_Kirsten Kirsha Neumann to boldly go ……….. anywhere

What to do with the highly radioactive waste produced by atomic reactors? In the last 50 years of nuclear power generation, some 300,000 tons of the stuff has been produced, with an additional 10,000 tons coming each year.

A part of that waste is plutonium, and it is incredibly volatile. Just a single gram can give hundreds of people cancer should it be inhaled as radioactive dust.
Should one stand next to a gram of plutonium for just a single minute, death is the result.

Not only that, but radioactive waste stays deadly for hundreds of thousands of years, meaning any terminal storage site has to be incredibly large, incredibly stable and incredibly isolated.
Such a site has yet to be identified.

In Germany, decades of testing have made little progress. Elsewhere in the world, the situation is not much better, with tens of thousands of highly poisonous atomic garbage sitting around in temporary storage sites next to reactors across the globe.

The International Atomic Energy Agency estimates that 50 countries store waste in temporary facilities, many of them hopelessly inadequate.

It is a ticking time bomb from both a health and security standpoint.

The US must have gone Nuts! they seriously demand that countries be measured for their commitment to combat Climate Change by their will to succumb to another plague like burden to be left to our children: Nuclear Power.

Just imagine – there are currently about 100 new Nuclear Power Plants under construction or in planning, increasing the radioactive waste by another hundreds of thousands of tons, including the increase of plutonium to 4000 tons until 2020.

Plutonium is the stuff nuclear bombs are made from! standing next to ONE gram of Plutonium for only 30 seconds will kill you – and they are risking to produce up to 4000 tons of that poison.

And there is no save storage!

I am thinking, sitting in my room in Berlin listening to the raindrops hitting against the window. It has been a hot and humid day, which relieved itself into a massive thunderstorm.
I was outside, at one of the many lakes around Berlin, then played fresbee in the park.
Just wanted to say hello and wish a good night!

Hugs
Kirsha

I miss my friends
I MISS THE LIGHT
the sun
the desert (yes right – the desert)
the ocean
the food
the abundance of parsley

It’s 4:30 AM and I am working on next years plans which I should present in a few hours.

hmmm the weather

Rain
Rain
Rain
Rain
Cloudy sky
Rain
Sunshine
Rain

And I am wearing winter sweaters.
This year seems to have three seasons: Spring, Fall and Winter.

Hi there,
It’s been a while I know and I apologize for the lon gsilence.
I have been so busy arraning myself in my new job, finding a place to stay and arranging all the administrative stuff.
It was more work than getting settled in Jordan.
So now I am registered with the authorities, have a proper health insurance and stuff.
I haven’t been in touch lately but I still haven’t got a new phone. I am usually working until seven or eight and by that time the shops are all closed. They are also closed on Sundays and on Saturdays by the time I wake up at ten – they are almost closed – and groceries have priority.
And it would be time for the dentist too.

ah well…

Today’s the day…
when I will be boarding a plane to fly off from Jordan.

I apologize if I did not manage to see everyone – I was so busy. And it was kind of easier as it didn’t feel so much a final thing.
I will be back for visits and for sure in the last two weeks of September, where I will be teaching a two weeks module for an Arab-German MA course Integrated Water Resource Management. The Module will be on Intercultural Communication and Soft Skills.

So I truly hope to see you soon.

With love to my friends and to the land – take good care of yourselves and know that you will always be close to my heart!

I am currently in the process of moving and it is truly not fun. I am organizing the last of my courses on Water and Energy Security in MENA, moving stuff from my house, moving to the hotel, having the painters, etc.
I will be leaving Jordan and it is a strange process.
I found a home here – one that I truly love and will miss a lot. Of course I can always come back – as my Jordanian friends assure me, and I know I will, but still, I will miss it a lot. I have learned so much in Jordan – about myself, about the country, the region, its people and its cultures. My life has become so much richer and I am truly grateful for having been blessed with this experience.
When I arrived here two years ago, my heart felt instantly at home, as if I had always known the lands. There is something here that feels very familiar, something that makes me sing.

I am moving back to Germany, but I know that part of my heart will always stay here in Jordan and it is with tears that I say – see you later – inch allah.

I just spend a few days at a conference/meeting in Cairo and have been back now for a while in Amman.

Cairo is busy, full, noisy and – in parts – smelly. And yet it oozes a certain kind of charme created by its long and checkered history. Ancient patina combined with modern day struggle to survive – nothing seems to work – and yet somehow it does; everything seems to be in danger of breaking down any minute and yet somehow it doesn’t. This strange and fairly unique combination creates a crazy energy which I find highly stimulating and which makes me a happy occassional visitor. But would I want to life in Cairo? Probably not.

when I stepped out of the door today – there was promise in the air. Not just that of a clear crisp and fresh summerday morning.

Amman is booming. I was talking with some friends and Amman’s up- and coming economy seems to offer so many possibilities for business developments and projects.

Maybe I am wrong though, but all the property announcements and planned new developments – there is so much investment flowing into Amman – mainly from the Gulf. Investments that before were flowing into Lebanon are being diverted to Amman. Amman is also the safe haven where organizations who are actually working with Iraq are based. And many more.

And still yet the braindrain continues. Jordan’s well educated young people are leaving – doctors, engineers, business people – they are all going to work outside. Amman has become the most expensive city in the Arab world – based on the comparison of average salaries and living cost. But it is booming!