Hey team!

I assume no one will see this, but here's the thing: I'm currently writing my thesis in Australia on Chinese intellectual property legislation. I was here for a year, lots of things happened. Then I left for four months, spent some time in Austin and some time in Hong Kong working at the US Consulate. Now I am back and have ten weeks to hammer out my thesis before I take off traveling with Ben who has taken nine months off work to travel around the world. His blog will be more interesting because he is generally a more eloquent writer and is currently traveling while I am melting in the Queensland sun, but eventually I may have sometime to say and I want you all to be prepared in case I do.

For some reason blogger won't let me transfer my account to google, so I am stuck with Yahoo meaning I can't use a lot of Blogger's fancy applications. If, in an attempt to procrastinate the 12,000 words I have to write before May 29th, I feel moved to share thoughts and feelings with you, I may. Or, like last time, a year may pass with no further communication. We'll see.

I am living in the year 2000.

Not really, but it kinda feels like it. Since I've been here I've spent my time trying to catch up with my old friends and host families and getting my feet firmly planted on the ground. It's been awesome. Everyone seems basically the same, the streets I once played on still feel familiar and the humidity is just as I remember it.

Yesterday I went to the beach with Troy and didn't really take any pictures because, as I said to him, I already have them all. :)

But seeing everyone has been great. I don't feel too motivated to write, but I will try to write more often. I have a phone and a beautiful place to live right on the river, 3km from the city one way and 3km from the university the other way. My scholarship is absolutely amazing, I have my own office/desk/computer waiting for me at the uni and hope hope hope I can work hard enough to deserve everything everyone is doing/has done for me.

I miss Austin but think once I can go dancing here I will be OK. Tonight is that night! I'll be happy if I get one or two mediocre dances since I'm not sure how many dancers are coming out, but any dances are good! :)

Well everyone, here I go again, out into the wide open air!

Today I return to my travel roots, retracing a path I created long ago that led me on a trajectory I could never have imagined. Almost ten years ago I got on a plane as a 15 year old and flew to Brisbane, Australia to be a Rotary Youth Exchange student for a year. I'd never been overseas before. This was before September 11th, when your friends and family could walk you right up to the gate. When sometimes, without your consent you'd be put on an earlier flight so you'd be sure to make your connections. Before text messaging was even a concept in the US (though it was already pretty big in Australia.) Before Facebook and Blogger and before every time you had a question you turned to a computer. Before my sister went to MIT, before I had my driver's license. Before everything.

Since then, I have lived on five continents, traveled to six. Had numerous wonderful loves and broken hearts. Made and left friends all over the world that I still think of every day. And kept friends that I've had long before all my travels. I discovered a passion for swing dancing. I found Allah, or God, or whatever you call it. My life has changed.

Now I return to Brisbane ten years older. With Rotary, again, this time as a Rotary Peace Scholar to get my masters at the University of Queensland in International Conflict Resolution. They are paying for everything: my flights, room and board, schooling, life. I am going to see friends Sunday night when I arrive that I haven't seen for nine years. Friends that I consider some of my closest. And I hope they still are. Friends that now have babies, and jobs and husbands and wives. Older friends.

I am nervous, but know everything will be fine. I will miss my life in Austin, but I will create a new life in Brisbane.

I have a tradition. Every time I start a new adventure, the night before I read myself "Oh, the Places You'll Go!" by Dr. Suess. It is by far my favorite book and just about anyone who knows me has heard me quote a line or two. No one else reads it to me, and if no one else is around, I still read it aloud. I read the same copy Matt Kime gave me before I moved to Australia. I read it with Kissie, the stuffed elephant Hillary Feinstein gave me before I moved to Australia and has now traveled with me everywhere. I read it in the bed, on the sheets, that I have had since my childhood.

You should read it aloud to yourself too. It will reinvigorate you to create something with your life. Here's a pretty good youtube version if you want it to be read to you.

Well, here I am in La Paz. I had a pretty great day. I took mom to the airport at 5 am and hopefully she´s just about home now. I got to watch the sunrise over La Paz on my way back in to town. The sun illuminating the mountains and the clouds rolling off the ridiculously large city. La Paz is breathtaking. Its in a bowl and for as far as you can see there are houses and people and streets. In the background, the Andes loom over the city keeping this crazy energy inside the bowl.

I slept a couple more hours and got up to have a full hour long massage (my first ever!) complete with hot stones on the trouble spots followed by the best pedicure I´ve ever had. Two hours later I had spent $20 US and felt perfectly pampered. I had lunch with my sis before she left and then packed up and relocated to the Loki hostel on the seedier side of downtown. I wandered around a bit, ending up at the National Museum of Art. It was a wonderfully hilarious museum. The best way I can describe it is like this: An art class was given as assignment (say, the coronation of the Virgin Mary or the past rulers of Bolivia), everyone in the class painted their interpretation of the event, and then the hung all the different versions on the walls. I mean, seriously, there was an entire room of coronation of the Virgin paintings that varied only just. I kind of laughed my way through the whole thing, though there were some very interesting paintings that I stopped for a while to look at. They also had a poster exhibition, in english, about free speech in Iran. It was interesting, I admit, but the weird connections between Iran and Bolivia are kiiiind of awkward, especially in the national museum.

On a not-really-related tangent, yesterday we went to Tiwanaku, a pre-Incan site outside of La Paz. It left much to be desired. The site was basically destroyed by the Spanish, there´s a half finished museum with terrible lighting, no one has any idea why the site was there or what its significance was in the overall Tiwanakan empire, and the upkeep leaves much to be desired; there are shards of ancient pottery and bones scattered all over the site just waiting to be excavated- or taken by tourists. The best part of the half-day excursion was that next week, January 21st, Bolivia´s coca leaf chewing, agricultural, socialist leader, Evo Morales, is being sworn in Again- at Tiwanaku. So our trip coincided with the dress rehearsal for the main event which will be attended by various world leaders from as far afield as Iran (again!), Spain, Syria, Chile, etc. I didn´t hear anything about a US representative though the private security force prepping the site were all definitely american ¨mercenaries¨. The coordinators were walking past the ¨Don´t pass¨ signs and touching the thousand year old statues that have barely survived the last 700 years, and generally taking advantage of the space. There were maybe 3-400 people at this rehearsal. Next week there will be 40,000. I don´t think the archeological site stands a chance.

But back to now. I am at the Loki hostel and really experiencing the other side of south American tourism. I am so grateful my mom isn´t staying here (it reeks of smoke, there are LOUD backpackers everywhere) and I am pretty damn happy I´ll only be here tonight and when I come back to go to the airport. There is a bar and from what I can tell everyone here (mostly Australians) drink at the bar all night long, go out to clubs, snort a lot of cheap cocaine, come back and sleep all day long just to get up and do it all again. The few people I have talked to have all pretty much lost track of how many days they´ve been here, how much they´ve spent, and what day it is- or was- the last time they saw the sun. One girl said she was going to Tiwanaku tomorrow and a group of seven people all said, ¨Where? What´s that?¨even though Tiwanaku is basically the biggest tourist site around. Amazing.

So I am headed to the jungle tomorrow. Or, rather, an eco-tourism site not too far from La Paz, but in a tropical setting. I read about it on some travel blogs months ago when I was doing research and it seemed like a great place to go and relax before I go back to Austin and my life totally changes. I was looking forward to going with my mom, but I think it will be good by myself too. It´s called La Senda Verde if anyone wants to check it out: La Senda

Until then, it´s 9 pm on a Saturday night, and I´m going to shower and crash. As appealing as a night of cheap cocaine and beligerent Australians sounds, I think an early night of good sleep sounds much better. Sweet dreams, all!

