The ex-pat community is pretty small in Slovenia, so it doesn’t take very long to figure out who’s who. Or where they are. Slovenes will often help you along, in the form of: “Oh, you’re from the US? Do you know X?” where X equals some Australian living in a village you’ve never heard of.

I never met Jason Abbott in real life, but we exchanged a few friendly e-mails in the past. We both arrived in Slovenia at roughly the same time and even made some vague plans to meet. Unfortunately, they never came to fruition. So I was a bit disheartened to read that he, like the former EC chief in Slovenia Eric van der Linden, is now leaving for Slovakia.

Jason’s final column in The Slovenia Times talks about “some of the things I will miss about Slovenia and some of the things that I hope Slovenia can and will address to boost the country’s prospects, prosperity, and popularity.” It’s good reading.

Best wishes to Jason, and good luck in Bratislava!