Cultural Differences

Here the Guardian reports on one of the unexpected outcomes (oh, how we consultants love 'unexpected outcomes') of Poland and other countries further east joining the Schengen zone.

Germans are prone (in more ways than one) to sunbathe in the nude. I spent some childhood holidays in a place where people did this. Not entirely sure why - it did not really fit in with other aspects of my childhood, and the North Sea and its beaches are not that hot. But at least I learnt something about human differences.....

Now it seems that Polish people, out for a stroll, also learn about these differences. And they are shocked! So are the Germans for whom it is, apparently, inconceivable that people in clothes should go on a nudist beach and look at the people innocently besporting themselves, as my friend Adrian might have said.

Life in the Mongolian Steppes

This book by a Czech author, Petra Hulova, b.1979, translated only into German - 'Kurzer Abriss meines Lebens in der mongolischen Steppe' - describes the life of a woman, Djaza [transliterated into German], born into a Mongolian family growing up in a ger (yurta) in the steppes of Mongolia.
Ms Hurlova has herself lived in Mongolia for a while - in fact, she has a bit of a Mongolian slant to her eyes; she studied Mongolian at university - the things you can study in Prague!

The story is told very simply - Dzaja grows up in a family with four children, where she is one of two 'bastards' produced by her mother while her mother's husband was not looking; one has a Chinese streak and the other is more Russian. While he and the family accept these two children, at school it is more difficult. Life in general is not that easy, although the family is one of the more prosperous ones. An older sister dies in a horserace, the Russian one goes mad over a boy and gets sent away to Ulan Bator, as does eventually Dzaja. They both find work - but what kind of work - and Dzaja eventually produces a child. Neither of these two sisters ever marry. Meantime in the steppe the youngest sister marries and settles down to country life.

The book is very interesting in its detailed description of Mongolian life - I recognize the descriptions of urban life from my experiences in Kyrgyzstan, with the bazaars, the micro-raions around the town (as in Vilnius, for that matter), the settlements of gers round the outside of the micro-raions, the general neglect, the drunkenness, the meat markets, aspects of Soviet hospital care, also some of the food (though Mongolians also drink salted, fatted [rancid?] tea like the Tibetans). But there are also significant differences to Kyrgyzstan; eg Buddhism pervades everything, the dead are left out in the open for nature to take care of them.....

The structure of the book is a bit strange; Djaza is the narrator for most of it, so much so that her name is never mentioned, and when one or two other narrators (all female, which is a bit of a pain) tell their stories into which she falls, it takes a long time to work out who this 'Djaza' is they are referring to - in her own part her name was never mentioned. I wondered a bit whether the main part of Djaza's had not been long enough to fill a whole book - but on the other hand the stories told by the different people present completely different views of Djaza's account - a story of non-communication in families, I guess.

The only really irritating aspect of the book is the lack of translations of Mongolian words, of which there are many - yes, there is a list at the end of the book, but it is very far from complete. Had someone been lazy here? Sometimes that makes parts of the story difficult to understand.

But generally, it is very interesting and worth reading for someone who goes to work in Mongolia. If they speak German...

Cheap properties for rent!

Are you a Lithuanian government minister, or even vice minister or ministry secretary? Need a place to stay? Fancy a really, really nice location?

Well, just go to the Government's Chancellory Estates Department; they'll sort you out with a lovely flat in the most desirable location in Vilnius (Turniskes) for 180 lt per month. See here and here.

For comparison, a 12 square metre room in a [probably dingy] student hostel costs 170 lt per month, and you would not get much of a flat in the open market for less than 2000 lt.

Beneficiaries of the government's largesse currently include the deputy culture minister and composer Gintaras Sodeika (his own flat is being done up - aaah, the soul, he could not hear himself think, never mind compose in such an environment), various ministry secretaries (similar to vice ministers, but not - apparently - political appointments) and others. The Prime Minister is spitting blood and says if this is really the case, the guilty parties will be punished.

The head of the estates department says that they tried several times to correct the rental price for these flats, but a decision was not made, and they themselves cannot change anythings. 'Our hands are tied, guv'.

I would now urgently look for some other places to stay, if I were a tenant in those apartments - on the other hand, how long will it take to make a decision on these thing?

How the Soldier Repairs the Gramophone

Another wonderful read which I swiped off the table at the Kulturkaufhaus Dussmann in Berlin - I did not think it would have been translated into English, but here it is!

It's a story about a boy, Aleksander, who grows up in Visegrad in former Yugoslavia, where, shortly after the death of his grandfather, the war breaks out, and in time he and his family flee to Germany.

The book describes a magical boy's childhood, where he goes fishing with his grandfather who is a convinced communist, how he argues with his teacher at the school when the picture of Tito is taken down from the classroom wall, huge family gatherings with a page-and-a-half of the description of the menu....and very gently it slides into a child's view of the war, where people shelter in the basement of high-rise buildings, neighbours suddenly become enemies, people are killed in ways too cruel to imagine....before the journey to Germany, where Alexander grows up.