We´ve left the magical (and apparently wealthy) city of Cusco for the higher regions of lake Titicaca. On the lush drive through the rain soaked Andes, we drove through towns that remarkably resembled Senegal. The wealth descrepency between Lima and Cusco was strong, but not that bad. Now we have entered a much poorer and struggling region. The street food stands, flooded streets, rebar sticking out of every building, trash strew about, farm animals roaming the streets, and the tacky cheap fonts that I have come to associate with the developing world. I can´t upload pictures here but for any of you who have traveled from Developed to Developing world, you must know what I´m talking about. The bubbly water ads, hair dresser´s signs in bright pink, billboards for all sorts of cheap food seasonings (read- MSG) with back shadows and bright orange... You know what about it. I don´t care about fonts, generally, but marketing is something I think about. We´ve got to import some savvy, sexy fonts down here, tourists aint buying the tacky stuff anymore.

Anyway, we are on our way out for a cruise on Lake Titicaca today and we are staying with host families tonight. It sounds like a kitschy experience, but I´m sure I´ll enjoy parts of it. In other news my stomach seems to have made a full recovery and I am back to my chipper self, alhamdulilahi. Buenos Dias, all!

Friday, January 8, 2010 2:13pm

Well. Here I am writing another update. This time from the sun-shine-y room of a private clinic in Cusco where I have been since last night. Indeed, the belly button of the earth has swallowed much of me, though I am slowly regaining strength and hopefully will be ready to be a happy tourist again tomorrow. Sadly, tomorrow my mom and sister will go to Maccu Picchu without me as transport cannot be arranged for a sickly lady and my body isn't ready for another mountain climb. This trip that has been so many years in the making is, therefore, being reconstructed. I do so hope that my mom has the most incredible experience of her life and that my sister will share it with her the way I would have liked us all to share it together. Allah sometimes has interesting plans and I don't fight with him.

It was hard to admit that not only was I too sick to go paragliding in my UT shirt yesterday (sorry about the results, Texans!), but was also too sick to even get out of bed (well, the ten feet between bed and the bathroom...). After 24 hours of constant pain and two doctors coming to visit me in the hotel, it was decided I should come here to receive better treatment. I have been hooked up to an IV ever since and have been getting cipro administered as well as constant blood pressure checks, two blood tests and two stool samples. (sexy, I know)

But do not fret for me, good readers. My situation is not so terrible. I may have been the sickest I have ever been yesterday (and that's saying a lot considering my travels in China and Senegal) but things aren't so bad for a white girl with money in the developing world. I have a room all to myself with a comfy bed and warm alpaca blankets. The nurses are very kind to me despite the language barrier, we are trying our best to communicate. My sister left me her little computer and while I don't have internet access, I can type and play solitaire and look at the loving pictures sent to me by Ben (best boyfriend ever) and the crew at the Fed last night, thank you so much everyone. I found a copy of The Corrections (one of my favorite books) at our hostel and brought it with me to the clinic, I'm already 100 pages in. I don't really remember arriving here (I was in a wheel chair!) so have no idea what the rest of the clinic is like but my room is very nice. The bathroom is clean (thank god!). My window is huge and looks out (if I sit up) on to the Andes that make this town a perfect belly button shape. Our tour guide came to check on me this morning and said, “Look, you can see the cathedral out the window!” To which I replied, “Oh yea, I visited it the other day!” He was surprised. But this gives me a sense of calm. In the days I was well I saw as much of this town as my feet were able to show me and loved every bit of my explorations. The touring around the Sacred Valley left me with no need for more and greater, anything more just being icing on the cake. I can't describe the beauty of this place, and although I may not see Maccu Picchu tomorrow, I would never complain about returning to this magical mess of fault lines. And besides. I Will be better tomorrow and ready to continue my explorations to Puno, Lake Titicaca, and La Paz. Hopefully the updates will be filled with more exciting stories soon. Until then, dear friends, adios!

Its been about ten months since I last wrote. In that time I've had just about the best year of my life, danced hundreds of hours, met an incredible man, reconnected with old friends and loved living in the US. The only time I left the US was for two days to go to Toronto with my sister in July. Why, with all these wonderful experiences did I not feel the need to write? Well, probably because you and you and you are all having exactly the same experiences in your american locales and don't really need to read about another fun night out off 6th street or how camping in Texas in November can still have warm days and beautiful crystal clear nights. You're doing it too. Maybe you're not, but as a summary:

My year in Austin was absolutely amazing. I got pretty into the swing dance scene and met some wonderful people and had some time-stopping dances. I traveled to San Antonio, Dallas (twice), New Orleans, Rochester and Toronto to dance. I met a great guy dancing that I decided to keep named Ben. I made all my friends come out dancing and a few of them have taken it up and started taking classes. I did not fail in the dancing department.

I had two jobs, for Emancipet and the University of Texas Board of Regents. I quit working at E+ in October and moved to almost full time at UT. It was great not having to work long hours on Fridays and Saturdays and wonderful to work downtown.

I spent all summer swimming at Barton Springs and I think I visited just about every art museum/concert venue/outdoor activity available in Austin. I went to a UT game, kayaked on lake Austin, hashed through the underground drainage tunnels of the city, got on stage to dance at the Mohawk on Halloween, climbed a mountain, spun under the Zilker park Christmas tree, saw Robert Earl Keen at Stubbs, ate numerous tacos out of numerous stands, took the bus almost everywhere, went toobing for my most wonderful birthday, spent Christmas at a super manly campsite in east Texas where I ate fresh smoked ribs and ten hour brisket, spent a night at the Driskill, and danced everywhere you can- and can't- imagine.

But now that wonderful adventure is coming to an end and I am now having seriously new adventures. I am writing this long overdue entry from Cusco, Peru (otherwise known as the bellybutton of the earth). Why am I writing a blog entry instead of playing outside? Well, the gods of travel have decided to cast a spell on my tummy and instead of sleeping through the sunlight, I decided to write a blog entry from a hammock in the beautiful garden of our hotel. Suck on that, gods of travel! [just kidding, please don't cause me anymore pain, gods!]

It is January 6th, Three Kings Day. There are very colorful and loud bands/groups traipsing around the city in crazy costumes to celebrate the holiday and it is pretty exciting to see all the different outfits. From what I can tell, each village/community organization has its own group that parades from its home base to the city center playing loud loud music on various instruments and encouraging the community to follow along. Last night, in Ollantaytambo (google, please), we got to see a small-town version of the same festivities. I kept thinking the guys in masks with whips would come after us tourists (a la Senegal) but they seemed very focused. One group kept pulling individuals out of the crowd, holding them in the air and tying and burning their shoelaces together. It was all in good fun and so easily enjoyed. Not like festivals in Senegal where if a crowd is asked to move back a riot erupts. With the Andes and ancient Inca ruins in the background it really felt like a unique experience that you just can't get every day on a tour.

I guess that brings me to why I'm writing today. I should tell you about seeing two Llamas grazing by a swing set, or the two people blowing bubbles in the market place today, or getting our passport pictures for our Bolivian visas and watching the picture taker photoshop our pictures so we wouldn't look so splotchy, or the breathtaking (literally, we're at 10,000 feet above sea level) views over the sacred valley (you can google it but it won't do it any justice because its the rainy season right now and everything is bright green), or the amount of gold in the many many churches I have already visited in Peru, but I have a question for you all. And yes, I know I have lost my entire reader base since last March. I will try to entice you all back.

