PAUL BENJAMIN Writer, Editor, Supermodel

Next Year in Uzbekistan!

Sun, 08 Apr 2012 18:15:00 +0000

Hello, friends and a happy Passover/Easter/Pagan Spring to you all. How does one celebrate Passover in Uzbekistan? Well, this is my first one so I can't be sure how it's been done in previous years. However, I can tell you that we certainly had a great first one!

A group of the Jews and tangental Jews (those who aren't so religious or married into the Tribe or just spent many years assigned to Israel) from the American Embassy got together at the home of our Deputy Chief of Mission (2nd in command to the Ambassador) for the Seder dinner. For those who don't know much about Judaism, you may have heard of the Last Supper. That little dinner soiree of Jesus and his pals (and Judas) (and Mel Brooks as the waiter if you worship History of the World Part 1 like I do) was a Seder: the Passover religious service/dinner party. Essentially, we Jews get together to retell the story of how our ancestors escaped from Egypt thanks to Moses and his sea-parting super powers, during which tale we drink a lot of wine and then eat stuff on weird crackers.

I was going to post a pic of the group, then I remembered that we're not supposed to do that without everyone's permission due to security policies. You'll just have to content yourselves with a pic of me and my lovely bride.

Our delicious dinner spread included a Seder plate for each person rather than one big one at the center. The Seder plate has a variety of items that represent elements of the story of the Exodus from Egypt. You've got the green vegetable (usually celery or lettuce) to represent Spring (I have no idea what they do in the Southern hemisphere where this holiday is celebrated when it's not Spring) while the salt water you dip it in represents the tears our ancestors cried as slaves. The bitter herb (horseradish) is for the bitterness of slavery while the egg is both a symbol of mourning from long ago and a symbol of rebirth.

Then there's the mixture of apples, wine and nuts that stands in for the mortar used to build the pyramids and the matzoh. The matzoh isn't just a big flat cracker, it's a reminder of the fact that when our ancestors fled, they didn't have time to let the bread rise. If you look at the pic to the right, you'll see the homemade matzoh from the DCM's cook. It's the best matzoh I've ever had! If you're keeping Passover and avoiding leavened break this week, I highly recommend finding a recipe online and making your own. Yum!

I don't have a photo of the matzoh ball soup or the gifelte fish, but I have to say that homemade gifelte fish is another tasty treat. Eating the stuff out of the jar is something that if you do it, it's grudgingly and only once a year. At least, that's my experience. The fish our host's cook made has been a delectable addition to the list of leftovers this year.

Below are the main courses. There's chicken with tzimmes (a mixture of sweet potatoes and dried fruits roasted with the meat), roasted lamb (not pictured), potatoes, spinach pie, and apple-matzoh kugel.

Mmmmm... homemade matzoh....

For dessert, we had Lisa's Passover Pecan Bars, which are exactly what they sound like only made with matzoh meal instead pastry crust. She also make the flourless chocolate cake dubbed "Jace's Cake" many years ago when it became the favorite of one of our friends in Los Angeles with whom we regularly shared Seder.

And finally, one of our friends from the embassy make Chocolate Crispy Cookies! You may recognize these as the crispy-on-the-outside/gooey-on-the-inside cookies available at Central Market stores all over Texas. Lisa searched for this recipe for years before finally stumbling across an excellent one in the New York Times Jewish Cookbook. Our friend's came out perfectly!

As always, the Seder ended with the traditional prayer that next year we Jews might all be gathered together in the holy land, "Next year in Jerusalem!"

Only we know how long our tour will be, so for us, it's "Next year in Uzbekistan!"

THAILAND THAT I LOVE - part 3

Sat, 10 Mar 2012 16:10:00 +0000

Here we go, yet another post catching up on our recent vacation to Thailand. Things have been slow here in Tashkent since we returned. We've just been working and hibernating in the cold weather. It's threatened to be Spring here with a few sunny days but then Winter resurfaces. It's snowing in a massive whirlwind out there right now, looking like the inside of one of those tubes filled with a cyclone of cash swirling around on certain gameshows. I'm pretty sure Loki cracked open the Cask of Ancient Winters on us.

My Russian studies have continued at the embassy, reminding me of this awesome sign from a Russian bar in Khao Lak, featuring Russia's famous Kalashnikov assault rifle. For you non-Russian speakers, it says:

Russkie Bar

RESTORAN

Informatsea

(all of which means exactly what you think it means)

I took a few pics on the streets near our Khao Lak hotel. One of my favorite landmarks was the statues and shrines featuring a big, D&D style Gold Dragon and a couple of attack cats.

Of course, we didn't just stay in Khao Lak the entire time. We also went on an overnight trip to Khao Sok National Park. If you ever get the chance to visit Thailand, make this part of your trip!! I can't recommend it enough. This park in Southern Thailand is one of the most beautiful places on Earth.

Khao Sok features an enormous lake that was created when a dam was set up to provide hydroelectic power. The damming flooded the valley, making for some jaw-dropping views. We took a van on winding roads to reach the lake, then jumped onto this longtail boat.

Even our fancy new camera could only capture a fraction of the natural beauty of this place. Imagine riding on a longtail, the misty breeze in your face as you skip across the water, the lake opening up before you. Treetops jut up from the flooded valley floor, their long trunks visible for several meters beneath the surface as you zip past.

The mountains here jut up from the water in sudden bursts. At one point, we went between two massive mountains, the water flowing between them. Several people said at the same moment exactly what I was thinking: "It's like the Gates of Argonath on the River Anduin!"

Okay, what they really said was, "It's like that river with the big statues on either side from Lord of the Rings!" because they're not big LOTR geeks like me. Still, it was so impressive I had to look with my actual eyes instead of the camera.

As we continued on, there were many gorgeous sights.

Then we reached our cabins! Each cabin is made of bamboo and they all rest side-by-side on bamboo rafts, floating right on the lake. For those who are wondering, there were also bathrooms on the shore at either side.

Of course, we weren't the only ones in our cabin. We also had a little visitor, seen here on the windowsill. We also had a lovely porch for relaxing in the breeze and drying our wet clothes.

Here's a view of the longtail boat where it docked with the cabin's dining hall, plus a view of the fish swimming beneath our floating accomodations.

A third our group of around ten spent our first day kayaking near the cabins while the others went scuba diving in the lake. Later that day, we all got together for a little trip. It started with a hike through the tropical jungle on the mountainside until we reached a nearby village and hopped on board a bamboo raft.

Here's a shot of me and Lisa on our raft ride. I'm wearing my Camelbak water backpack for the first time, an excellent purchase for our travels (plus drinking from the tube makes me feel like a Fremen in a stillsuit from Dune).

Soon enough, our bamboo raft approached its destination: a mountainside cave.

Outside the cave was a small shrine. We waited there a while with our friend Noelle from L.A. and her mom, both on the trip for some scuba diving fun. Noelle is the one we went to Thailand to visit and we had a fabulous time hanging with her whenever she wasn't out being a dive master.

We took a few shots inside the cave, but it was difficult to figure out how to do it properly, using the flash in near absolute darkness where our only light came from a guide with a flourscent bulb jury-rigged into a handheld lantern. We saw no sign of D&D style Piercers though there were some normal stalactites hanging from the ceiling. The cave formations were all pretty incredible. It almost made me want to run through the caves fleeing rom murderers like in Jeff Parker and Steve Lieber's creator-owned graphic novel Underground.

The next day was another day of perfect weather. Aah, what a gorgeous view to wake up to when stepping out onto your porch in the morning!

While others went for more scuba, we went kayaking over to the Cliffs of Insanity (aka, tall cliffs that reminded us of the ones in The Princess Bride).

At the Cliffs of Insanity, we decided to do some climbing. We didn't get quite as high up as Fezzik or Westley, but it was fun to some climbing and diving.

Ready? Action shot!!

And that, my friends, is sequential storytelling.

My lovely bride also did some diving. Here are my two favorite pics from the trip, each featuring a different beauty.

After Khao Sok, we returned to Khao Lak. We never did make it out to one South Thailand destination: James Bond Island (aka Ko Tapu). From what I've heard, while the island is quite lovely, it's something of an undewhelming tourist trap, made a little too famous by its appearance in 1974's "The Man With the Golden Gun." I felt like I was really going to disappoint my pal Alan Porter, author of The History of the Illustrated 007 by skipping this one. Sorry, Alan!

