Thursday: takeoff from Minneapolis/St. Paul (MSP) around 2:00 PM (got there 11:30 AM). Fall asleep (short night's sleep, stayed up packing and awakened early for pre-fast breakfast). Wake up about 2:45 PM to announcement that we've received clearance to land at MSP. mm?? Fellow passengers relay explanation: backup electrical system shortage, but too much fuel weight to land safely, so we've been circling and now will attempt to land. Flight attendant informs us that fire trucks will be awaiting us but are not expected to be needed (they weren't).

Green Acre Bahá'í School, in far southern Maine, is already a center of learning. But one day it will be the Bahá'í center of learning in North America, or so, prophetically, has 'Abdu'l-Bahá said. Perhaps "exhortationally" is more accurate than "prophetically", since his prophetic words are themselves a directive to the Bahá'ís. And when you think about the number of colleges and universities that will need to be built in coming years in order to meet the demand of an ever-growing population, you realize it is not at all infeasible that there will, one day, be highly-respected school here.

The Harriet and Curtis Kelsey Center, photo via Bahá'í Media Bank

Last travel entry, written on the 16th and finally typed up on the 29th...

Back stateside now, sitting for a while in Philadelphia. One of America's oldest cities, it clearly has nothing on Antwerp. But then again, maybe age isn't everything. Maybe the Liberty Bell, Constitutional Conventions, and the other historical features make this place every bit the equal — in broad, non-aesthetic terms — of Brussels, Antwerp, or Amsterdam. Speaking of Antwerp, I finally had a good look at the old city yesterday.

(This post was begun on the 13th and finished on the 16th, though not published till later...)

With the whole Global Council here [Antwerp] the past few days, the conversations and meetings have been longer and the time off consequently shorter. That doesn't necessarily mean more productive, mind you! More people always means more patience is required.

On Saturday we had a break between the Global Staff and Global Council meetings: free time! So a few of us decided to spend two hours each way on a train to Amsterdam. First impression: vibrant, incredibly so. Second: old. Older than most of what I saw in Brussels. Older by far than anything I've seen in Antwerp (though both Belgian cities are technically just as old).

We spent Friday afternoon in the city of Brussels (Bruxelles), capital of Belgium and of Europe. There we met with a diplomat from the European Commission at their swanky headquarters; noshed on small sandwiches, juice and champagne with a deputy mayor at a former palace; and were treated to a wonderful meal courtesy of a local Catholic priest and lumber-yard owner. In other words it was interesting being there (most of the time), but not so exciting to try to write about. So I'll just share some photos instead.

I think I mentioned previously that Antwerp is very humid. The rooms in which we are staying are thus very warm; lacking air conditioning or fans, most of us initially opted to open our windows for the night. What we did not count on were the mosquitoes.

Back in February I made allusion to a frog scraping out its stomach lining. A kind soul has finally found a video of this and I share that with you now. I'll admit its a bit gross, but it makes a great metaphor.

Yesterday was rather busy and I didn't have time to do anything worth blogging about. I did walk around the campus and take a few photos, drawing the curiosity of the Antwerp police as they happened to drive by. When I said that I only speak English and then stated that I was just a tourist who wanted to remember what Antwerp looked like, they went on their way and did not ask me to delete the photos or anything. Nevertheless I only took a few more, making sure not to get any private residences except one unoccupied house that was for sale.

now with photos! 2006-06-07

After managing to sleep a cumulative half hour or so overnight, I arrived in Belgium this morning at 8:30 local time. It was then that I knew my day would be pretty much shot.

Getting mentally prepared for a trip to Seoul, South Korea in a few weeks... I'll be there for the URI Global Council meeting. Arriving the same day as an important diplomatic meeting between North and South, also in Seoul. And I'll be there for the 55th anniversary of the Korean War, the 60th anniversary of the UN, and the 5th anniversary of the URI. It promises to be an amazing and intense time.