Today I am wondering about where in the world one can have a unique tourist experience, if thats an oxymoron, if one would know it if it happened, and what tourism means to the local economy.

I have traveled a lot in the last few years, as you all know. This is my fourth tour around countries with my mom (Scotland/Ireland/Senegal/Peru and soon Bolivia) and we have very different ideas of how to define a unique tourist experience. When I saw the llamas grazing on the playground with no owner nearby, I felt like I was having a real experience. When we stopped at a ceramics factory with huge electric kilns and llamas in pens in the back, I wasn't buying into it. When I woke up early and went down to the just-opened market and had fresh squeezed orange and mango juice while watching the sellers set up, I knew I was the only tourist that day having that experience. When I went out for pizza with the rest of our tour group to a "real" Peruvian pizzeria and the Pan Flute band demanded tips from us, I felt like I was being jipped but everyone else was over the moon with excitement. A lot of the Incan ruins we've visited are 40% old and 60% new meaning the majority of what awes you is a reconstruction of past awesomeness. Is that OK? Legit? Does it matter if its unique if you get what you were expecting? My mom expects pan flute bands, so she loves them. Other people on the tour want to go salsa dancing, is salsa dancing native to Peru? I just don't know. Is it a real experience because I say it is? Because its what I expect as opposed to what others expect? What do I know about "real Peruvian culture"? How would I know when I was experiencing it without being immersed in this culture for two years as I was in Senegal? Are my unique experiences more real than others? I think probably not...

But it is interesting to see what tourism has done to all these cultures in developing countries. People from all over the world come to Peru to see llamas and Machu Picchu. Every small town we've been in we've heard the same things: the men are all porters on the Inca trail or taxi drivers in the city. The women make handicrafts to sell to tourists. The economy here is almost completely reliant on tourism, and as a result I feel like the "real experience" is lost behind pan flute bands and para gliding over the Andes (which, btw, I intend to do in the next couple days).As a result of all this economic muscle being invested into tourism, there is no incentive to invest in new development of cultural activities. So the tourism we experience now is a look at what once-upon-a-time-may-have-been-something-like-what-we-think-Peru-might-have-been-like as opposed to what it actually was, or IS. But now the IS is tourism. That is everything. If entire villages are buying taxis and making llama fur hats, that is Peru now, despite the fact that to me it may feel like a completely false representation of this culture I came to experience. So I am perplexed and wondering where in the world one can find this unique experience and if, in fact, what I think are real experiences are Real by nature of me thinking they are. Everyone has a right and an incentive to profit from tourism here, so I really shouldn't judge if an entire community of women dresses up in silly costumes to try to sell me ugly ponchos. Watching two llamas have sex behind their stalls made it totally worth it! But its hard to know what is real, what is fake, whether or not it matters, and how you feel about it. Anyway, this trip so far has been completely amazing and I expect it to continue. But please, let me know how you feel about this tourism catch 22, por favor.

At 6 am on 6th street this morning, I could barely tell that mere hours before the street, and all of Austin, was pulsing to the beat of over 1600 bands playing anywhere and everywhere throughout the city. The music portion South by Southwest(SXSW)started Wednesday and life has been a little off kilter for everyone ever since. Thousands of drum sets and amps flood the city from every corner of the globe for one of the world's best known and most popular indie music events, converging on the city like the bats that live under Congress bridge, for five days of beats, breaks, and bass. Austin-ites charge anywhere from $100-500 night for out-of-towners to sleep on their FLOORS. Alcohol flows freely- and I mean for FREE. The glamorous put on their skinny jeans and line the bathrooms to do coke. Pillow fights break out randomly on the streets. Fans line up for hours to see their favorite indie bands and then drink with them later in crowded bars. Drum and bass plays across the street from gangsta rap with heavy metal and rock bands playing on either side. Tappers have showdowns in the middle of closed off streets. Everyone eats hotdogs. Credit cards are maxed out. A lot of credit cards are maxed out. Festival goers lucky enough to have badges or wristbands crowd in to all size of venues to see just about every up and coming act you can think of. Secret shows by Metallica and the Indigo Girls get whispered like top secret information. VIP is the word everywhere. People end up with 10+ wristbands and stamps on their arms from one day of walking around. And there are people. Everywhere. FROM Everywhere. And there is MUSIC. Everywhere. FROM Everywhere. It is incredible.

I have seen all different kinds of music and partied all night long and met amazing people and drank stupid amounts of free vodka and danced til I couldn't walk and been to house parties busted by the cops and I've barely done anything since I've had to work every day. Musical highlites for me so far- Kid Sister, The Egg (London), The Reagan Administration, The Heartless Bastards, and French Miami but I've found myself enjoying lots of other bands while wandering around whose names I will never know. Grizzly Bear, M Ward, The Black and White Years are all getting tons of hype.

But this morning at 6am, there were no signs of SX craziness to be found. The streets were empty save a few extra cabs. The pavement of 6th street shined having just been washed, the trash cans were all empty. I could have gone to work today never knowing that there was a festival at all. Except, of course, that I do know, and I am so very grateful to be taking part.

Howdy folks.

I've started a new job this week with The University of Texas System (www.utsystem.edu for some reason my links aren't working). Its pretty great. Remember those nice men I was collecting signatures for a few weeks back? Well, one of them very kindly offered me a job and I'm so grateful because so far it seems like it will be a great opportunity to learn a lot of new stuff and experience a whole other side of Austin.

Anyway, now I have two jobs and bounce back and forth between EMANCIPE+ (www.emancipet.org the spay neuter clinic) and UT Systems Board of Regents office. Its gotten me thinking about all the various jobs I've had- mostly in an administrative capacity- and the very many differences between them all. In my head, my experience separates itself between Private companies, Non Profits and Government jobs. Each category seems to have defining characteristics and that's our topic today.

Non profits:

The first thing I always notice in non profits is the level of professionalism. You can get away with wearing converse to work and almost every desk will have little sticky notes that look about two years old with flowers drawn on them. This relaxed atmosphere works very well for a lot of people. It creates an environment where the office staff is normally pretty friendly and would probably invite each other out for drinks on the weekend. It also means that there is normally a lot of gossiping behind people's backs and when someone does something wrong, formal disciplinary action is normally replaced with a slight slap on the wrist. Non profits are also always tight on money which means the phone lines suck, the copier is always broken and the cleaner does a mediocre job at best. But the best and most redeeming thing about non-profits is how much people love to work for them. They are passionate about what they do and therefore get excited about coming in to work or working way long hours for very little pay. In that kind of environment it is exciting to be productive despite obstacles and rewarding when things go well.

Government jobs:

I have the least experience with these types but this is what I've gathered. Government jobs are cushy in that, although you may not be well paid, you get good benefits and as long as you do your job well enough that nobody complains you won't get in trouble and you won't get fired. There are a lot of birthday celebrations and cubicle toys in a government office. You have to wear slacks, but you can leave the tie at home. Chances are you're not going to see a window unless you walk to it. You can take long lunch breaks. You have five supervisors and are not sure what any of them do, some days you forget what you do. There are paper trails five miles long for every decision. Coffee is a very important part of a government job. You know the security guard at the door by name and may even know his kids names. Government jobs are great because they give you a lot of personal freedom although they may not challenge you much and if you blink you may realize its 20 years later and you're still at the same desk.

Private companies...

