I didn't see any plaintive threads bemoaning my two-week absence, but rest assured I am fine after a two-week mission trip to Martin, Slovakia, where a group of us demolished the insides of the second-floor of a communist era building so that it can be remodeled into chemistry/physics lab space for the Lutheran high school there. if anyone here ever gets a chance to go behind the old Iron Curtain, especially to a smaller city, do it. Very illuminating. Soviet-style communism must have been one of the most mind-numbing political/economic systems ever hatched. Slovakia is kind of caught between the old and new, with a lot of the older generations still committed to retaining some measure of the pre-1989 system. It's more "Eastern looking" in mindset than is the Czech Republic. Millennial generation really wants to get the place in gear, so we'll see what happens.
Also spent a day-and-a-half in Krakow. Extremely interesting. Toured Auschwitz and Birkenau. After seeing that place, I urge no one in here to ever use the "Hitler" or "Nazi" analogy about our politics. It only trivializes the absolute evil that existed there.
I've got a bunch of pics (well, actually some other group members took them and allowed me to download their files). I'll try to get them up in the next week.
Reply With Quote
Originally Posted by The Don