Then, rather surprisingly, the book's second part seems to tell the same story again, but differently - it's as if the first part is autobiography (though it probably is not, even though the author and the main protagonist share the same name), and the second part is the main protagonist's book that he writes; but knowing the first part is essential to the understanding of the second part.

The style of writing is magical - I've read a few books from south eastern Europe, and they all have a peculiar style in common - where the story is written in what seems to be a very plain way, but it's full of little clusterbombs (unfortunate association here) filled with absolute, often bizarre and very funny, gems. Reminds a bit of the films of Kusturica, though it's perhaps not quite as bizarre as his. This is even shown in his chapter headings, eg 'how sweet is dark read, how many oxen are needed for a wall, why Krajlevic Marko's horse is related to superman, and how it can be that a war comes to a party'.

Well worth getting, either in English or in German.

Karadzic's website

Here it is. Physician, help thyself?

New erections in Vilnius

Some new things have appeared near the crossroads outside my flat, and near some other crossroads. On about 4m high poles (not Poles), about 60 m before the traffic lights, sticking out across the street, are what appears to be little cameras. Near at least one traffic light the camera is nestling nicely in a very dense tree - I am sure that whoever looks at the camera will get a lovely blur of green.

Next to the pedestrian crossings there are also little poles sticking up from the pavement to about hand height, but their purpose is not yet known - they look a bit unfinished. At least the traffic lights near me are not beeping any more.

But what are the cameras for? For speeding? There is certainly a lot of racing along my road at night. In the UK, last time I looked, the speed cameras were big chunky things, not dainty little globes. But what with digital technology and maybe online viewing of things this is much easier. Or are they for making the traffic lights intelligent, so that, as a lone car approaches, they will turn green? Not that there are many lone cars in my road, except at night. More usually, the traffic viscosity is close to that of setting jam. Strange!

A victory for common sense

Here it says that now police in Lithuania no longer need to attend minor traffic accidents, unless a person is injured. Previously they had to attend all accidents, regardless how trivial. In fact, the time 6 years ago I was injured by someone opening his car door in the way of my bike, I should have continued lying in the narrow road with room for only a single line of traffic - and I was about 200 m into the road. Even under current rules. Instead I limped home and got myself into the Baltic American clinic under a doctor whose stitching skills matched those of a blind five-year-old. (Have not used that clinic since.)

But living above some busy crossroads I have often observed/heard car crashes, some quite spectacular ones, though usually without injuries, and watched the ensuing chaos as the police slowly make their way to the scene, taking up to an hour. Now the police call outs are dropped five-fold (can someone express that in per cent?).

Unfortunately the number of small damages claims has increased by 10% compared to the same period in the past. Could be fraud, but could also be little accidents where people reverse into their own houses/garden fences which they did not previously report? The insurance companies will soon develop new rules to deal with this.

Minimum Income Standards UK

The Joseph Rowntree Foundation, a fine think tank, has brought out a report which estimates the amount of money people need per week to live (not survive, live). A minimum income standard is defined by the respondents to the survey: 'A minimum standard of living in Britain today includes, but is more
than just, food, clothes and shelter. It is about having what you need
in order to have the opportunities and choices necessary to participate
in society'. Which is all that social inclusion is about.

The amounts are frightening, especially when you consider that the housing costs included are rent rather than the huge mortgages many young people have these days. A pensioner couple needs 201.49 GBP per week excluding rent (apparently pensioners who get pensions credit reach this level); a couple with 2 children needs 557.03 GBP per week (excluding rent!), including a whacking 187 GBP for childcare. That's an astronomical amount, and probably far from the highest amount you could pay for childcare.

The rent amounts are between 64 and 69 quid for these two groups. The former may not have a mortgage, many of the latter probably do, and how much are the mortgage repayments on an average 100 k home? Of which there are not that many any more.

Terrifying!

New vehicles for Vilnius police

Vilnius bobbies don't have it easy - it's really difficult getting round the old town to scenes of crime fast, what with the roads often blocked with traffic, or crowds of often elderly tourists slowly shlepping round the town.

Already they have those BMW covered motorbikes (though I have not seen one recently - but then they were often sitting opposite a flat in which I don't now live), push bikes, and horses. Now they have a new toy to play with - two Segways costing 20,000 LT each (6,000 Euros), travelling at a speed of up to 20 km per hour. (Photo from Lietuvos Rytas).

As a Vilnius taxpayer I wonder whether this is the best use of my resource...They could have bought 10 good push bikes for that, and got their force fit in passing! Certainly one of the lads on the photie could do with using a bike instead. A few days ago I saw one in action just outside my house - together with a bobby on a bike, more or less dawdling along - but then bobbies spend much of their time just being visible. I wonder if Segways are safer on icy pavements in winter than bikes?