Unfortunately, because we had originally planned on spending only a week in Khao Lak, we had to book new rooms for our second week. Prices had gone up for rooms at our original hotel, the Bhandari, and its sister hotel, the Oriental. However, Lisa found a website with rooms at the original price. After booking them we discovered that the website was selling rooms that were no longer avaiable. As a result, the folks at our hotel told us they would have to put us in the Bhandari one night, the Oriental another, and then in a hotel down the street for our third night. To make up for this, they provided vouchers for each of us to enjoy free dinner at the hotel each night and a free massage each day! How's that for customer service?

Well, upon our return from Khao Sok, they managed to find room for us at the Bhandari for our first two nights, which was very nice. The room was lovely and we didn't have to move every day. On that third night though, we had to suffer hopping in the hotel van to drive five minutes down the road to the other hotel...

...Where they put us in a beachfront bungalow! This was the view from our deck.

Yeah, it's a rough life.

THAILAND THAT I LOVE - part 2

Thu, 16 Feb 2012 15:40:00 +0000

Now for more about our trip to Thailand!

One day while out walking in our neighborhood, we saw a sign advertising cooking classes. We walked up a side road to the Sunflower Bungalows where we discovered lovely grounds and a class in progress. Cooking in the outdoor kitchen looked like fun and the food smelled delicious, so we signed up for the next day. That next morning, the cooking class instructor/owner of the Sunflower arrived with our limosine.

Okay, it wasn't actually a limo. It was one of these. I don't even know what to call it. It's a motorcycle with a covered sidecar platform attached so that two passengers can ride in comfort. It's not safe, of course, not by a longshot. But I suppose it's safer than all the families I saw with parents on the scooter or motorcycle with their kids on their laps.

Once we'd selected our menu of three items from the twenty or so recipes, our hostess took us to the local market to buy fresh ingredients for our class. In some ways, it looked a lot like the bazaars in Tashkent.

Other things were different too. There was a whole lot more meat available. Much of it was unrefigerated but since we didn't get sick from any of our meals in Thailand, I'm going to assume that turnover is speedy enough to present few widespread health problems.

The birdlegs on the left cracked me up, looking like Baba Yaga's Hut had been turned upside down in a tornado (hello geek/folk tale reference). On the right is a basket of ginger root. I learned that if you bury ginger root it will continue to grow, so one piece can last a long time (assuming your dogs don't dig it up out of your yard before you do).

We also got to see the "assembly line" for the market's coconut milk. Essentially, one dude uses a knife to hack away at the outside of the coconut to peel it, then another guy chops them open and pours the milk into a big bucket. One thing's for sure: it doesn't get any fresher than this!

Ingredients in hand, we headed back to the Sunflower Bungalows for our class. The kitchen is beside a lush garden. Here you can catch a peek of their shrine.

We got to work prepping our ingredients. I peeled and sliced ginger then scored the squid for cooking. Now I know how to make that crisscross pattern on squid and octopus meat. That's sure to come in handy in double-landlocked Uzbekistan. As I finished prepping, Lisa started cooking.

Eventually we had all of our dishes on the stove in various stages of cooking and I was able to pitch in as well. The smells of garlic, ginger, and peppers were electrifying!

Our dishes included:

Stir-fried Chicken with Ginger

Thai Spicy Seafood Vermicelli Salad (Yum Woon Sen)

Stir-fried Rice Noodle (Phad Thai)

Steamed Fish with Lemon

Massaman Curry with Chicken

Here's a few close ups of the Steamed Fish with Lemon and the Stir-Fried Chicken with Ginger. Extra points if you can guess which is which...

Finally, when it was all done, we set it out on the table and prepared to dig in. The Massaman Curry and Seafood Vermicelli salad were the definite winners. Every dish was delectible, but those two definitely stood out.

Of course, this was way too much food for just the two of us and we were in a hotel with no storage for leftovers. That means whatever we didn't eat became a snack for the Sunflower's guests. We just might have to stay at the Sunflower next time so that we can enjoy cooking class leftovers ourselves!

To be continued...

THAILAND THAT I LOVE - part 1

Sat, 11 Feb 2012 16:10:00 +0000

As I begin writing this first post, I’m sitting on the porch of my beachfront bungalow, looking out at the Indian Ocean, the froth tinged pink with sunset. We didn’t plan to have a beachfront bungalow. Never even made a reservation at one. And yet here I sit.

This was my view as I started this post.

The story of the beachfront bungalow will come in a later post. This first one is the beginning of our journey and all about the first few days in Thailand. For those of you thinking about visiting, I’ll tell you all about flying to Thailand (from Uzbekistan), where we stayed, and what we did. For those of you who may never visit, hopefully you’ll be entertained and enjoy reading about the fun side of the Foreign Service: travel to exotic lands we may not have reached from the States.

Getting to Bangkok isn’t cheap but it’s relatively easy. There’s a direct flight from Tashkent to Bangkok on Uzbekistan Airlines. The tough part is finding a seat. The flight starts in Tel Aviv and most of the seats are booked well in advance. We’d heard this was a rowdy flight and weren’t disappointed. There were folks passing big bottles of liquor back and forth in the aisles. At least, that’s what Lisa tells me. I slept through most of the six-hour flight.

This view (or something like it) was what we saw as we approached Thailand.

Once in Bangkok, we grabbed our bags from customs and jumped on an Air Asia flight (the local version of Southwest Airlines) to Phuket, down in the South. From Phuket we took a cab to our destination on the far southern peninsula of Thailand: Khao Lak. In the cab, by the way, was the last time we saw Lisa’s cell phone that we bought in Vienna. I called the cab driver but he claimed he never found it. I’m glad we bought cheaper cell phones instead of splurging on $600 unlocked iPhones. Losing a 75 Euro phone sucks, but it’s not the end of the world.

We’d booked rooms for a week at the Hotel Bhandari in Khao Lak, just a block or two from the beach. The Bhandari is easily a four star resort. It’s the kind of place we would never afford in Hawaii, but in Thailand it ran $100/night. That’s not cheap in a place where you can find a nice hotel away from the beach for $50/night (or less if you're on a backpacker's budget), but it’s a steal compared to its equivalent anywhere in the states.

Upon arrival, we learned that they didn’t actually have rooms available at the Bhandari and had to put us next door at their connected-and-facilities-sharing hotel: The Oriental. In exchange for this “inconvenience” (the room was lovely) they were giving us a poolside room, free dinner for two at the hotel restaurant, two free aromatherapy massages at the hotel’s spa, and use of the pool as well as breakfast at either the Bhandari or the Oriental. It’s so nice to be in a country that puts a high value on customer service.

Here are some pics of the Bhandari and Oriental grounds.

We spent one afternoon under this palapa beside a pond full of lilies. It was sunny then it poured rain for a while. After the storm I put down my book to watch the frogs and bugs living their lives in the pond.

When you arrive at the spa, you sit on the porch below and have some cool, minty tea. The pic on the right is the view from the other side of the spa's porch. After your massage you sit again for a cup of hot ginger tea. When they brew it strong enough, burns the back of your throat just right. Plus: hydration!

Our first day in Thailand consisted of lots of laying by the pool and/or beach, drinking coconut drinks (often served inside a coconut so we could eat the coconut meat after drinking the refreshing beverage within), getting a massage (on the beach or at the spa), heading inside or under cover for an hour or so during a warm rainstorm, and eating delicious Thai food. Lisa vowed to eat seafood at every single meal and nearly succeeded in doing so.

Cold, fruity drinks at the Oriental pool.

Below left: the pool at the Oriental. Below right: the really, really, really big pool a block away.

It also bears mentioning just how affordable it is to eat, drink and be massaged in Thailand. Pool or beachside tropical beverages (in or out of coconuts) ran around $2 each. Main dishes at a food stand were around $3 (maybe $6 at a restaurant), and massages were either $9 on the beach or $18 at the fancy hotel spa. We got massages all but 3 of the days we were there, though many of them were free. More on the free massages in a future post.

