STAN'S BLOGS

On July 30, 2006, after more than a year of preparation, Stan Morris left behind his home in Sacramento, California and committed himself to full-time volunteer assignments. This decision would lead him to small towns and cities on the East Coast of the United States and of Western Europe, living for nearly five years in New York, Germany, and The Netherlands... Both the musicians of  Musicians Without Borders and our own IFOR staff have been asking me about us having a going-away 'borrel' (cocktail party) in my honor. I continued to tell them for weeks "absolutely not," as I dislike that sort of thing and that I would rather "just walk out the door like on any-other day." Since it's now also Easter week, my dear friends (more likely Arjan and Lilian) decided to have a Pasen luncheon, instead. This then, of course, soon turned into the inevitable going-away borrel: Merle had prepared a large pot of "peace soup," in reference to a joke

Now it appears that I'll be coming back "across the pond," as they often say here, on 7 April. It's difficult to maintain a visa for long in Europe in my capacity, and I've already been here for 2 1/2 years. As such, IFOR is sending me to our US branch in Upper Nyack, NY ( FOR USA ) for at least 3 months, time enough to renew my visa. I'll be living at and working from  Shadowcliff , a 42 room mansion and FOR USA's headquarters / conference center. I've already ordered a high-end DELL laptop to take along, with all my publication software included, so I can continue working without interruption. I also have a new assistant, Kim (originally from Phoenix, residing in North Holland), who will handle from the office what I won't be able execute online. Since returning from Norway in December I've been exploring more of Holland's cities, like Maastricht (one of the oldest) and Rotterdam (one of the newest), and visited the Rijksmuseum in Ams