...are generally sterile. They are well decorated, very clean, and a lot of attention is paid to details in the office. But you probably have a cubicle anyway. Something about private companies always makes me feel a little uncomfortable. They're either too quiet or too fancy and I feel a little too "non-profit" for my environment. I don't like to wear heels, which are pretty much a requirement at least some days and I hate make up and that's never an option. People work very hard, but they get compensated well for it. They have huge budgets and use them to provide awesome services that are efficient and make money. At the same time, there are strict regulations for everything and all work and correspondence is well documented for auditing purposes. But! You probably get free drinks/food on a daily basis and as long as you get your work done you can even work out flex time. Also, you get cool perks like, "family appreciation days" at the local amusement park. (Not as cool if you're paying a mortgage, but I'll take it!) But its pretty easy to get away with forgetting your co-workers birthday, even though you've worked together for ten years.

The difference between EMANCIPE+, a low-cost spay/neuter non-profit where I have a cat living on my desk (her name is Bessie I'll put pictures up sometime) and any combination of gigantic dogs and chihuahuas slobbering on my stuff, and I go home covered with animal hair but still smiling after a ten hour day AND UT System where I wear make up and feel a real responsibility to work hard and the majority of the people we work for are millionaires, but I get to drink free tea all day and go home with red eyes from the fluorescent lighting is ASTRONOMIC. They could not be more conflicting environments, but I really do love them both and I appreciate that I get to do completely different, challenging work every day.

I don't know what the point of all that was, I just like to put my observations down and see if anyone has anything to say about them. My sister is coming to visit this weekend, and I'm throwing a Beers of the World party Sunday to welcome her to Austin. Hopefully it won't get too out of control (you'd think since I just moved here I wouldn't actually know anyone but somehow that's not the case) and we'll all have fun! Happy Weekend!

I have told a few of you about the Tsetse fly. But I haven't written about it here so I thought now would be a good time.

Everybody knows that the Tsetse fly is the reason Islam stopped spreading south across Africa in the 10th century. Oh. You didn't know that? Well, lets begin.

Islam grew fiercely popular in the 8th and 9th centuries and the traders from the Middle East who traveled down to North and West Africa brought their religion with them. Most Africans at the time were animist (worshipped multiple gods, celtic style), and they were quickly brought into the Muslim fold. Today, all of these areas are heavily influenced by the Islamic culture brought to them 1000 years ago by these traders. That was all fine and good, until the Muslims got south of the Sahara and met a strange obstacle in the Tsetse fly. The Muslims, as did just about everybody in those days long ago, traveled by horse and camel across the desert and brought cattle with them to trade and eat along the way. At around the 10th parallel north, the Muslims left the Sahara and entered a more tropical climate. And then they stopped. For all their animals started to die.

The reason was the Tsetse fly, a carrier of Nagana, a disease that kills livestock but has no visible affects in game animals. At the time, no one understood the disease but it stopped the expansion of Islam in its tracks and even now Islam has barely penetrated south of the "Flybelt," as its called. OK, so there's not much Islam south of the flybelt, well who cares?

I do, and I'll tell you why.

At least two of the countries on the 10th parallel have been in bitter civil wars for most of their modern history. Sudan and Chad have both been decimated by genocide and internecine warfare. One of the main conflicts in both countries is the northern Muslims fighting with southern animists. Where are these lines of conflict drawn? Right on the flybelt. Now I don't mean to say that these conflicts are directly related to the Tsetse fly, but I think it is pretty amazing that 1000 years later the affects of a tiny little fly are still making themselves known in some of the most brutal conflicts on our planet.

I first read in depth about the conflicts in Chad and Sudan in Martin Meredith's book The Fate of Africa (called The State of Africa outside the US) and then was told about the Tsetse fly situation later. Meredith refers to the 10th parallel as the dividing line between Muslims and non-Muslims although he doesn't mention the Tsetse fly. The history of split government in that country is literally on the flybelt and I think that it just fascinating. Wars are being fought because of a fly. Not exactly because of a fly, but in my head, that fly is a pretty important part of International Relations. So, tell your friends about the bizarre case of the Tsetse fly and War in Sub Saharan Africa. I've looked all over the internet and haven't found anyone writing about the connection, so maybe I'll develop my theory through research and write my masters thesis about it.

Any of you read this book by Bill Bryson? It's pretty funny, if not a trite anecdotal for my liking. However, it speaks for me and my kind in that it describes the bizarre discoveries one uncovers in America after living abroad for some time and then returning home. As I have done this readjustment a few times at this point, I often struggle to explain just What is so WEIRD about America. Bill has kindly done it for me. In his quips about this or that, he succinctly describes that which baffles all of us expats upon reentry. I will briefly summarize my experiences with some of his most poignant observations...

[I am alone at work today with nothing to do, so it will be long]

The aversion to walking:

This week I drove around a gym parking lot with a friend for ten minutes while he searched for the closest place to the door. In America, we pay to work out, so if we have to walk to the gym, its like free exercise, and we can't have that.

The aversion to public transport:

I often count, while walking, how many cars pass me with just one person inside, before I see a carpool. Sometimes it is as many as 30 cars. I'm sure some of these people are going the same direction, if not the same place. It may seem as if taking public transport is relinquishing personal freedoms but I think in fact it is just the opposite a lot of the time. I may be constrained by times and routes, but I am also free to read, sleep or talk on the phone while I get from place to place, saving myself from unwanted stress.

Options in grocery stores:

Bill talks about the number of incontinence diapers available. Well, I don't know much about that, but I think I mentioned counting stock at Whole Foods about a month ago? Wow does that place sell a lot of junk. They have about 600 options for hot teas(I'm not kidding). Who needs 600 types of tea? I'd like HOT tea, please, and no more decisions. Anyone who has been with me in a grocery store in the last four months definitely knows this is one of the most overwhelming parts of my re-acclimation to the US. Annie Bricker, her boyfriend Rick and I spent about 20 minutes picking out cupcakes the other night- it took that long because we had to decide between small or large, vanilla or chocolate, what kind of frosting, with sprinkles or without, carrot cake or mardi gras themed, etc. etc. It was a nice experience because I wasn't rushed, when too often I am.

Amounts of waste in America:

Back to Whole Foods. Every night they throw away everything in their bakery. I asked if I could have some pastries and they said they cover it all in rat poison so, no, it all gets wasted. About a mile away is a huge homeless shelter. Now, I'm not the biggest fan of giving away things for free but come on! This is like a literal TON of baked goods going to waste every night. And this is just in grocery stores- not to mention paper in offices, packaging material for marketing products, straws at restaurants, fruit that isn't perfectly shaped for our market, two year old cars, and everything else we carelessly dispose of after minimum use.

Donuts:

America has donuts. The rest of the world, except for maybe England, doesn't and has no idea what they're missing. This is an amazing thing about America. Obviously, there are other gastronomic examples of America's greatness- the brownie, Dr. Pepper, cheesecake, chocolate chip cookie dough ice cream, bagels with lox, cheeseburgers, craw fish, 7-eleven "cappuccino" drinks, grilled cheese sandwiches, ice cream sandwiches, NY style pizza, broccoli cheese soup, and many more. Also. If you work where I do, people BRING DONUTS to work to SHARE with each other. Awesome.

Misnaming things:

It is not a roommate if you do not share a room. Granted, it is not a flatmate either, if you're not in a flat, but still. It is NOT a roommate. Arugula is called rocket. An eggplant is called Aubergine. Trash cans are rubbish bins. My brain can't get around these things. My word of choice in America is "thing" because if I point, and you know what I mean, it doesn't matter what my brain thinks its called.