Here's a typical massage set up on the beach. The prices here may be outdated, as from what we saw the oil massages were 100 Baht more than others. 300 B is around $9 U.S. In this case, I was on the end of the tents with an unobstructed view of the ocean. It was as perfect as you'd think.

And finally, here's a typical beach in Khao Lak. In some areas the surf was rocky but in others it was smooth as silk. Though there are plenty of sections of beach chairs that are for a specific resorts' guests only, there are plenty of others connected to restaurants or bars. Grab a beach chair, order a coconut full of rum, have some pad thai and enjoy the view.

To be continued…

Marvel Heroes - The Story So Far

Thu, 05 Jan 2012 05:10:00 +0000

I talk a lot in my blog about my life as a U.S. Foreign Service spouse living in Uzbekistan. I don't tend to write a lot about my career in comics and video games. That's because half the time I'm not allowed to talk about the things I'm working on. You see, most entertainment project contracts include some form of non-disclosure agreement. Whether the project is a big deal or a small one, the publisher likes to maintain control over what information is released when. In today's Internet culture where a film that costs 100+ million dollars can be spoiled by anybody who sneaks a cell phone onto the set, it's an understandable concern.

That said, I thought it would be fun to talk a little about a recent project. It's called Marvel Heroes and it's the upcoming MMO (Massively Multiplayer Online) based on the Marvel Comics characters. I wrote in-game voice over dialog for some of the heroes and/or villians appearing in the game.

That's just about all I can say. See what I mean? That doesn't make for much of a blog entry. However, even though I don't know when the game will be released, can't answer any questions, and won't speculate based on what I do know, I can still tell you about what's been officially announced.

So far, a few of the game's characters have been made public, along with their character designs.

Here are two of Marvel's most fun-filled characters, both of whom I've written on previous projects. I've done Spidey here and there in comics and games. Deadpool, the "merc with a mouth" is Spidey's equal in the smart-mouth category. I wrote his lines in a Wolverine video game. These guys are a blast to write because they say all the sarcastic things I'd think but never actually let slip in a polite conversation. I guess if you're wearing a mask you can get away with it. Having super powers probably helps.

Here's one of my favorite comics characters of all time. Ben Grimm, aka the Thing is a rough-around-the-edges blue collar type despite years of living in what is probably the most expensive real estate in Manhattan. Writing a fight between this Fantastic Four strongman and the Incredible Hulk was a highlight in my career.

This next guy, the one with the white hair, robot arm and big gun is Cable. I don't think I've ever written Cable, though I may have written about him back when I worked on the Wolverine Encyclopedia. In a genre where character backstories can get complicated, Cable's history should win a prize for being the most tangled web. You seriously need a flowchart for this one. Here's a taste: Cyclops of the X-Men married Madelyne Pryor who looked just like his (at the time) dead ex-girlfriend Jean Grey, aka Phoenix. Madelyn and Cyclops had a baby named Nathan who got infected with a virus that was turning him into a robot. To save Nathan, they sent him into the future with a stranger who claimed she could cure him.

In the future, Nathan's saviors used some of his as-yet-uninfected flesh to clone him so that there would be a version of him without the virus. That clone was kidnapped by bad guys and grew up to be a villain called Stryfe. Nathan was raised by a couple called Slym and Redd. He didn't know it, but Slym was actually the mind of Cyclops projected into a different body in the future so that he could raise his son. Redd was Jean Grey, now back to life and spending time with Cyclops after his wife turned into a super-villain and died. Nathan grew up and became Cable: a freedom fighter in the future, battling his clone Stryfe and assorted threats. Once he was old enough to have white hair, presumably older than Cyclops in the "present day" of Marvel comics, Cable travelled back in time and started hanging out with the X-Men, including Cyclops, his dad, now younger than Cable himself.

Seriously. I couldn't make this stuff up. Okay, actually, I can. And do. And get paid for it. Which is pretty damned awesome.

As the Marvel Heroes MMO team reveals new character art, they've started with silhouettes of the characters to tease the audience before revealing the actual designs. This is a perfect example of what designers call the "silhouette test." Basically, if you want to design a unique, easily-identifiable character, you should be able to figure out who you're looking at just by seeing their outline in shadow. Here's Canada's most prominent hero, Wolverine.

Pretty obvious, eh?

I've never written Marvel's version of Thor, but my own version of him announces high school sports games in my Pantheon High manga graphic novels. Still, even when it's just an outilne, you can't miss the Norse god of thunder!

And finally, America's super soldier, Captain America. I've been enjoying watching the movie in English and in Russian to practice my language skills.

So, turns out I have a lot to say about comics and video games, even when I'm not yet at liberty to reveal any details.

In the meantime, if you want to follow news about the game as the latest details are released, click on this link:

MMM Society

Or go here, to the home of the game's developer, Gazillion Entertainment:

Happy 2012 and Flashback 2011: Secretary Clinton

Sun, 01 Jan 2012 10:55:00 +0000

Merry New Year!! Beef Jerky time!

If you don't get that reference, then you haven't seen Trading Places often enough. Go watch it while the holidays are still fresh. You'll thank me later.

In the meantime, I'm looking forward to what I hope will be an incredible new year and I wish the same for all of my readers. I'd been feeling like I hadn't accomplished much in 2011 until I wrote a Facebook post and realized just how much I'd done. This year I learned to speak Russian (some), moved to Uzbekistan, traveled to Algiers, Vienna and Prague, did cool things in comics (Spider-Man) and in video games (Star Wars and Marvel MMOs) and shared the adventure, as always, with the incredible Lisa Goodgame. I'll be doing my best to top that in 2012!

On the professional side, I'm hoping that my time in 2011 was well spent. I'm nearly finished with a 140-page graphic novel that I've written on spec. That is, I wrote it speculatively, hoping that I'll be able to find an artist and publisher once it's ready. I'll be sending it to a few trusted individuals for notes in the next few weeks and then after tweaking I'll give it to an agent for consideration. I'm also on page 145 of a graphic novel I've been writing using the "page a day" method. I write one page every day, never more, never less. That guarantees some kind of progress on a project that might not get done otherwise. Once I bring that extremely rough draft to a conclusion, I'll set it aside for a time and then come back to it so that I can see what, if anything, I can salvage to then write an actual script.

I also just wrote an 8-page short story for a secret project that could lead to some work-for-hire freelance work. Plus I'm editing an indy comic called Forgotten City about which you'll be hearing more in the coming days. There's a few other projects on the horizon as well, but nothing solid enough to mention here just yet.

On the personal side, we're currently planning a trip to Thailand in mid-January so that we can visit our good friend Noelle from our L.A. days and in July we're planning to take an R&R in the U.S., probably starting with San Diego so that I can swing by Comic Con. I'm also hoping for a visit from my mom and some of her friends, and maybe one of my cousins as well. Beyond that, who knows where Lisa and I will end up going?Given their proximity and realtively easy/less expensive flight options, hopefully we'll pop over to Russia, India and Turkey this year. That is, if Lisa can get away from work. Which brings us to...

FLASHBACK 2011

From time to time I'll be writing entries under the above title so that I can fill in some missing gaps in my tales of 2011, such as Halloween in Tashkent, our first Marine Ball, and more on our trips to Vienna and Prague. For now, here's a tidbit I call:

SECRETARY'S DAY (MORE LIKE TWO WEEKS)

When Lisa and her colleagues learned that Secretary of State Clinton would be visiting Tashkent back in October, it set off a flurry of activity. Many Foreign Service folks told us that Tashkent would be a realatively quiet post, but that hasn't been the case at all. Tashkent has been getting a lot of attention from Washington lately and with the current troubles in Pakistan shutting down American routes in and out of Afghanistan, Uzbekistan's overland route has become more important than ever. Add to that attempts to improve our relationship in terms of fighting drug trafficking, economic development and more, all while negotiating senstive political issues, and things won't be quieting down here anytime soon.

For several weeks in advance of the high-level visit, Lisa and everyone else at the embassy was working late to get ready. These visits take a lot of preparation. As the point person in charge of all of the Secretary's interactions with the media, Lisa had a lot of challenges. For example, she had to make sure the hotel had enough Internet bandwidth to handle all of the data feeds for Hillary to appear on a half a dozen different shows on every major U.S. cable news and network news station. I don't think there's a single T-1 line in all of Uzbekistan, so adding new Internet capabilities to the hotel on short notice was no small task.

