Well I lost my group and so found a nice little spot to read and post here in the Munich airport. Nice airport. Very
clean. Very efficient. I do have to say that it´s odd how the keyboards here are organized. The Y key is down where the
Z key should be and vice-versa, and a bunch of other keys are in places I´m not accustomed to. Anyone know why that
is?
Man, it seems like it´s been a long time since I´ve been to Europe. Last time was for a Czech wedding for a friend a
couple of years ago. Sure, it´s just the airport, but there is such a different vibe in Europe than the US. I got of
the plane this morning after my flight, arrived at 7 am German time, and everywhere I looked people were drinking beer.
Business men all dressed up in natty suits are quaffing brewskis for breakfast. Me, I just ordered a coffee for $6.
Damn the weak dollar.
A couple I sat next to started to chat me up and I had a long, interesting conversation with them. They were Canadian,
but live in Turkey on the Aegean coast. The guy works for NATO and was explaining how NATO is taking over in the region
as the global cop. He said that after the NATO success in Bosnia people are turning more and more to NATO to help deal
with conflicts around the world. He said they´ve been poised to head to Darfur, but haven´t gotten the go ahead from
the Americans. He seemed a bit frustrated by the American commitment to deal with any issues but the ones that directly
face it. “America is all about terrorism right now,” he said. “They say that problems like genocide in Darfur are
important, but they don´t seem ready to commit anyone there because they are dealing with terrorism in the Arab world.
But these are the places that the next breed of terrorists will come from.” He and his wife had to skedaddle to catch
their plane and I found a nice Internet connection in the Lufthansa lounge. The TV screens here are all broadcasting
about the German election, which was so close that neither Gerhard Schroder nor the challenger Merkel can claim
victory.
I´m off to Yerevan in a few hours. A new country to add to the list!