Error, Error, Overload...

Time's up. I leave tomorrow. It's been a crazy hair-raising week and yesterday I was incredibly stressed without even leaving the house.

I have a million things going on including:
-organizing the trip for my boss and two friends... tickets, materials, conference Powerpoint, speech, workshop....
-Organizing the evening courses I teach, ALL OF THEM because I'm the only one who seems to take it upon herself to do it. Ordering books, deciding where to put students, coordinating the coordinator...
-Testing new students
-Training a new teacher who is subbing me, but also getting her first teaching experience.
-Organizing all of my lessons and hers  for when I am away.
-Packing
-Worrying about what to bring, the weather is crazy all over the place.
-Spending time with the bf because he's being a doll.

Here's what else is going on.
-I'm meeting with Rob and I'm constantly thinking about that. It's hard to concentrate on the rest.
-Some stuff has come up with Co-Worker even but I'm not going to get into it now.

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-NLikes @ My Dissolute Life had an interesting reaction to my Prostitution posts on his Blog with the collaboration of Hy @ A Dissolute Life Means. I'm flattered they chose my blog for the Dissolutes segment they do. I'd like to answer in detail all the questions and comments especially from NLikes but I don't have time to do that before I leave. So I'm going to simply address the most important issues here now, hoping life wont be insane when I get back so I might discuss them further.

Suffice it to say for now, that I agree with Hy. I think N seems to miss the sentiment of the post a little. It was a personal entry (as all my posts) and mostly me complaining about the attitude of men here as well as questions to my male blogger friends about why. As many of my readers already know I am an expat in this adopted country of mine which often leaves me with a bitter taste in my mouth when it comes to the locals and their behavior sometimes.

Not all men are jerks, but if 90% of the guys you know act like one you're gonna think they all are. And I'm not saying my friends are jerks, they're not. Just culturally, they behave like 15 year old boys when it comes to prostitutes and talking about sex. Most of the men I come in contact with have this behaviour, and sure there are exceptions. Sometimes I wonder if it's me. I wonder if my openness about these subjects spurns them to speak in a certain way. The bf hates it, I don't blame him, but at the same time, for the most part, I don't care... until it comes to prostitution.

As for my fears around having sex with someone who has been with a prostitute I'm sticking to my guns. I think in an email with N I mentioned this analogy so I'll repeat it here: If you get handed a candy without a wrapper, say a Jolly Rancher, some candy you love most people would probably wonder: "where does the candy come from?" "Is it from my loved one's hands or did other people touch it first?" "Did the dog lick it first?" "Did someone find it in a pile of poo?"

If you simply don't know, or suspect it was passed around a crowded room first coughed on and dropped, you probably won't eat it. If you watched it come out of the wrapper and it was handed to you then you probably would.

I feel the same way about having sex with a guy who has been sleeping with a person who has had numerous partners, whether it be a prostitute or some random chick in a bar. Fact is prostitutes, I fear, have a higher probability of carrying STDs. I'm not saying HIV or Aids or anything that serious, but other nasty things like warts, herpes, chlamydia or whatever other horrible things go around.

I'm not saying all prostitutes carry STDs, and I'm sure many (especially in North America) get regular check ups and take a million precautions otherwise it would be bad for business. But honestly, here, especially in the poorer parts of Eastern Europe I HIGHLY doubt the women get any checks done unless they are higher end call girls. I'm also willing to bet the ones standing on the streets here (and there are many) couldn't care less about getting checked.

N brings up a number of issues on the sex trade in general. I'm certainly no expert but I think it's pretty safe to say that Eastern Europe is rather different than North America when it comes to organized crime, prostitution rings, import and export of sex workers and the quality of product men are receiving.

That's all I can say for now without going into a lot of crazy detail. I just don't have the time. But I will keep an eye on the blogs he's mentioned, as I suggest others do too. They all look excellent.

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One last thing I'd like to put out there before I go is an article I read recently about partners. I found it super interesting and thought provoking. It's something I've been trying to put my finger on for years and I think she nailed it.