Though Lisa was in the room with the Secretary for the entire interview session, because Hillary was a whirlwind of activity rushing into and out of the room before and after the interviews, Lisa never actually got an introduction. However, after the interviews, while Lisa continued dealing with the Press, Secretary Clinton swung by the embassy on her way to other meetings. After giving an eloquent speech, she came down the line (marked on the floor with tape) shaking hands. Here’s a shot of when we met, moments before she said, “Wow, you’re the Paul Benjamin! Will you autograph my copy of Pantheon High?” She then gave me a fist bump before moving on down the line. *

* It may not have happened exactly like that.

Happy New Year, everyone!!!

Christmas (Markets) in Vienna & Prague

Sun, 25 Dec 2011 04:55:00 +0000

I'm not actually in Europe over Christmas. I'm actually back in Tashkent where we got up early on Christmas day to do some Christmas Eve Skyping with the Christian side of Lisa's family plus a surprise bonus Skype with my brother. Christmas day here is just another Sunday in Uzbekistan, but we're going to have a traditional "Jewish Christmas" day with Chinese food and a movie. This will be our first visit to the Chinese restaurant where all the Chinese diplomats take their guests. It's supposed to be the best Chinese food in town.

In the spirit of the holiday, I figured I'd share some pics from our trip to Vienna and Prague. This was a work trip for Lisa, but we got to have some fun too. The beauty of both of these gorgeous European cities is enhanced by the holiday Christmas Markets, also known as Advent Markets. Streets are blocked off all over Vienna and to a lesser extent in Prague and filled with temporary shops selling all kinds of delicious street food, hot spiced wine, candies and pastries, Christmas decorations and other goods too varied to name.

The prettiest of the markets to my eye was in Prague at the town square in the Old City, over near the famous Astronomical Clock. There, angels blow pretty lights out of their magic trumpets.

The only thing more beautiful than Prague by day is Prague by night.

The markets are open during the day as well. Here's the place in the courtyard of Vienna's imperial palace where I had a juicy, literally mouth-wateringly good bratwurst.

Vienna also had plenty of places to satisfy even my ever-demanding sweet tooth! Mmmmm.... donuts....

We don't have a Christmas tree, or even a Hanukkah bush, but if we did, this would be the place to go for decorations you can't get at just a regular store.

One of the coolest things about the market was the fact that it was right in front of the Imerial palace. I could just imagine walking among the crowds hundreds of years ago, buying food and goods in the market while slaving away at the behest of some pretentious nobleman. Good times!

And, for all you Lego fans out there (especially @themightylayman) here's Lego Santa!

Merry Christmas and happy holidays, everyone!!

I Was a Diplomatic Housewife

Thu, 15 Dec 2011 16:25:00 +0000

Okay, I'll admit it. That Algeria post is a monster. That really should have been about four different posts. From now on, I'll endeavor to post shorter pieces with greater frequency.

That means you'll have to wait to see photos from Halloween, Thansgiving, and an Uzbek wedding, as well as pics from our recent trips to Vienna and Prague. Instead, I'm going to hit you with my first time as a diplomatic spouse in an official entertaining capacity.

Last night we had a party for local press at our home. Normally this would be done at Lisa's boss' house, but we have a better space for entertaining, so we invited around 75 Uzbeks over to our place. My diplomatic spouse responsibilities began around 11:30 AM as I tidied up the place. At 1 PM, one of Lisa's colleagues came by and dropped off all the food. She couldn't stay because there was another press conference she needed to run, so it was up to me to cut up shishkabobed meat into chunks, remove skewers from samsas (savory stuffed pastries), and cut up a bunch of loaves of the local, round lepyoshka bread. I left the bread for last thinking that would be easy, but after the drive over in frigid air, I needed Wolverine's adamantium claws to cut that stuff! (Next time I'm going to nuke each one for a few seconds before I get out the bread knife.) Later, a team from the embassy arrived with tables, plates, glasses and such. The set everything up and then Lisa and another colleague arrived to do the actual decorating. When 6 PM rolled around, we had a throng of reporters waiting outside the gate for security screening. Lisa and I opened the gate and it was like a teenager's party from a movie, where everyone arrives all at once. I shouted out one of my favorite Bill Murray lines from Stripes "A surprise party? For me? You guys!" It probably would've landed better if more of the reporters had seen Stripes. spoke English. Or, y'know, spoke English.

Here's a shot from before the crowd flooded in. I wonder what they thought about the video game plaques and my comic book covers hanging from the wall.

When I hear stories about diplomats' wives entertaining at their homes, I get a distinct image in my head of what that looks like. Sorry to disappoint, but I wasn't wearing a 1960s cocktail dress with my hair up in a beehive. I don't have any pics of myself at the party, so you're just going to have to take my word for it.

I do, however, have this photo of the official backdrop from the embassy, right next to my toy display case full of battling action figures.

I can't show pictures of the crowd since the embassy would have to get permission from each individual, but I can show the Ambassador making official remarks. I'm pretty sure this is the first time Galactus, devourer of worlds was involved in an official U.S. diplomatic event.

Yes, fellow geeks, that middle shelf is indeed a recreation of John Byrne's classic cover from Fantastic Four #243 with "Everyone versus Galactus!" The top shelf is Magneto and the X-Men fighting a giant Sentinel robot and the bottom shelf is a Lord of the Rings tableau.

After the press left, it was time to clean up. Those of you who favor budget cuts will be glad to know that there was no hired help to wash up afterwards. Even the Ambassador pitched in for the clean up effort. Thanks a lot, Congress!

To Algeria... and Beyond!

Mon, 21 Nov 2011 10:20:00 +0000

It’s been a while since my last entry. To some extent, I think I’ve had a mental block on blogging because I felt my post on the Algerian comics festival should be as big as the show was awesome. I’ve also been busy with writing and editing projects, not to mention my Russian studies. However, the biggest offender is probably Dragon Age: Origins (Cue gaming nerd alert). If you’ve never heard of it, Dragon Age is a video game by my former employer, Bioware. It’s a swords & magic role-playing game with an immersive storyline that can change in big ways depending on the choices you make in the game. It’s sort of a self-contained game of Dungeons & Dragons that you can play solo, with the computer controlling the personalities of your companion characters who fight by your side (and maybe betray you if you haven’t done enough stuff to make them steadfastly loyal). I started the game over a year ago, back when I was in Austin. I had to wait until all of my stuff got to Uzbekistan after being in storage the entire time I was in D.C. Now it’s here and most of my evenings after Lisa goes to bed have been consumed by dragon fire. Now that I’ve moved onto the Dragon Age: Awakenings expansion (in preparation for Dragon Age II – yes, I’m that far behind the franchise), I’m taking a break to finish my blogging.

Actually, that’s only partially true. The passage of time on my blog, like in the Doctor Who universe, is a wibbly-wobbly thing. I was actually finishing up my blog on Algiera while riding an overnight train back from a wedding near the Uzbekistan/Afghanistan border. That'll be a future post, I promise.

Now, onto Algeria. While it’s important to have a plan in life, I think I need to officially give up on guessing what comes next. If you'd told me a few years ago that I'd be living in Uzbekistan, I'd have thought you were crazier than Charlie Sheen hopped up on synthetic tigers blood (that would have been an extremely timely joke back when I started drafting this blog post)! As those who follow me on Twitter or Facebook may know, about a month and a half ago, I flew to Algiers for a comic book convention. Well, technically a “graphic novel” festival, but let's not split hairs. It’s called FIBDA! which stands for: Festival International de la Bande Dessinee d’Alger (or the Algerian International Graphic Novel Festival).

For those who know as little about Algeria as I did before I found out I was going, here’s a brief tutorial: Algeria is at the very northern tip of Africa built on hillsides along the Mediterranean Sea, right across from France. Because the French occupied Algeria for many years, there’s a love of big, hardcover graphic novels much like in France. The country became stable relatively recently after many years of civil strife and warfare and is now rebuilding many industries, including the Arts.