Consumer Craziness:

I do not watch TV, nor do I know if BluRay or HD is better when purchasing DVDs. I have played with a Wii and have enjoyed the ocarina application on an IPhone but do not need these things to feel like a person. I do not need a gas grill and a charcoal grill. I have five pairs of shoes. One belt. I get my hair cut for free. I do not buy hypo-allergenic make up (nor do I where make up much). I don't have a car. I sort of understand why people want these things, but actually, I don't at all. I've lived so long out of a suitcase that buying frivolous things (other than the occasional bottle of bubbles) makes little sense to me. Shopping to buy these things is, to me, justification to never have them. I get so overwhelmed and stressed out by over-marketed fluorescent-lighted stores that I have to get some fresh air!

Open Spaces:

America is the best place in the world to play outside. There are parks, creeks and sidewalks in cities and rolling hills, mountains, lakes and fields to play in nearby. In England I used to play a game on the train where I'd try to find ONE view with NOTHING man-made in it- just total open nature. I never once found a view with no electric poles or distant country roads. In America, I LOVE to play this game on the train, because I get rewarded all the time. I chose to live in Austin so I can go outside and enjoy the sunshine, my sister lives in Rochester so she can play in the snow. America is a beautiful place to be outside.

Security concerns:

You can park your car on the east side. You can walk out to your car alone. You can ride the bus. You can leave your bag on a chair and go to the bathroom. It will still be there. You can leave your front door open when you're in the back yard. You will not be murdered. Just chill out. America is WAY safer than people seem to think. Maybe I have a false sense of security from all those CCTV cameras in England.

Drug laws:

Too many people are in jail in America because of petty drug offences. Put them in treatment programs and decriminalize marijuana. Go for the big coke dealers and collect taxes from the pot heads. It'd be so much easier.

Random acts of Kindness:

Easily the best part of American culture. People are NICE. People help each other. People still say "Hello" when they pass and "Excuse me" when they bump (at least here in Texas and definitely in Oklahoma). They offer you rides for no reason except they like you, they buy you an apple chai because they think you're pretty- no other reason, they bring you donuts at work and share their very expensive root beer float, they drive all the way to south Austin when they live in Pfluggerville just to drive you to a dance, they pick up your shoes because you're stuck at work, they tell you they like your pants, they ask you questions about stuff they don't care about because they think you want to talk about it, they invite you to parties because you don't know anyone and then pick you up and drive you home because they want you there.

Its so nice to know I'm not alone in thinking all these things! Read the book! Go OUTSIDE to read it! Have a wonderful day!

Hey Team!

Well, I got a job! I work for EMANCIPE+ somewhere between part and full time. It takes me a long time to get there but it seems worth it so far. There are about thirty women and three men who work there, we're surrounded by animals all day, and the conditions of my job aren't that strenuous- I basically book appointments and handle inquiries all day. I have to wake up at 5 to catch a couple buses to get there, but I can either sleep on the bus, read the news, or watch crack deals take place, so its pretty fulfilling.

Today I'm headed to San Antonio for Lindy in Old San Antone, LIOSA, where, you guessed it, I'll be dancing all weekend comme toujours.

I hope you are all well. Sorry no insights this week on life and love! Oh! I'm gonna write a book (not really) about how to apply the insh'allah principle to relationships and love so they don't take over your life. NEXT TIME....

Everybody wish my dad, Bernest Cain, the happiest birthday ever! Its the big 6-0, but hes so fit and trendy that you wouldn't think he was a day over 40 (that birthday being one my earliest memories!). Happy Birthday Dad! You're the best EVER!

For the last week and a half I have been petitioning for three men who work for UT. They want to be on the Board of Directors for the University Federal Credit Union. Two of them have been on the Board before but were pushed out when it was time to get renominated in a semi-political debate about federal loans that left the UFCU without any Board members who represented the interests of UT. These men, who happen to be pretty big shots at UT, think that the credit union has made some decisions in the last couple of years that don't rightly reflect what the membership of the credit union would have done. As a result, they are determined to get back on the Board and represent the interests of UT. It is a difficult process. UFCU nominates three people to the board and for the last twenty years they have unanimously approved the candidates and no member elections have been called. This may be normal. I don't remember ever voting for my Oklahoma Employee's Credit Union board.

If you are not one of those nominees, you need 500 member signatures to get the credit union to call an election with your name on the ballot.

That is where I come in. Last week while passing out flyers for something I don't care about, I saw three men in suits standing on the drag in front of UT (if you've been to UT you know what I'm talking about). They looked very out of place and slightly uncomfortable stopping people on the street with clip boards. I went up and asked what they were doing and when they told me how much work they had to do to get the signatures I offered to help. Based on the fact that I'd been in the Peace Corps, they offered me more money than my temp job to collect signatures for them until the Feb 5 deadline. They have jobs and can't stand outside all day, and I don't have a job and don't feel awkward walking up to complete strangers so it was a mutually beneficial situation. I have collected over 200 signatures for them during the days and they continue to come by on their lunch breaks and help me out when they have time.

Obviously, the credit union doesn't want to go through all the trouble of holding elections so they have tried to make it pretty difficult for us to get signatures. When the other men aren't around, they tell me I can't stand in certain areas or that I have to get signatures in a certain way, though neither are real issues. Despite their meddling, we have collected over 500 signatures now and hope to have at least 600 (margin of error) to turn in on Thursday at 5:00p.m.

Its been a great exercise for me. Asking people to sign stuff isn't easy. Some people don't have time to stop, others are completely ambivalent to what they're signing while others have to know exactly why they're signing and why I am willing to help these men. Some don't want to put their personal information on a random sheet of paper, others flat out refuse to here about it. I've even had a couple UT faculty members not signed based on personal problems with the candidates. However, what I have found more than anything in my three weeks of canvassing at UT is that the majority of people are just happy to help out and appreciate you telling them to have a nice day. When people are rude or mean it hurts but it doesn't feel like a personal insult. It hurts because it seems so unnecessary to ignore or be rude to random strangers. Its obvious that everyone benefits when one person is nice to another. Kindness is therefore a non-zero-sum situation, so please remember this, everyone, in your daily lives.

Along the same lines, there are a lot of other first amendment crusaders on the Drag. The most prominent are the Evangelicals who come to preach the gospel and the scripture every day at 12:15 on the UT mall in front of the Union. I know this because I am right across the street and get to listen to them. Every day it seems to be a different man (one day it was a woman) with a different sign. The first day, the sign said "You deserve Hell!", another was "Jesus will forgive almost any sin if you're willing to repent!" [ALMOST any sin???] and, of course, they scream about good evil and how we are all doomed. Well, yesterday, ANOTHER guy came to stand next to the proud preachers and he had a sign that said "I'M WITH STUPID" with a big arrow that he pointed directly at our gospel givers. He stood there for an hour while the preachers kept on spreading the good Word and they did not fight. There were times when they exchanged words, and they were not exactly kind, but they both seemed to respect the other's right to stand there. That is how cool America is, and also why Austin has been such a great place to be the last three weeks.

When Obama repealed the abortion funding ban there was a pro life rally at the capitol with a pro choice rally right next to it. Not uncommon. While collecting signature a woman told me she was standing in line for the bathroom at Starbucks with a bunch of pro-lifers and she said to them "we can all stand in the same line, but I want you to know that I had an abortion when I was 19 and it was the best decision I ever made." She didn't tell me how the other women reacted, we'll have to guess.

I'm falling back in love with America in a silly little way, and these are the things that do it.

...is probably the most ridiculous show ever made. The acting is terrible, the plot makes no sense at all, and after five years I still don't think anyone has any idea whats actually going on. However, its appeal is still strong. I just went to someone's house specifically to watch the 2nd episode of the 5th season with eight students from the LBJ school of Public Affairs here. What is wrong with us?

