shabbat shalom 28.08.09

Hi everyone, I'm off to Prague on Monday so I will probably not write a weekly letter until I return on 14 September.  The Society for Conservation Biology is holding a huge regional conference for 5 days (8 parallel sessions, 1500 registered participants).  I have to give a paper on our work in fire control at En Fescha Oasis on the Dead Sea , but otherwise can kick back and enjoy the show.  I haven't been to such a big conservation meeting for many years, and never with the Europeans. It will be time to make like a sponge and learn what I can from them.  Also, Prague is lovely in September.  I had the good fortune to live there for six months on a sabbatical a long time ago, through the autumn, and it was enchanting after the summer tourist crowds had mostly gone home.  There is still music everywhere but you don't have to fight for concert tickets, and Charles Bridge regains its dignity and mystery. After the conference, I am going to Karlovy Vary for a week of pure relaxation and health care at that famous spa town.  September is the Dvořák music festival every year in Karlovy Vary , so that decided me to go there rather than another spa town.  Karlovy Vary has hot springs and was known as a spa as far back as the Roman Empire, but the current town took off with patronage from Napoleon, Frederick the Great of Russia, and a who swarm of artists and composers including Beethoven, Mozart, and of course Dvořák (who even composed a "Karlovy Vary Symphony" – and got to be the town's patron composer in return). I rented a small apartment for 35 euro (about 45 dollars) per day, right on the Colonnade.  The host family speaks only Czech and German, so my German will get some exercise.  They seem very nice, and will even meet me at the train station.  A "Zimmer" (which can be anything from a room to a flat) is often far more comfortable than a hotel, and usually cheaper.  With my own kitchen, I can save a lot of money on meals and probably eat better.  (The Czechs are charming but their cuisine is worse than the British used to be.  When I lived in Prague , the local newspaper reported that the average Czech ate vegetables once a week on Sunday whether he needed them or not….)  The building once hosted Peter the Great, so it dates back to the mid-1700's.  I bet it has ghosts; that's why the flat is so cheap.  I'm packing my Holy Sepulcher-blessed oil, just in case I need to exorcise the place before I can get some sleep….. So, a week of walking in the autumn forests in the morning – there is a huge mountain forest park abutting the town – and the spas in the afternoon for hot springs and massage etc., and classical music in the evening.  For a solid week.  That's like going to heaven as far as I'm concerned. Back in Prague I have my third and final interview for membership in the Society of Friends (Quakers).  There is a Quaker Meeting (congregation) in Prague and the International Membership Committee arranged to have the elders interview me.  I passed the first two so I'm not worried about this; the process is interesting.  No wonder the Quakers have remained a small group; it isn't easy to become a member and they don't proselytize. What else.  My Dutch student has finished his work with me for this year and moves on to doing some analytical work for Ramat HaNadiv Park on Mt. Carmel during the next two months.  I read his thesis report and he did okay, despite getting confused at times.  It's not easy, throwing an M.Sc. student into the middle of a professional project, which is like tossing him in the deep water on his first swim.   I just survived writing our 18 month report and getting our project budget balanced for reporting to Brussels (ugh; all 17 pages of report and 8 pages of budget).  From previous experience with the gnomes of Brussels , this has to be absolutely correct; they once sent a budget report back to me because of a balance sheet discrepancy of half a euro.  Seriously. Home news, not much.  My head has been too deep in my computer these last weeks.  Pity, because the weather has been cooler than usual in August (or I'm getting old and tolerate the heat better).  I had a bad scare this week when Hercules, my diabetic cat, disappeared for a day.  I found him yesterday, limping with a swollen left rear leg.  The vet says either he had a bad fall (not likely) or was grazed by a car (quite likely).  A security perimeter road goes right past my house, and even though we don't' have through traffic; people take shortcuts on it driving way too fast.  I'm going to post some warning signs (speeders will be shot and then dissected?) and see if it helps.  If it doesn't, I'll just start chucking gravel at them when I catch them speeding past.  Tried it once and it seems to work, but I have to catch them at it. That's about all for now.  Back after my trip abroad. Shabbat shalom, Linda