Moving to Tashkent was crazy enough, but I certainly never imagined the State Department would be flying me to Algiers to serve as a comic book diplomat – or, as one notable at the U.S. Embassy in Uzbekistan likes to call me – the “Arts Envoy.” It all started with a random link on the web. I was on a comic book news site when I noticed a picture of my Austin pal, comics author Matthew Sturges, the esteemed writer of graphic novels such as House of Mystery, Jack of Fables, and Doctor Who: a Fairytale Life, as well as the fantasy novels Midwinter and Office of Shadow. I clicked on the picture and watched a video interview where Matt talked about how he rediscovered comics as an adult, leading to a successful new career.

The video turned out to be part of a project started by comics and game writer Brandon Jerwa, author of (her comes the plug) many G.I. JOE comics, Battlestar Galactica comics, Highlander comics and more. Brandon recorded Matt and dozens of other comics professionals as part of his documentary on the business of comics: Untold Tales of the Comic Industry. At the time, Brandon was (it would turn out) just hours away from successfully raising money via kickstarter.com to fund the documentary. FYI, if you go to the website, you can still join me and hundreds of others with a donation to help defray the documentary's additional costs.

In reading about Brandon and his project, I saw an article from a year earlier about how Brandon and a few other American comics creators went to FIBDA! in 2010 as official representatives of the U.S. State Department. I emailed Brandon and reintroduced myself (we met around ten years ago when I was an editor at Humanoids), asking him to tell me more about this State Department grant bringing comics creators to represent the U.S. at international comics festivals. My hope was that I might be able to do something similar in Central Asia or Russia, perhaps somewhere like the Moscow comics convention. I was shocked when Brandon asked me if I'd like to join him at the show.

The answer was, of course, a thousand times yes. To make things even better, Brandon was already bringing along Steve Lieber and John Layman, friends I'd enjoyed hanging out with at many American comics conventions over the years. What's that? Did you ask where you might have heard their names before? Well, it just so happens I have another shameless plug for you!

Steve Lieber has illustrated countless comics characters including Superman, Batman, Hellboy and more. He’s also the artist of the incredible Arctic murder mystery/thriller graphic-novel-turned-movie Whiteout and the spelunking murder mystery/thriller Underground. The mighty John Layman is best known for his multiple award-winning comics series Chew (about a cannibal detective who gets clues by eating people – it’s a comedy) and the Godzilla: Gangsters & Goliaths series. Okay, enough with the plugs. If you buy comics, I hope you enjoy my friends’ books. Now back to the story.

There were no promises from Brandon, of course. We only had around fifteen workdays to get me approved by the State Department and the festival, secure plane tickets, and get me an Algerian travel visa. I might not be able to go at all. Still, Brandon figured he’d run it up the flagpole. It turns out that Brandon’s contact at the Algerian embassy was a friend from Lisa's intro to the Foreign Service class (her A-100 class, for those in the know) with whom I'd played pub trivia at an Irish pub in Arlington during training in D.C. She was immediately on board and had an easy time getting the State Department's approval given my body of work. I think it also helped that during my time at Humanoids I worked on many books and comics that were published in French, including my first published comic book story.

The fact that I already had a diplomatic passport was a huge bonus. Getting the visa for Algiers proved to be much easier than the five visits it took to the Special Issuance Agency in D.C. to get my Uzbek visa. Because this was official diplomatic travel, once I had filled out all of the grant application paperwork, the always-fabulous folks at the U.S. Embassy in Tashkent sent a driver with my diplomatic passport and paperwork over to the Algerian embassy in Tashkent and I got my visa in record time. With that in hand, the U.S. embassy in Algiers booked my flights and suddenly I was heading to Africa!

This being my first time traveling out of Tashkent, I’ll give you a little more detail on how that went then might give otherwise. Feel free to skip to the festival if you aren’t interested in the intricacies of travel from my difficult to reach post.

One of the reasons that Tashkent is considered a hardship post is because it's difficult to get flights in and out of the country. On this occasion, I was flying from Tashkent to Prague to Paris to Algiers. Because this trip was part of a State Department grant, I was traveling on diplomatic orders. That meant I was able to make use of a driver/expediter from the embassy and my diplomatic passport, which, I soon learned, makes all the difference in Uzbekistan. My expediter picked me up at my house in an embassy vehicle with diplomatic plates and drove me to airport. He went right past the line of cars waiting to enter the airport parking lot and waved at the policemen at the next gate over, pulling into the government/diplomatic parking right in front of the concourse. We then went through the VIP entrance (no red velvet rope or girls in miniskirts – it’s not that kind of VIP entrance) and proceeded to the security check to get into the airport. In the states, there is no security to enter the ticketing area of the airport like there is in many other countries, so this was a bit of a surprise. I handed my expediter my diplomatic passport and he set my suitcase on the X-ray belt while I did the same with my backpack, then the security guards waved us through the metal detector, though I still had all my stuff in my pockets. It beeped for both of us but nobody cared thanks to my magic passport. Note that my backpack contained 1) a full Camelback bottle full of water, 2) my iPad, and 3) my ziploc full of liquid containers. Any one of those would be a problem in the states' security, but either they only want to look for bombs or they waved us through because of my VIP status (I’ve since come to learn that this is often the case at the entry to the airport in many countries and may have had nothing to do with my dip passport. They don’t care about what’s in your pockets, only what’s in your bag).

Inside the airport, there was a large press of people in front of the ticket counters in what would best be described as amorphous almost-lines. Looking around, I began to worry about my luggage having unprotected sex. That is, many folks, presumably Uzbeks, had wrapped their luggage entirely in saran wrap. I wondered if they knew something I didn’t. If my suitcase met a nice duffel bag in transit, might it end up needing a shot of penicillin once we landed in Algiers?

We waited twenty minutes while a man in a red shirt tried to check in, presumably doing so for a group. As we waited, the lines slowly grew even less defined as people pushed forward to be next. Seeing this, my expediter took my passport and itinerary to the front while the man in the red shirt was still absorbing the ticket agent's attention. Clearly the diplomatic passport has power here, because the ticket agent quickly printed up my tickets and checked my bag all the way through to Algiers. I felt bad about cutting the line but my expediter said that's the way things work. When he saw everyone else looking to jam themselves to the front, he did the same thing.

Once we had my tickets, we went to the line for customs. More accurately, we walked right to the front of the line. Clearly that's just the way things work here because when he saw my dip passport, the agent took my customs form (which my expediter had filled out while I waited in the first line). At the customs window they took my passport for a minute and then I shook my expediter's hand, thanked him for his help and was on my way. I stepped through the customs gate, now on my own.

In the airport proper, I headed towards my gate. I discovered another security check and waited in line behind a family whose little girl had a pirated Mickey Mouse. No, not Mickey dressed as a pirate, but an unofficial Mickey with brown hair and a brown nose, rather than black. This security line scanned both my bags, still with all my liquids and iPad in the bag. I did have to take off my shoes and empty my pockets this time.

Inside the second stage of security, I walked down the long corridor, passing the young people who were hanging out in the glass smoking box with its door open, clearly missing the point of the enclosed box. There was no food past security, only duty free stores and a bar serving beverages, candy and cigarettes. I then waited at the gate until it was time to board the shuttle bus that would take us out onto the Tarmac where our plane awaited. I noticed a number of Israeli passports and people reading Hebrew books, so I guess Prague (my first destination) is a hub for travel to Israel, though I saw on the arrivals/departures board that there is a direct flight to Tel Aviv from Tashkent. The shuttle bus arrived and I followed advice you may remember from a previous post, waiting until I was the last one on so that I would be the first off and onto the plane.

The flight on Czech Air was quite nice, with a fair amount of legroom. A big man sat next to me in the middle seat and by dint of his size, automatically hogged the armrest. However, he then got a chance to sit with friends and moved, leaving an empty seat, always a bonus! Too bad Czech Air and Lufthansa are pulling out of Uzbekistan. It's going to make getting flights that much more difficult.