Hey Team!

I failed miserably taking pictures at the LoneStar Championships this weekend but there was amazing dancing and I learned a ton. I competed in the Jack and Jill newcomers division. JnJ means you get paired randomly with three different partners to three songs and just have fun. I loved it. After FORTY HOURS of dancing from Thurs-Mon I woke up this morning feeling very ill. So I took the night off from dancing and am hanging out with my roommates, making brownies and generally having fun together. Here are a couple photos of my life 'round these parts...

This is Keith and Adrienne hangin out in our living room, a rare moment when we were all home.

The kitchen. Both Adrienne and Keith are into cooking and I often get to sample their yummy creations.

Our buddy.

The pictures you've all been waiting for- my adorable puppies that aren't puppies at all. Pearl, the Catahoula, is ten and Lula, the blue heeler is eight. They love to dance and play with Adrienne and me and they are sooo nice to come home to. Yay for pets!

This is Adam, who has very kindly taken me under his wing and become my friend. We spend a lot of time together checkin out restaurants and going dancing, hes awesome.

Qaddafi wrote this relatively interesting Op-Ed piece for the NYT. His views on the state of Israel and the right of return are interesting. Its also pretty crazy that hes being published in the NYT. Is that one good thing Bush did? Bringing Qaddafi to the moderate fold?

All is well in Austin. Working temp jobs to pay the bills and still applying left and right for other ones. Big swing dance festival this weekend- I'm even competing on Saturday! Ha!

Hey Team! Just wanted to put up some pictures a wonderful photographer, Tony Spielberg, took at the dance Thursday night. There are this many people dancing EVERY Thursday here! So cool! I've never really had my picture taken dancing so I am pretty excited about these photos.

This is Philippe, we met in November, he's a super fun partner.

The crowd.

Keegan and I basically just play around when we dance together.

The guy doing the dipping is a blues teacher, so graceful.

Yay group shots!

Philippe and I again, same dance.

This line dance is called the Shim Sham Shimmy and you sould watch it on You Tube. Its about as old as lindy hop and super fun to do.

Tony takes pictures of all sorts of cool stuff in Austin (the ballet etc.) so check out his website if you like photography!

My fingers are being licked by my adorable dog which makes it hard to type. I love Austin.

This is day THREE and I'm headed to my third interview. The first two interviews went well but I wouldn't be very happy doing either of the jobs. Everyone keeps remarking how terrible the job market is here now so I'm happy to go to the follow-up interviews. I've also passed out a few resumes to restaurants/bars etc. I need a job. :)

But other than that, this is such a great town. My neighbourhood (Travis Heights, 78704) is really off-the-wall. The houses are all funny colours and there are lots of "Peace Now" and "Obama" signs all over the place. My house is very cute and I like my room a lot. I have two housemates (Keith and Adrienne) who I have seen very little of but they both seem really nice. Not having a car hasn't proven to be too difficult and I like the buses just fine. Its been slightly chilly but so sunny that walking has been really pleasant. I've gone dancing twice so far (both times to LIVE BANDS!) and think I have dancing the next three nights as well. Pretty fun stuff! The people I know down here have been super welcoming and kind in terms of picking me up, showing me around, and telling me whats going on. But even strangers are really friendly. We'll see how long it all lasts!

There is another blog called D.A.R.E. Aware that exists to teach University of Dundee students in Scotland about international conflicts. Their explanation of the current problem is pretty interesting but I got stuck on "...after a period of genocide and mass extermination of the indigenous tribes they settled." Was that true I thought or a slight exaggeration? Well. I'm trying to get back to reading the bible (practice what you preach, etc.) and am around Joshua 15. Whoa. I guess there is sort of a ridiculous history of the Jews being bad ass over-the-top fighters when it comes to defending the homeland. It says a few chapters later that the violence was justified as a manifestation of God's covenant with Abraham. I'm going to have to think about that for a while.

Do you think there are many Israeli soldiers quoting Joshua on the battlefield now? Not even the battlefield, the suburban streets of Gaza City. My brain just can't comprehend that kind of violence. Incendiary bombs. Jesus.

On another biblical note, of the New-er variety, what was Tebow, the Florida quarterback, doing with John 3:16 on his face paint at the National Championship Game? What does having everlasting life have to do with touchdowns? I don't get it. Also. I couldn't figure out if that was a specially manufactured face tattoo (meaning someone had to program that setting into a computer that then printed the tattoo) or did someone sit in front of him meticulously etching the letters into the black face paint? Either way, it makes me laugh and scares me. Whoa. Just looked up John 3:16 on wikipedia- did any of you know that In-N-Out burger prints John 3:16 on the bottom rim of all its cups?

There is so much I just can't get my head around in this silly world. Someone please shed light on my darkest ignorance.

Austin tomorrow morning. I can't wait!

I'm back in Oklahoma City for about 36 hours. I know its been a long time and I should write about all the crazy things I did in New York/Israel/Rochester but I probably am not going to. I'm not even sure people still read the blog, but if you do,

HAPPY NEW YEAR!

I had an incredible time traveling around and am very exhausted but very excited about moving to Austin on Monday. Today as I sat in the Detroit airport for five hours waiting to come home, I just started typing about how I feel after all the traveling. I haven't edited it or even read it since I typed it, so forgive any obvious errors or obscene judgements.

Stuff I’ve been thinking about:

Unitarians, in general, don’t really know much about their Judeo-Christian heritage.

They should read the old/new testament and the Koran as well as all that crazy Buddhist stuff they love so much. There are cool relevant stories and I think congregations could grow together spiritually through the shared learning. At Melissa’s new member meeting they asked “if you could have anything going on at your church that you would tell people is ‘really cool’ what would it be?” For me, it would be to create and encourage groups that read these texts and then every week to give one of the groups a couple minutes during the service to say, “there is this cool story we read in the Koran we wanted to share with you all…” or “we don’t necessarily agree with this passage of the Old Testament the way its commonly interpreted but we came up with this other explanation that we like a little better and here it is:…” There is so much “anti” rhetoric in UU churches, especially against Christians. Christianity, despite all the “miracle” stuff that science can’t prove, is filled with wonderful ethical stories and parables for how people should live life. You’ve heard that your whole life, but have you read them? At the same time, a lot of UUs whole-heartedly support Islam as a faith because Muslims are the “global religious underdogs” when in my opinion there is a lot that needs to be questioned about it. Every religion needs to be questioned. I thought that was the responsibility of UUs: to study every aspect of multiple faiths, question them, and determine our own individual truths from our search. I feel like a lot of UUs are cheating themselves by rejecting what they don’t know all that much about. We’re getting lazy about our spiritual quest because being Christian or Jewish or admitting to believing in God has become taboo in our congregations.

Also. I think more UU parents with Jewish backgrounds should encourage their children to go on Birthright trips to Israel. The trips are totally free, most of them are secular, and the kids will learn a ton about a part of their personal history that they probably best identify as Hanukah candles, dreidels and the Passover service. It would be another way for UUs to reaffirm their own faith and also learn about a big part of a lot of UU’s backgrounds.

