Blog Revival

Time has come to roll up my imaginary sleeves, settle my watch on the desk and start moving magic fingers to the rhythm of my imagination.

REVIVAL

As a first posting, I will aim to concisely summarize my last few months activity, in bullet point form:

• Job Search: Microfinance is a bastard of an industry to break into - but the light at the end of the tunnel is starting to shine with hope and possibly opportunity.
• Living at Home: Life has been rather calm and peaceful. Cohabitation with the older generation has proved successful and problem-free.
  
• Eptm-photos - my cyber baby is slowing growing into something beautiful.

I will also admit that the urge to write has been in no small part induced by my presence here in Warsaw. This is my first foray into "Eastern Europe" and the closest I have been to Mother Russia. Before coming here my only glimpse into Polish life had been limited to Polish emigrants in London and having a polish friend who is just more Latin than polish.


The All Important First Impressions:

• The People: rather homogeneous, beautiful women with little dress sense, strong men, very little contact, no smiling..there's a certain roughness inherent in people.
  
• The City: Pleasant city center, re-modeled old town that doesn't have a Disney Land feel (despite being completely re-constructed), surprising glimpses into Communist history with their uninviting buildings and various communal areas.
  
• The Food: Not applicable really - have been eating Sushi and drinking Starbucks (I know not very open minded food-wise!).

The purpose of my visit was twofold. I came here to meet with a great organization called MFC (The Microfinance Center), a research /training hub that aims to harmonize the microfinance industry in Eastern Europe / Balkans region. They produce innovative research and are a bit of a local think-tank.

This professional excuse for a visit also allowed me to meet up with an old friend who I had met over 10 years ago whilst working in the US. It's amazing to see how sometimes very little changes and how conversations and jokes that were last voiced 10 years ago still manage to generate a smile.

It was also a good opportunity to further develop my collection of travel snaps - most of which can be seen on my website www.eptm-photos.com