During the flight, I went to ask one of the flight attendants about the Prague airport. I had only 55 minutes to make my connection to Paris and reading the airport's website, it looked like getting from terminal 1 to terminal 2 required exiting the airport to get a shuttle. She assured me that I wouldn't need to exit, though I would need to go through passport control and a security screening. Though we'd taken off 40 minutes late, she said we'd be landing only 5 minutes late and that I should have enough time. This took a lot of weight off my mind. She then offered me tea, coffee, water... any beverage, asking me a few times to be sure I wasn't declining out of politeness. It was refreshing to speak with a flight attendant who was so friendly and clearly interested in doing whatever she could to make the flight more pleasant. In fact, when she came through with our last round of beverages, she assured me we were still only 5 minutes late and again encouraged me to drink something more than the water I requested. Maybe she was a Jewish mom or something.

As soon as we landed in Prague, I leapt up to deplane as quickly as possible. I zipped easily to first class where a different flight attendant stopped me. Apparently first class gets to deplane first, no matter what. I rushed to the ramp, asking people who were spread out across the jetway and plodding along (also known as "human cholesterol") to excuse me so that I could run by... only to discover that the jetway took a hard right to stairs down to where a shuttle waited to take me and all the slowpokes to the airport proper. I wanted to be this guy:

But instead was his lamest villain - The Turtle: Slowest Man Alive

Once in the terminal, I found my flight on the board and ran for the gate. I quickly discovered I would not have to leave the building after all. The two terminals were connected. I did have to go through customs control and security, but there were no lines at either one, so I made it to my gate with fifteen minutes to spare before boarding. That was just enough time to make use of the fifteen minutes of free wifi at the airport so I could check in with Lisa. My flight to Paris was short and sweet. The baby across the aisle cried some, but was extremely cute and expressive the rest of the flight, so I happily helped his mother play the "pick up the binky" game the few times he tossed his toy beneath my seat.

In Paris, I stopped at one of the PAUL bakery kiosks for a delicious apple tart from my namesake. In France, even the airport pastries are delicious. This one had a crunchy, flaky edge that managed to be chewy and crunchy at the same time due to the caramelized sugar infusing it. The center was sweet and juicy. Once near my gate, I found a cafe where I could charge my iPad and use another fifteen minutes of free wifi. I discovered Steve Lieber was on my Paris to Algiers flight and in the airport. He was no longer online, so after I finished my apricot and pistachio pastry (yes, my second dessert in an hour -that's just how I roll), I went off in search of Steve at our gate.

Sure enough, Steve was there, illustrating thumbnails (little tiny sketches) of comic book page layouts in the margins of a script. We chatted while waiting for our plane, and I quickly realized that Steve had not heard about my recent move to Uzbekistan. Once he found out, I was surprised when he asked me if I speak Russian in Russian! Turns out he, like Lisa, got into a better high school by joining the language program for Russian. Soon enough we were on the plane to Algiers, ready to really start our foreign adventure!

We arrived at our hotel...

...we were wary of the open elevator with so many of its workings visible to the naked eye. It turned out we were right to be concerned since Brandon got stuck between floors while rushing to catch his outbound plane after the festival was done.

Steve and I had dinner in the hotel’s restaurant, ordering off the menu. I had a decent dish of chicken with mustard sauce. Little did I know it was the best meal I’d have in the hotel all week. The next morning I headed downstairs for breakfast, hoping for a buffet of some local food. It turned out the hotel’s breakfast would consist of the same thing every day: three varieties of croissants, hard-boiled eggs, and, if you could get the waiters to go get it, some yogurt. That first morning, Steve and I were joined by Layman and international creators who would become our friends before the week was out. After breakfast we hung out in the hotel’s courtyard and enjoyed the perfect weather then took a walk to explore the area near the hotel while waiting for the festival to get officially underway.

Here I am outside an apparently famous post office near our hotel.

The inside of the post office is just gorgeous... as are my fellow comics creators.

From the left: French artist Rimka, John Layman, Steve Lieber, and Spain's "AJA" - Alberto Jimenez Alburquerque.

We also saw this monument to when the Mighty Layman conquered Algeria centuries ago.

In some ways, Algeria reminded me a lot of Uzbekistan with both places having Persian influences here and there. While the Uzbeks had much better trash collection and more modern buildings, both countries have tons of policemen on the streets. Unlike in Uzbekistan, the Algerian police sported machine guns, but I’m not sure if that should make me feel safer or not.

The festival itself was in a prestigious location at the top of a high hill overlooking the city, right at the base of the famous Monument of the Martyrs: a monument to the citizens who died freeing the country from French occupation.

Admission to the festival was free, a celebration of the Arts open to everyone. About half of the tents were gallery tents where comics art was displayed as if were hanging in a museum. Comics art doesn’t get that kind of respect at any American comics convention I’ve ever seen.

The show got started off with the usual fanfare, just like you see every year at San Diego Comic Con...

The bulk of my time at the show was spent hanging out with comics creators from Europe, Africa, and elsewhere, plus my friends from the states. I was already friends with John and Steve, but I got along famously with Brandon. Much of the interplay between us consisted of escalating cut downs and rude comments at each others’ expense. I felt right at home. We all talked comics with this international crowd thanks to help from various translators either from embassy or other multilingual creators. I met talented folks like AJA from Spain and Joumana Medlej from Lebanon and NATIVE from… well… Africa by way of New York and now Paris. Truly, there were too many talented folks to mention here, but if you read French, you can learn more at FIBDA’s website: FIBDA! You can also check out Joumana's Lebanese super hero webcomic here:

Malaak: Angel of Peace

One tradition at comics conventions is to carry a sketch book so that artists can do drawings for you while everyone is hanging out. I have a mythology themed sketch book full of gorgeous drawings from various shows, but I accidentally left it at home. However, I got plenty of sketches from the creators once I was able to find a story with a notebook. I gave the book to Steve Lieber at the airport to get a sketch from him and will post the sketches once Steve gets my sketch book back to me.

Speaking of Steve Lieber, he’s one of the most talented and personable comics professionals you’ll ever meet and a hell of a nice guy, not to mention hilarious. Must of Steve’s time was spent holding forth on art for other professionals and for locals. Steve talked technique and business. In fact, any aspiring pros out there (and some already in the biz) could benefit from reading his book The Complete Idiot’s Guide to Creating a Graphic Novel done in conjunction with comics author Nat Gertler. It’s an excellent reference for those looking to break into the business of comics.

Here's a pic of Steve holding forth while he does a sketch of a character from Whiteout. When asked why he always draws the same woman, Steve answered, "Because she holds still for me."

Mind you, the government didn’t just spend your tax dollars to send us to Algeria on vacation. We did a lot of press, from print to radio to television interviews, talking about American comics and showing our country’s support for improving international relations through a more unusual kind of diplomacy. We also taught kids about comics at an Algerian elementary school one day and at a center for underprivileged youth the next. Steve Lieber was the real star here, showing them drawing tips that turned every kid in the class into a budding cartoonist. Mind you, while most of the kids know about characters like Spider-Man and Batman from the movies (and even had things like Spidey pencil cases) many of them had never even heard of, much less read, a comic book. Here’s pics of us teaching plus the characters Steven drew as well as some art from the kids.

In one story idea, the kids made Brandon the bad guy. Here he is breathing fire on the hero's cloud home. Also pictured: after I showed the kiddos how to use a simple square to draw a Hulk head (about the best I can do), one boy created the heroic monster knowns as Five Heads. I wouldn't want to meet him in a dark alley.

We also had several opportunities to represent the U.S. to important Algerian officials. This was diplomatic representation at its best, with the Algerians asking us to help them rebuild the Arts in their country and us telling them what we’d been doing on this trip to help fulfill that mission. Brandon gave a particularly excellent response to one official, telling them how one of the school teachers planned to incorporate elements from Steve Lieber’s art presentation into their program. Brandon deserves special recognition for that one. We writers need constant validation, so I’m sure he’ll appreciate a little pat on the back.

While the festival and companionship couldn’t have been better, I’m sorry to report that the food at our hotel left a lot to be desired. The hotel served our group dinner, but it was basically the same food every night: some kind of oily soup with mystery meat, cous cous with sheep meat, and fruit for dessert. The fruit part was nice and I always took some to have with my breakfast the next day. However, we did have a delicious meal when we went out to lunch with embassy folks. It was a welcome change of pace.

The restaurant had an underground, cavelike entrance. Here you can see Steve and Brandon enjoying the soup and couscous dishes.

