50 pressups (arms in tight)
- Make branston pickle (or nearest substitute)
- Cook something 'new' and 'adventurous' at least once a month
Find a mentorBe a mentorLearn what mentoring is all aboutMeet an online person in real lifeResist the flirt. Once. Just one night. It's okay if people don't immediately succumb to my natural charm. Really it is.Spend time at a spa (spa towns in the CR don't count)- Send a care package to someone
Get a Tata Bojs CD- Take a French/German/Dutch course and SPEAK THE DAMNED LANGUAGE WHEN I HAVE THE OPPORTUNITY EVEN THOUGH IT MAKES ME SOUND
LIKE AN IDIOT!
- Order new contact lenses.
Make a list of things I take with me when I pack for different occasions- Eat lobster. Prepared by someone else.
Back up the blogPut everything onto an external hard drive- Find a DDR mat and console and 'dance, I say dance!'�
- Go to the beach and lie on the warm sand. For an hour. (with sunscreen on, natch)
- Take and complete a course in either: Tango, Salsa or Flamenco
- Join the Municipal Library of Prague
- Move to another country
Go to a live concert of a band I actually like- Pay off debts (student loan excl.)
Send thank you cards for every gift I receive (other than the gift of happiness, blah blah blah).- Get an agent (literary or theatre)
- Go to a sports bar without cringing, by personal choice
- Ride a rollercoaster
- Hold a snake
Spend a day wandering around a museum (not art gallery!) |
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| "I may be gone some time..." |
| Tuesday 7 March 2006 |
But don't panic...I'm not walking out into a haze of viral particles in an Oates-esque manner!
This could be the last blog entry from me for a while folks. I know, I know…there ARE clinics in major cities that will help you overcome the physical symptoms of your addiction, but the mental and psychological ones are always harder to get over. I suggest writing me e-mails…
Andreas and I are about to go flathunting together. We’ve got three if not more apartments to look at this afternoon. Some, apparently, overlook the Caspian Sea (hell, our per-diem allows us to afford it – why the heck not?) and we’ve asked for silly things like ‘internet connection’ to be made available. This is because the WHO country office is reasonably small (four desks) and there are always people wanting a workstation – so we’ll be doing most of our work AND living in the apartment.
There’s a horrible rumour that any internet connection we DO manage to get will be dial-up. Despite the fact that this idea brings both Andreas and myself out in a rash, followed by a cold-sweat and induces nightmares set to a theme tune of ‘bbbbbrrrrrrr click, click….whrrrrrrr” etc (you all know the sound of a modem connecting…FINALLY), we’re keeping our fingers crossed that the west-facing apartment with a balcony also has ADSL. Both optimists, as you can see.
We’re actually doing quite a lot of work (already!?). We’ve sent a sit-rep back to WHO which was (apparently) “better than [our] wildest dreams”. Not bad for the first day huh? And despite it being International Woman’s Day tomorrow, we’ve got meetings booked. Today we’re working on some documents that our translator will hopefully be able to translate for us tomorrow so that we can present them to the national working group (argh!!) on Thursday. These will form the basis of the surveillance system for Human AI (HAI) cases.
We’re working entirely on the human side now, the veterinarian side has been left to FAO/OIE. Of course, it’s all muddled up a bit by the fact that the Vet Lab is better than that of the humans, so they’re testing our specimens…but we’ll get it straightened out somehow. The WHO office are being very supportive, sending follow-up questions that might help guide our mission, and documents that have been used (in a working sense, not just a published/guideline/protocol sense) in all the other countries (Vietnam/Turkey/Iraq in particular).
This is one of the reasons we’re hoping for ADSL…downloading all this stuff over a 56kbps connection could take us all night (and here we are “I’ll just grab the specimen collection guidelines…” ing at the moment!). So wish us luck, and a nice place. Oh, and you CAN buy chicken breast here (it’s very cheap at the moment – can’t think why!) which means that our diets will be far more varied than my last mission.
Actually, we’ve already been to two different (and both AMAZINGLY yummy) restaurants: 17th Century (which was still open at 12:30am) which served us traditional Azeri food (yum!) and last night Georgian House (traditional Georgian food – also divine). We have business cards for both places – should you happen to be passing through this way in the near future!!!
Should go put our bags downstairs to do this apartment thing. It’s very exciting (a. someone else has done the hard work and we’re just going to check them out finally, and b. they’re reasonably cheap and c. both Andreas and I have similar views on apartments and d. it’s going to be nice to live with a friend for a few weeks) and I’m much more positive this time round than last time. So, keep your fingers crossed for that ADSL line…and I’ll be in touch as and when I can. |
posted by Nomes @ Tuesday, March 07, 2006   |
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