Israel is really fucked up. The Jews were persecuted for centuries all over the world so it makes sense that they have their own homeland. But really, since WW2 people are a lot less openly anti-Semitic (not to say that anti-Semitism has been wiped out- that is certainly not the case). So why can’t Jews co-exist in Europe, America etc without feeling the need for a Zionist movement? Also. A lot of people don’t think Israel should exist. There are Jews, Christians, and of course, Muslims who completely deny the right for Jews to have a homeland- especially on land that once belonged to the Palestinians. But then there are a lot more vocal people who believe that Jews have a right to their God-given (literally?) land OR, from the protestant perspective, for the prophecies from the Book of Revelations to be fulfilled, the second temple in Jerusalem has to be rebuilt in the Jewish holy land. But MAN there is a LOT of hatred in Israel.

First, although there is a lot of diversity within the Jewish immigrants in Israel, they are all Jewish so the “diversity” starts to feel artificial quite quickly. They have all made Aaliyah for the same purpose- to establish and legitimize the Jewish state. So although they have major differences when it comes to politics and how to handle the conflict, for me, it felt like everyone was basically the same and that they didn’t know anything about any other cultures or religions.

BUT what about all them Arabs on the borders? The Palestinians in the refugee camps? The groups like Hamas and Hezbollah that exist solely to undermine and eventually destroy the state of Israel? Golly, I don’t know. Seriously, the conflict is insane complex and so very misunderstood outside of the region. The very sad part is that if you ask an Israeli honestly if they think a peaceful solution is a possibility every one will tell you No. That’s what they all told me. They don’t have Arabic friends or interact with Arabs, ever. Very little trade happens between Israel and Arabic countries even though both sides could benefit from increased trade. The conflict can’t be taught in Israeli schools because (just like in Northern Ireland) the topic is too heated and there is no way to teach it in an un-biased way. (I don’t know how the conflict is presented in secular schools in Arabic countries) The beliefs of parents and religious communities are passed on without question to the youth. Also, from what I gathered, attempts made by governments and NGOs to foster peace through youth programs and educational dialogue are almost always unsuccessful. Kids are happy to play together until the Israeli calls the Arab a terrorist or the Arab jokes, “my dad will kill yours”. Sort of ruins a good basketball game…

Ignorance creates hatred, we all know this. The two sides know literally nothing about each other, and its heart breaking. I lived with a Muslim family in a Muslim country for two years and although I have my qualms with parts of the religion, it’s a beautiful faith that, like Judaism and Christianity, teaches peace and equality at its base. The only thing any Israelis really “know” about Islam is that it preaches the destruction of Israel. I don’t have any answers. The Palestinians are poor. The Israelis have the water. The Arabs bomb Israel sometimes without reason. The Israelis retaliate with 100x the force. It doesn’t make sense to me or anyone really.

It was a weird place to be and at a weird time. When we first arrived and were traveling through southern Israel they kept mentioning that the two year cease-fire with Hamas would be ending during our trip. That was pretty much all they said and we didn’t think about it again. We traveled in our Birthright-created American-tourist bubble around the country and sang songs of peace in our air-conditioned bus while the “real” Israel always felt just right across that road we were told was off limits to cross. I had a great trip and had all my answers about the conflict honestly answered and I really appreciate having had that opportunity. But do I feel like I got to see and experience Israel? Not really. Well, that’s not fair. I walked where Jews fought the Maccabees and crawled through caves where Jews hid from the Romans. I saw a Kibbutz and had a Shabbat service in King David’s tomb. I prayed at the Cotol, swam in the red sea, climbed Masada and lit the Hannugiah for the third night of Hannukah. It was free and I met great people, did cool stuff and learned a ton. So no worries, but I definitely have a lot more questions now. Birthright would say that’s the whole point. Good. Then, it was the last couple days of our trip and we were on the Livnot U’Lehibanot campus in Tzfat in Northern Israel. Suddenly our lack of contact with the outside world caught up with us when we signed online and the front page of the New York Times website was “Israel attacks Gaza”. WHOA. We had no idea. Why didn’t they tell us? Why didn’t we have a debate about what was happening and how we felt about it? Because that’s just not the Birthright way, I guess. Keep ‘em happy, create an “amazing” community of American Jews and lots of happy memories and leave the hard questions for people to answer when the trip is over. Ok. Remember, it’s a free trip.

Hey Team!

I've been in israel almost two weeks, leaving Sunday morning. We're celebrating shabbat so I shouldn't be on the computer but I forgot. SO Happy Shabbat and Merry late Christmas! I'll write lots when I get back.

Smiles

Me

Yo team!

I am writing to you from a double decker MEGAbus cruising down the snowy highways of upstate New York. America is amazing. For $1 I get to sit on a luxurious bus with WIfi for 7 hours. Stupidly, I didn't charge my computer battery but I'm still able to get a lot done. So cool. I'm thrilled I've got three more MEGAbus journeys to look forward to before 2009!

Also though: snow is cold.

Well, I'm off tomorrow morning at 5:40a.m., insh'allah.

Today is Tabaski/Eid/Feast of Abraham, the biggest holiday on the Muslim calendar. Many sheep died today. I tried to call Yaye Fatou's family about ten times and couldn't get through so I hope they know I'm thinking of them.

I have a pretty ridiculous itinerary- flying into Buffalo, megabus-ing to NYC tomorrow, Thursday megabus-ing to DC to see Liz Hill and some PC Senegal people and do a little swing dancing before busing back to NYC Saturday night to fly off to Israel from Newark on Sunday. My itinerary in Israel may or may not be accessible to you all but its pretty full on. Its a 14 day Birthright trip whereas most are only ten days. It focuses on hiking, service and exploration of our jewish heritage. We'll be doing eight hour hikes, picking fruit at an orchard and having lots of discussions about Judaism and the current political climate in Israel. I'll try to wrie about it but it doesn't look like we'll have much access to internet. However, I think I'll get to go swing dancing in Tel Aviv, so that could be cool. Also, I'm excited about being in Israel for both Christmas and the start of Hannukah. Sweet!

When I get back from Israel I'll be in NYC for two days before going to stay with my sister in Rochester for two weeks. Arriving back in OKC on January 10th, I hope to head right off to Austin. I've got myself an awesome apartment in Travis Heights with two people that seem really cool.

I'm very much looking forward to all these new adventures! Happy Happy Holidays to you all!

All right team. This is ridiculous. I'm going on strike.

It is too cold for me in America right now. I haven't been in the states past November in years so I had this notion that Oklahoma was always warm and flip-flop friendly. Boy, was I wrong.

I have things to write about but I'm going to go make hot chocolate instead. Bon week end!

Today is the 20th anniversary of World AIDS Day. Last year I got to sit behind the first lady of Senegal at a huge community wide event in Richard Toll raising awareness about HIV/AIDS.

This year I am in Oklahoma City and I barely knew it was happening. I drove out of my way to go to Starbucks this morning because a donation from every drink is going to Bono's (RED) Campaign. After ordering I asked the barista, "Are you guys involved in the World AIDS Day Campaign?" He replied, "Are you talking about me personally or the store?" He had no idea and hadn't been told about the campaign. Starbucks customers in Nichols Hills were not told that they were making a difference just by buying their soy decaf lattes.

Then I picked up today's NYT and not until page 24 did I even see a mention of World AIDS Day, and that was in an editorial! I was shocked. Around two million people died worldwide of AIDS last year and there are an estimated 33 million people living worldwide with HIV/AIDS. True, there are only about 500,000 people living with HIV/AIDS in the US but my goodness- back page of the NYT? This is a huge day in the developing world and one that people take very seriously. Peace Corps volunteers plan events and work with local NGOs to raise awareness in areas of high risk/exposure. But what about here? Is a low infection rate reason for apathy and complacency? The NYT triumphs the fact that it is one of very few news organizations with a permanent team in Iraq reporting the news that everyone else has stopped caring about.