Unfortunately, when we went to an exclusive party that night at a fancy hotel, we had an identical meal for dinner. Both meals included a variation on the soup and couscous with meat, just of a higher quality. It turns out the fancy hotel is actually a building reserved specifically for housing and greeting special guests of the government. We didn't get an overnight stay, but the meal was certainly better than at our hotel.

We also got to spend some time playing tourist. We visited Bastion 23, a palace fortress at the edge of the Kasbah. The building features open air courtyards and views of the Mediterranean from the tiered rooftops designed so that defenders could fall back from one to the next, always maintaining the high ground.

I've heard that cannons can also help with defense.

Fires in the kitchen vented through the ceiling so that they could heat the roman baths on the higher floors.

Many ceilings were intricately painted and the top of the open air courtyards are as gorgeous from the roof as from below.

The surrounding neighborhood gives a hint of the streets and alleys of the Kasbah.

Next up was a trip to the Cathédrale Notre-Dame d'Afrique, commanding an astonishing view of the city of Algiers.

By the time we arrived, the cathedral was closed. Still, it's a gorgeous buidling and worth seeing.

It was also fun to see the four different football (soccer to you Americans) games that had sprung up around the edifice. I've never given much thought to why football is so popular around the world, but here it finally hit me. All you need is a ball and some stuff to mark off your goal posts and you're good to go! That is, so long as you don't kick the ball off the cliffside!

On the final day of the show, it was time to talk super heroes! The panel kicked off with a presentaion on super heroes created by countries all over the globe the segued to a Q&A session complete with translators to help us understand the questions and to translate our answers to the audience. It was an interesting panel because the questions were not like those at American comics conventions. At an American show, one might expect to expound on the upcoming events in the life of the Spider-Man. Here, people asked questions like, "When you write G.I. JOE, don't you worry that you're validating an international culture that idolizes war?"

At the festival’s final bash at L'Auberge du Moulin, we definitely got to eat something unique: Meshwee. After my previous meals, I was trepedatious. When I heard that Meshwee, which means, basically, “grilled food,” consists of a sheep grilled with a rabbit and frogs with pasta in place of the sheep's entrails, I was even more concerned. Then I found out that we were supposed to eat the meat by tearing it off the carcass with our hands. Anyone who’s been a professional at a comics convention knows that by the end of a show one has frequently contracted “con crud” of some kind due to late nights without sleep and shaking the germ-ridden hands of dozens and dozens and friends and fans. I was not looking forward to eating food touched by a hundred of those hands. I needn’t have feared. The meat was absolutely delicious! It was hot to the touch, moist, and practically melted on the tongue. In fact, it reminded me of some of the best brisket to be had back in Austin.

Here's the Meshwee, before and after (vegetarians beware):

One of the highlights of the party was talking with a beautiful young lesbian. Not just because she was a beautiful woman who shared my appreciation of beautiful women, but because her sexual orientation is banned in her home country. It takes a special kind of bravery to live in a place where one could be jailed or worse based one’s sexuality, but she claims no desire to move from the place she calls home. She’s young now, but I fear for her as the years go by and pressure to marry a man mounts. I wish her the very best!

After the show, it was time to head back to Tashkent. By the way, my travel from Tashkent to Algiers wasn’t even the longest. Steve's flights from Portland to Los Angeles to Paris to Algiers took 24 hours. John had layovers so long that he was able to go out for meals with a comics shop owner in Chicago and his Chew publisher in Paris (not that I have much sympathy there). Brandon won't want to be outdone and I'm sure he has a tale of how he had to sit on the wing or something. Well, flash forward to the end of our trip where we discovered at the airport that Steve's return ticket was actually purchased for the wrong day! Undaunted by this turn of events, Steve moved his flight to Paris up by a day then stayed overnight with our new friend from the show, Native.

By the way, I think any American who wants to gripe about security pat downs in U.S. airports should be required to travel to Algiers for perspective. Here's what I had to do to reach my plane on the way out of Algiers:

1. Go through a metal detector and put my bags through the X-ray machine, plus get a pat down just to enter airport.

2. Show my passport and itinerary to get in line for my ticket and to check my bags.

3. Show my passport again to get my ticket.

4. Show my passport and ticket to enter passport control.

5. Fill out the customs form and show my passport and ticket to the customs agent at the window.

6. After the customs window, go through the main security check by showing my passport and ticket, getting my bag X-rayed, emptying my pockets to go through metal detector, and getting another pat down.

7. Just past customs, I had to show my passport and ticket to proceed to the gate. The woman here asked if I had any dinar (Algerian money). Apparently it is illegal to take it out of the country over a certain amount. However, you can't exchange dinar for dollars or euros at the airport (I tried). I showed her my 2,500 dinar (around 20 American dollars) and she let me keep it. She totally could have had some extra cash if she’d taken it, as it is just monopoly money to me at this point. Perhaps I will come back next year for FIBDA, in which case it will be useful to have cash in hand. If not, I guess I will just mail it to one of my friends in Algiers.

8. At the gate, I had to show my passport and ticket to enter the security corridor to the jetway.

9. At the entrance to the jetway, I had to show my ticket and passport to a security guard who tore my ticket and kept half of it.

10. I entered the jetway and waited in a security line. At the end of the line, I gave a guard my bag to open and search. Then I got another pat down.

11. Finally, I was able to get on plane. I was glad the flight attendant's didn't insist on patting me down before using the restroom.

Overall, though there were a few travel hassles and some unimpressive food at the hotel, the show was great fun and I had an incredible time. It was truly incredible to talk comics with people from all over the world. No matter how little we had in common, we all shared a love for the glorious meidum of comics! With luck, I’ll even be collaborating with some of the folks I met at the show.

Here's a few more pics from the show:

Hanging with my A-100 friend!

Art by an Algerian fan who's read even more DC Universe books than I have!

The retail tent was full of graphic novels both foreign and domestic, all in French!

Boy do I hope this isn't my and Lisa's next post!!!

Not your usual comic con crowd.

And finally, one of the best parts of the trip came when I opened the gate in front of my house in Tashkent and walked into the courtyard. That was when I discovered that I really felt like I was coming home. It was nice to know that, after just 8 weeks, Tashkent is absolutely my home.

Everything is New Again

Thu, 29 Sep 2011 00:00:00 +0000

I don't know if I'll ever get used to my new lifestyle. Not only is there a whole city, country, region to explore, but there doesn't seem to be any kind of routine. Maybe in a year or so, going to embassy events and such will be old hat. Probably it will be. For now, however, it's all brand new and exciting.

A few weeks ago, I attended my first official social function at the embassy. It was no big deal for the locals, just another Friday happy hour at the Marine House. For me, it was as new as the relaunched DC Universe. By that I mean even the familiar things were a little bit different. Nobody was wearing tights nor were Batman and Catwoman going at it.

The Marine House is the building on embassy grounds where the men from the Marine security detachment live. The front room is an open social hall with a pool table, foozball table, TV and gaming console, plus a fully-stocked bar. I don't know how stocked the bar is on a day-to-day basis. I imagine the booze is locked up most of the time. However, when they open the bar for Friday happy hour, there's a wide variety of alcohol, wine, and even a handful of Russian beers on tap. Proceeds from the bar (and from the pizza the Marines' cook makes for happy hour) go towards the Marine Ball fund to make that annual, formal event one of the biggest social engagements of the year.

When I heard a cowbell ringing, I spun around in search of Christopher Walken (if you didn't get that joke, search YouTube for "Christopher Walken" +"SNL"+ +"More Cowbell." You can thank me later). It turns out there's a big wheel on the wall ala Wheel of Fortune. You ring the bell and spin the wheel, putting your fate in the hands of the party gods. If the wheel lands on "Free Drink" then the gods have smiled on you. However, you may end up buying the bartender a drink, paying double for your next drink, or drinking a beer (mandatory) and buying one for a friend as well.

