Sun Jan 23, 1994 at 15:41 EST

Today is a beautiful day, as was yesterday.

Temp in the 30s I think, not much above freezing, and the sky is nice and blue. Everyone says this is so mild compared to normal. I just hope it stays that way. The mountains of Bosnia will be very cold, but the Adriatic coast will be very pleasant, indeed.

What follows is kind of a brief report put together since I arrived last Friday:

Zagreb is a huge city of over a million people. It sits in a plain in the region of the Sava River and near the Zagreb uplands. The buildings are relatively modern, and even a few skyscrapers. There are wide avenues and plenty of "green" areas. The surrounding countryside is well tilled, as was obvious from our landing approach to the airport. The airport building is about as large as the old Manchester (NH) terminal. Signs of UN and Red Cross operations are apparent by the large military encampment at the airport as well as planes marked UN and Red Cross parked on the ramp.

The hotel is, shall we say, a one star affair overall, but not too bad. About 2/3 (one wing) is used for refugee housing, while the regular guests take up the other side of the building. It's an odd contrast, seeing laundry hanging out the windows and bits of trash tossed on the ground on one side and then the other relatively pristine side. (Indeed, this is a land of odd sights by any standard. For example, there's a van parked in front of the hotel with a big sign emblazoned "Ostrich Ranch" on its side.) The refugees don't really mix with the guests, though children occasionally play in the lobby.

My room has two small twin beds, each with thin foam rubber mattresses. No TV (though I may ask for one eventually), but it does have a decent shower and bathtub en suite. The alternative in town is the Intercontinental Hotel, and it costs about $100/night at the UN rate. Very posh, relatively speaking, but I'm satisfied here and my room costs about half that. Food is fair to good, but almost no fresh vegetables besides potatoes, leeks, cabbage, and carrots.

I went into a couple of shops yesterday and had a look around while my boss got some meat and other staples. A good mix of canned goods, lots of pickled things, yogurt, tinned meats, cheese, and other (mostly) familiar items on the shelves. I have access to a commissary and a PX, where I can buy other things I may miss.

Today I went out shopping by myself and picked up some basic snack things like Coke, potato chips, cheese, sardines, yogurt, and milk. My hotel is not far from the University, and my Internet friend, Predrag Pale (who arranged the account), has an office nearby. I will try to see him this week to thank him for the kind assistance and to talk about his Internet project here in Croatia.

The UNHCR office is located a few blocks away from the hotel. Easy walking distance, once I figured out how to get back there. It's a three-storey (four floors plus basement) box-shaped building with the radio workshop located in the basement and, of course, the radio room and telecoms offices on the top floor. I'll get some good exercise going up and down the stairs.

My work here will involve a mix of vehicle and office installations and repairs. There are a wide variety of trucks used in the operations, but almost all have the same communications configurations with multi-channel VHF and HF voice radios. Most officers carry hand-held VHF radios to boot. The VHF radios are made by Yaesu, and the HF radios are made by an Australian company called Codan.

Part of the installation inlcudes an automatically tunable HF whip antenna mounted on the front bumper of the truck. Motorola repeaters are used for extending VHF communications where possible. Offices use ICOM M700 HF radios for data communications (SITOR and PACTOR), as well as Codan radios for voice. The most common HF antennas used at fixed sites are a wideband folded dipole made by Barker & Williamson as well as a delta loop tuned with an ICOM AT-120 or AT-130 automatic tuner. Well over three hundred stations, mobile and fixed, are supported, so you can see it's a HUGE network to maintain.

My long-term assignment status is still uncertain, but for the next bit I'll be doing some hands-on stuff here in Zagreb. As I mentioned before, I may end up supporting the eastern enclaves from Belgrade. The Serbs won't issue visas to my co-workers, since they are UK citizens travelling on national passports. They are actually on loan (sort of) to UNHCR from another British organization. I, on the other hand, am actually here on a UN contract and as a result have a UN laissez-passer, in effect a UN diplomatic-type passport. The Serbs may be more inclined to issue me a visa, therefore.

My boss has talked about a grand tour of the region, in which case I may get to go along. That would be very beneficial, I'm sure, since eventually I'll have to visit some of these offices on my own.

Last and not least, some side notes you may find interesting:

1. The overall feeling here (amongst UNHCR hands) is a bit of nervousness about possible air strikes. It puts civilian workers at some risk (to hostile fire or hostage-taking). UN Protection Forces (UNPROFOR) are not especially liked by any of the locals, and their presence has complicated relief operations somewhat. Not to say it's all bad, but just more complicated.

2. The war is very weird and produces some odd results. As an example, you may recall the evacuation from Sarajevo several weeks ago of several hundred refugees. They were taken by bus to various safe havens. The ethnic Croats went to Split, a resort town down on the coast, where many were put up in refugee hotels. Apparently, about 85% of them complained, saying the accomodations were "unsuitable." "Unsuitable" after coming from Sarajevo, where there has been no power, water, or heat at all for the most part? Go figure.

3. Overall, I'm doing very well. I'm glad to be here at last. I am a bit nervous about what to expect in the field. I don't sleep that well, and some mornings I wake up with a lot of anxiety, but I can usually shake it without much trouble. I suppose part of my sleeplessness comes from excitement, too. It's getting better, though. And I feel good.