Saturday March 17

Tried to call Amanda again. I must have tried a dozen times, only actually getting through the morning of the explosion, to leave a message. I would really like to talk to my wife.

I gave the snowmelt lecture this morning. I think the fact that I don’t know much about snow melt may have actually helped the situation. It was a pretty straightforward lecture and I feel like I had their attentions the whole time. They are interested in the lectures, particularly the fundamental and practical ones…but what they really want is workshops. They want to understand and master the tool. Some will repeat a step of the workshop up to 10 times until they have mastered it. Others practiced the workshops on their day off. They are working really hard. Unfortunately, their basic computer skills (navigating an ‘open’ editor and especially typing) are an obstacle to effective use of the program. But I think they are understanding most of the content.

As we were leaving the ministry to go to our car a man got out of a Mercedes with an automatic weapon. We had seen lots of automatic weapons since we got here, but they were always protecting a US compound. I had no idea who this guy was, what qualified him to carry an automatic weapon nor what he intended to do with it. It was a little awkward.

Tomorrow is the last class for hydrology. Unsurprisingly, they asked me to go through the workshops in the morning, showing them one more time, how to do them step by step. Then in the afternoon we will have a couple special interest lectures (sediment and GIS, which they specifically requested). Then, right away, on Monday, I start hydraulics alone. I am sweating my 4 introductory lectures on day 1. They are thick with theory and it is nice to have someone else give half the lectures so I can review…not to mention that lecturing wears me out. But I made this choice to teach the hydraulic class without a co-teacher, so its time to man up and take it on. One of the benefits of lecturing with a translator is that you get to review the next slides and form the flow of your discussion in the time that the translator talks (usually longer than you talked). It gives you a couple of minutes to plan the way the next couple minutes will go. Another interesting detail about teaching with a translator. I’m not sure I’ve ever gotten board during my own lecture before, but it has happened here.

My translator came in and asked me a question about his snow melt problem before the class started. It was cool that an advanced engineer like him would be interested in my opinion.

One of the professors commented on how the schedule we were keeping was sustainable because of our youth. We asked him how old he thought we were…he said 24 (John) and 20 (me)…he was only off by over a decade for both. A couple things about this. One, it is not uncommon to be age underestimated in the hard environs of a country like this. People just look older sooner. But also, it astounds me that these people would sit attentively under the teaching of a practical teenager. If they think I have scarcely finished undergrad, they must either have been disappointed, impressed and/or desperate for training. I wish I knew all this at 20.

It was Mongolian night at the CAFÉ (which is funny because it is St Patrick’s day). It was really good though. They had two wok chefs making Mongolian stir fry. There was a long line but we got there early. I ate a lot and got picked on…but I just had apple jacks for lunch so I didn’t feel that bad. And we went to the gym again. I’m getting stronger. I hope I’m ready to run with John and Jason when I get back.

I got on Amazon and bought tubo tax so I am ready to go when I get home. I also got two historical atlases on the Middle East. I am really enjoying the History of the Middle East that I am reading, but the only hope of retaining any of it is to look at maps of the successive conquests and empires. Like the 36 hour class I listened to on the crusades. I have minimal retention…but if I had a series of maps (and I did see one on the crusades) I think I would remember it much better.

This morning, the electricity in our room went off for the first hour and a half. It does that periodically. Fortunately, we were doing the snowmelt lecture and not a workshop. I think that might be another reason the lecture went well. I had to slowly draw out every figure and could not just point to a slide quickly.