After the party had gotten off to a strong start, the ambassador arrived. Ambassador Krol is a warm, friendly guy and is very good at making everyone feel important. In D&D terms, he's got at least an 18 Diplomacy. The room quieted down as Ambassador Krol first thanked all the Foreign Service Nationals in whose honor the happy hour was being thrown. FSNs are the local staff who stay in their jobs long after the American officers move to their next assignement (every two or three years). The FSNs provide knowledge, continuity, and local contacts to the American embassy staff and are an invaluable part of the mission. The ambassador then moved on to thank one of the American officers as he prepares to for his next post. The outgoing officer is one of the embassy favorites and I can see why. He's a super nice guy who's good at his job and extremely personable. The local staff thanked him for his service with an Uzbeki dagger (a beautiful, curved blade of polished steel that would fit right in on the set of Game of Thrones) and hand-made traditional garb. Here's a photo with the officer's face blurred out for security purposes since I haven't had a chance to get his permission to post the picture. As you can see, he's wearing the local hat, robe, and kerchief belt with his new knife at his side. The back of the robe was specially embroidered with the name of the team for which he played college basketball.

The ambassador also thanked the embassy's football (soccer) teams (one is an FSN team and the other is a team of American officers) and congratulated the FSN security team on their second place win in the local embassy community's recent football tournament. Apparently they were beaten out by their arch-rivals, the FSN security team from the Israeli embassy in Tashkent.

The day after our first Friday happy hour, Lisa and I went on an excursion to explore our new city. We decided to take the metro (my first time, Lisa's second) to a restaurant for lunch, then to one of the city's many bazaars so we could compare it to our neighborhood bazaar.

First, a word on the streets in Tashkent. Should you ever visit this fine city, do be careful to watch your step. The gutters alongside the road are deep fissures cut out of the concrete. Long ago, i've heard, these gutters were covered by metal grates. However, over the years the grates have mostly been taken and sold as scrap metal. As a result, you need to be ready to hop over these mini-chasms at any time. Woe unto you're ever accidentally zapped by Rick Moranis' shrink ray. You'll never make it across the street!!

Also, street construction isn't always obvious or marked. In the U.S., I'd expect a few orange cones around this hole carved into the road. Here's it's just business as usual.

That said, don't think for a minute that all the infrastructure in Tashkent is neglected. The metro systems in New York and Washington DC could learn a lot from Tashkent's gorgeous stations. Though it's illegal to take pictures of the metro for security reasons, the Internet has plenty of photos available. I'm using those here since I need to save up my diplomatic immunity for whenever I go up against Mel Gibson and Danny Glover.

As you can see, the metro stations are filled with stunning mosiacs and marble surfaces. The metro cars, while not particularly fancy, are clean and comfortable. I don't know what they're like at rush hour, but on a weekend afternoon they were never full and we always had a seat.

Lunch was at Tahkent's Irish pub, eponymously named "The Irish Pub." This is a favorite hang out for Westerners and expats in Tashkent. One of its chief draws for us that day was the free wifi since Internet at our house was down. Turns out we'd used all of our daytime bandwidth for the month. We've since hooked up an unlimited plan via DSL and while it's too slow for streaming, it's excellent for day to day usage and lets me download and upload art pages without a problem. I even use it to Skype with family, for business meetings, and to play D&D with my friends in Austin!

While the menu items in The Irish Pub are not exactly what you'd get at an Irish pub in the U.S., they're not that much different. There's the usual pub food like fish & chips as well as generic Western dishes like fajitas or a ham & cheese sandwich. I tried the steak with mushroom sauce and found it wonderfully tasty. I washed it down with a Bamburg (Russian beer) on tap. Even if the food is not 100% authentic (mind you, I'm comparing it to American Irish pub fare which is, I imagine, already one step removed from actual pubs in Ireland), the clientele is exactly what you'd expect in any good Irish pub. Here's a group of fans bellying up to the bar to watch the latest football match.

Next came the bazaar. Like the others I've visited in Tashkent, the bazaar is a large, open air market much like the farmers markets in America. Here they are generally covered in some fashion, protecting shoppers and retailers alike from the harsh, Uzbeki sun. At the bazaar, one can find a wide variety of fresh fruits and veggies. Imported items like bananas are relatively expensive but most are comparable or less costly than in the U.S. Of course, you have to wash them with a bleach solution to be safe due to use of traditional farming methods here (i.e. lots of fertilzer on the crops), but they are fresh and delicious.

Here you can see the green, semi-transparent roof that spreads over the bazaar. I should also mention that people will call out to you to sample their wares as you pass by, often saying "brother" or "sister" (in Russian) to get your attention.

There's also a wide variety of grains and beans available in the bazaars. In this one, we were excited to find black beans for the first time in Tashkent. Those will be gracing our dinner table soon.

One of the coolest features in this bazaar is a row of vendors selling honey. The honey is ladled into glass jars from these big, metal drums, each one featuring a label that indicates the region and flowers of the honey's origin. This honey is pricier than a generic bottle one might find in an American grocery store, but less expensive than a similar artisan honey one would get at an upscale grocery store like Whole Foods or Central Market. The vendors also give tastes of their products. You can definitely taste the difference between one honey and another!

In search of something (besides raw honey) to sate my ever-ravenous sweet tooth, we popped into one of the tiny shops flanking the bazaar. This one was full of cookies in all varieties. They sell cookies in this fashion at many bazaars and it's fun to pick out different ones. I took home a kilo of tea cookies. They lasted me a week, which tells me I really need to cut down on my cookie consumption.

Laden with groceries and on our way back to the metro, we passed this aptly named, upscale fashion store. It's nice to see a bit of blunt honesty on the part of retailers for change!

Remember that new, unlimited Internet plan I mentioned a few paragraphs back? For some reason, we just couldn't get it to play nice with our Apple Airport wifi device. After asking around the embassy, we got a recommendation from one of the staff drivers, a local FSN, on the specific wifi device one of our fellow diplomats is using for the same Internet service. Armed with a brand name and serial number, I headed to the local electronics bazaar with my driver, Victor. Take a look at the two photos below and you'll see a strip mall lining either side of a street, full of shops with brand names blazoned over each small storefront. In the states, you'd expect that the store with the Samsung sign over it is a store selling Samsung products while the LG store sells only LG. I was excited to spot even an Apple logo over one shop.

However, here in Tashkent, things are a little bit different. The logos indicate that you can probably find those kinds of products here, but each store sells a variety of items, all from different retailers. The logos over the doors are irrelevant to the contents of the shop. Most stores had a cell phone counter near the front and then a variety of different products. You might have to go into several storefronts, but eventually you could find just about any electronic device you wanted, from laptops to routers to televisions to hairdryers or kitchen appliances.

After searching four or five shops, Victor and I found one with my specific router in stock. I let Victor do the talking since my Russian isn't game ready yet when it comes to buying electronics. The guy at the counter across from the one with the router was able to tell us the price (114,000 soum, which is around $65 U.S.) . However, he wasn't able to sell us the router. The guy who could sell it was out at lunch. Obviously, in the states, when a store is open, you can generally buy the goods there. You don't have to wait for someone to finish their meal. I don't know why this guy knew the price but couldn't make a sale. My guess is that each counter was operated independently, kind of like when you want to buy comics in artists' alley at a comic book convention and the person at one table might have nothing to do with their neighbor.

Victor and I moved on. Ten stores later, we found another router. This one was more expensive and the salesman was out to lunch as well. We went another five or six shops down (to the end of the shops) and found a third router. This one was even more expensive at 176,000 soum (over $100). It had been a while now, so we walked back to the first shop where we'd found the device and the retailer was back from lunch. We bought it and considered it a bargain. I later discovered that I could have bought the same device on Amazon for around $45 - $50. However, then we would have been without wireless for 3 to 4 weeks. It was easily worth the additional $20 to have wifi now, since my iPad and Lisa's Nook were far less useful without it.

On that same day, I went with Victor to a bookstore that he thought might carry American comic books in Russian. I figure learning Russian would be more fun with an issue of Spider-Man or the like. Though the store did not have any comics, they did have a Sci-Fi/Fantasy section. The cover for this one jumped out at me since it features a familiar scene from a book I'd just finished a few days earlier. Sure enough, I recognized the author's name as George Martin. I couldn't translate the title since I don't have the vocubulary, but Victor confirmed for me that it says, A Feast For Crows. I didn't buy the book, as something with the complexity and length of a George R.R. Martin book is not the ideal choice for cutting my teeth in Russian. However, hopefully after two years I'll be capable of reading this or its like! Now to do some writing work so that i can take a lunch break and finish reading A Dance of Dragons!