I'm pretty much resigned to the fact that while I'm on the road I just come off like a big stupid american. I embrace being a new yorker and being big and brash and in people's faces - its a cultural thing, and I just can't try to surpress it. I do, however, try to minimize intentionally offending people and I'm not really fond of unintentionally offending people either, though I'm resigned to the fact that its just going to happen.

Two weeks ago I was in Antalya, Turkey doing a training for HIV/AIDS activists from Central Asia and Africa. Imagine my horror when in the middle of doing a presentation, I was corrected by a young Pakistani woman for using the term, "kyrgys" to refer to the delegates from Kyrgystan. She said this was on a par of calling people from her country "pakis". I was pretty horrified that I had offended this group of participants who also didn't speak english (we had translators), an additional barrier of getting friendlier with them.

Ok, there really isn't much I don't like about being queer. Sure, occasionally there's some fucked up homophobe I have to deal with, particularly when I have a job that takes me to many different lands where I get engulfed in many different cultures. But the cool thing about being gay with this job is that its kind of like belonging to a secret club and you can meet members of this club no matter where you go in the world.

Case in point is this last weekend in Istanbul, which is a pretty typical example of how a gay person can land in a place and get connected pretty quickly to local folks who can give you a very different understanding of what the local life/customs/culture is really like.

To think I'm landed in Chiang Mai exactly one week ago and I couldn't wait for the week to end. Now I'm sorry that Friday has arrived and I only have one day left of sessions and shouting "skillshare!" when ever the mood takes me. I've learned a lot this week, mostly from the participants but then quite a bit from my fellow-facilitator's as well. A bit of what I know about doing training has been reinforced - those things being:

- You can never be overprepared.
- You should be ready to through whatever you've prepared out the window and do what you're gut tells you to do.
- Be flexible

I've always said, "everything I've ever learned about doing trainings, I've learned from Arif Mamdani." Arif has just posted some excellent words of wisdom about approaching trainings prior to his experience with Progressive Technology Project's Tech Camp.

Check out:
http://www.progressivetech.org/blog/arif/archives/2006/08/21/techcamp-learnings-big-and-small/

I'm in Thailand for a training. I can't tell you who we're training (cause then I'd have to kill you). But, I must say, after doing trainings now in India, Africa, Central Asia - Thailand is pretty nice. The food is great and I've got a great set of trainers. The participants are unbelievable: dedicated and thoughtful. The real plus though? Having computer equipment that is rented and if it doesn't work (or the Internet), it's somebody else's problem. My god, you mean I can just focus on the sessions? Priceless.

Ok, the pool is really nice too.

Now and then I listen to podcasts. I don't really get a chance to listen to the radio that much. I have a few select podcasts picked out, like NPR's On The Media, that automatically download to my iPod. I pretty much just listen to them when I'm in transit (planes, trains and the occasional automobile).

So Imagine my surprise when I'm travelling on the LIRR this week to hear my friend Alaa's voice in my headphone's talking about his recent imprisonment and the treatment of Egyptian bloggers on PRI's The World: Technology pocast. It's a pretty decent piece and also has a snippet or two of his wife Menal.

Yes, I listen to podcasts, now and then. I don't really get a chance to listen to the radis. I have a few select podcasts picked out, like NPR's On The Media, that automatically download to my iPod. I pretty much just listen to them when I'm in transit (planes, trains and the occasional automobile).

So Imagine my surprise when I'm travelling on the LIRR this week to hear my friend Alaa's voice in my headphone's talking about his recent imprisonment and the treatment of Egyptian bloggers on PRI's The World: Technology pocast. It's a pretty decent piece and also has a snippet or two of his wife Menal.

[img_assist|nid=13|title=31celsius|desc=|link=none|align=right|width=480|height=360]
It was freaking 31 celsius which is 85 Fahrenheit in Moscow on this day. My colleague, Dmitri and I were walking through Christye Purty (SIC?) a park that rings around central moscow. We were approached by this girl in a santa's helper outfit who said she wanted us to pull her on her sled. Dmitri's a sucker for pretty russian girls and I just thought she was insane and needed to be humored.

Turns out we were being filmed. Probably going to end up on some Russian Candid Camera show.

Its taken me awhile to figure out how to write about the imprisonment of my colleague and friend Alaa Seif al-Islam. I learned of his arrest the day after it happened and prayed that he would be release soon. News came quickly that he would be jailed for about 15 days. He still hasn't been released and there's no news of when he will actually get out.

More about Alaa and the campaign to free him can be read at http://freealaa.blogspot.com/ which includes articles printed about his arrest in the Washington Post and on PBS. There is a recent post from Alaa that discusses his time in prison. I found the last line the most telling, "Prison is fucking boring and I can't wait to be out." I think of all the horrors one can imagine that is probably the least but something horrendous to endure.

Traveling anywhere in the former Soviet Union always has a flavor of stepping into an alternate universe. Particularly if it involves air travel on any of the national airlines like AeroFlot, the flight attendants are downright surly, or Tajik air, you have to fight off your fellow passengers for a seat. But things are really strange in Moscow, where capitalism has returned with a vengeance. The most expensive department store in the world is on Red Square? Everything is done to the extreme here - must be a reflection of the winter.

Hotel CosmosAnyways, nothing could quite prepare me for the Hotel Cosmos (http://www.hotelcosmos.ru/ehom1.html) - a 1700 room hotel situated on the edge of Moscow. First off you're greeted at the entrance by an enormous statue of Charles De Gaulle. What that has to do with the cosmos is beyond me. But there he stands, with just a plaque with his name, in case you didn't recognize him and no other explanation (do you really need one?). Certainly someone was thinking outer space when they designed this thing. The lobby is an enormous labyrinth with hanging lamps representing moons, suns, and planets. The hallways have a decidedly space station feel along with the pod-like entry to the rooms. The rooms overlook what can only be described as a statue celebrating a rocket launch, which is actually part of the Russian Exhibition center across the street.