To be fair, later in the day I saw a lot more reporting about the events unfolding world wide and Pres. Bush's speech at a World AIDS Day event. In his defence, Bush has done a LOT to encourage AIDS awareness in Africa and its one program that he should be applauded for though he just f'ed up everything else so much it gets lost in the complaining. But good for him for taking time out of his lame duck schedule to continue to fight for causes we can't afford to forget about. I hope you all take a minute to look up whats being done around the world today. Its an important day.

Another diatribe from Bryn...

Hey Team! Isn't it funny how ridiculous big family holidays are? I don't know about you but my family is pretty bonkers when they all get together. My dad picks on his "little" brother like they're still kids and my Grandma fights for control of the kitchen with her various children while everyone argues over the best way to prepare cranberry sauce. I just ate. And how!

My Uncle David prepared the yummiest turkey ever! His culinary master chef son would have been so proud.

My best friend Vessy spent Thanksgiving with us and my dad affectionately called us three "The Junk Bunch"...

Before we all split for our various Thanksgiving meals my sister Melissa and I joined the Severance sisters and their boyfriends for some yummy Turkey Day mimosas and pumpkin muffins to start the holday off right. Definitely a tradition worth keeping.

The day after Thanksgiving we piled in Vessy's car and she patiently drove down to the Riverwalk so we could all watch the Christmas lights get turned on for the first time for all of us in Adulthood. It was so much fun and I was very giddy! After the lights turned on I started singing "We Wish You a Merry Christmas" and a few other brave souls joined in. It was great. Only down side- almost freaking out while walking through River Center mall. I am NOT yet ready for that kind of craziness. Christmas shopping? Doing it online, thank you very much.

Hey Everybody!

Happy Thanksgiving!

I've made it to San Antonio with Vessy and a HUGE smile on my face! We even went to a rockabilly show in San An tonight. There were only six people there (including three of us...) but we still danced and had a great time. I ended my weekend in Austin Monday night with a rockin' blues night in East Austin, TC's- CHECK IT OUT.

I may have also decided that I'm going to move to Austin in January. As Vessy says, I am in the unique and privileged position of having a year to kill before my wonderful opportunity to study in Australia. I may as well do something fun that I enjoy and since I happen to love swing dancing so much, and Austin has such a great scene, and the people of Austin welcomed me with such open arms (literally) I think I'm going to do it.

The guy in this photo is Mark Kapner and he's KIND of a big deal. He played at Woodstock Oh SO VERY Many years ago and has been a ragtime piano player/blues musician his whole life. Sunday night he heard me singing to Nina Simone while we were dancing and invited me and two other people to a room with a grand piano. He played and we all sang, four part harmony style, to such favorites as The Tennessee Waltz, Oh Pharaoh Don't You Weep, The Lion Sleeps Tonight, and I sang Blue Moon all by myself- the first time I've sang in front of people since I lived in Australia eight years ago. It was so fun and wonderfully liberating- and a pretty good break for my aching feet. We ended, of course, with Goodnight Irene and headed back to the dance floor. Such a wonderful, perfect, happy weekend. I wish you all could have been there to experience it with me.

I'm having one of the best weekends of my life here in Austin. I've been dancing all night for the last three nights and although my muscles are killing me I've got a HUGE smile on my face. You wanna know what sucks about Oklahoma?? There's NO swing dancing! It really is what makes me absolutely happiest in the world.

I took the Amtrak down Thursday and had dinner with Justin Kosoris, a good friend of mine from Senegal who's now at UT. He dropped me off at the first dance and I got straight on the floor and tried to meet as many people as possible. At midnight the first venue closed up and we all moved over to the Kick Butt Cafe for late night Blues dancing. I'd never seen blues dancing before and I think I may be becoming a fan. Its very sensuous and is all about the tension between you and your partner- so sexy. I'm staying with a nice guy named JP who also loves the late night dancing so we got home around 3:30...

Friday I slept most of the day and we started dancing again at 8pm and didn't stop til 4:00! The people here are really friendly so there's no trouble finding partners and people have come from all over the states to dance. BUT there are more Canadians here than Okies, if that says anything about the scene in OKC.....

Saturday afternoon we went to a showing of Back to the Future at a super cool theatre here. There were three comedians talking over it, MST3K style, and we all drank and danced throughout the movie. Then the dancing started again! Last night we were out til past 5 and I really shouldn't be awake now. My stupid camera is in the shop so I barely have any photos but I'll try to steal other peoples. Dance Dance Dance all night long!

Interesting thing- I met a girl from Colorado who has sort of become dedicated to dancing. She works as a server at Chilis and travels every other weekend to dance around the country. I've either got to move somewhere I can dance for the next year or start doing this crazy travelin' or I'll never be happy! :)

My post yesterday seems quite bitter re-reading it today. I don't mean to knock Oklahoma, its such an amazing place with so many kind people and cool things to do. Yesterday Nikki and I walked four miles at Lake Hefner which is one of my absolute favorite places anywhere and just gets nicer every time I'm home. You can rent bikes FOR FREE there- where else in the world can you do that? I'm also hitting the restaurant circuit and would once again like to reiterate how amazing the international cuisine is here in OKC.

The problem is I'm somewhere between a foreigner and a local here now and it gets very confusing and frustrating for me. I shouldn't take it out on OKC or my friends or family, all of whom are so very accommodating and patient with my wild mood swings. I'll try to be better. I'm so very looking forward to swing dancing in Austin though!

Nikki, Scotty and I went to SKYY bar, a terrible excuse for a club in Bricktown. We arrived, unbeknownst to us, at the end of a "Singles Mingle" so everyone was drunk/fat/old/sleezy- it was a GREAT night!

I love this car.

The super-shnazzy Asain grocery store

Oklahomans against Proposition 8- semi-ironic because God knows it'll be at least a decade before ANYTHING remotely resembling Prop 8 could be on the ballot in OK.

I went to a COUNTRY concert! I know, I don't believe it either. It was Kevin Fowler, an apparently famous "Red Dirt" country singer from Austin. The men were in cowboy hats and the girls all looked like barbie dolls. I don't fit in here AT ALL. I learned how to two-step which is sort of a ridiculous dance. I'm already ready to get out of OKC again and its been less than a week. God help me!

Hey everybody!

I'm back in Oklahoma with A LOT on my mind. Being unemployed does that to you, I reckon. I haven't started wishing I was back in Senegal yet. Sometimes, though, I type like I'm on a Senegalese keyboard and apparently I talk to animals in a combination of French and Wolof which I haven't noticed until its been pointed out to me. Basically I'm trying to relax, have fun, find a job and slowly re-integrate into this hyper-society.

I got pretty excited because Rotary initially told me they wanted me in Australia in February 2009. I thought that was a year early, but they assured me so I got excited about my quick trip home and stopped looking for jobs. Well, two weeks later they corrected themselves and I do have to wait til Feb 2010 so I'm now back on the job hunt. My parents and I are all scared that I may end up in Oklahoma City for the next year. I have no idea what that would mean workwise but I'm very nervous about the prospect. So I'm looking at jobs everywhere and again, appeal to you my loyal readers, if you have any ideas. I'm hoping some of the schmoozing opportunities I'll have in the next two months will bear job-style fruit. On verra...

Until then, I'm filling my time. I go to the YMCA every morning (they play the Christian radio station in the swimming area which encourages me to keep my head underwater) and then beg friends or family to drive me around the rest of the day. Without a cell phone or a car and living at home- I'm pretty much back in middle school, its SWEEET.

BUT, in very silly news- I've registered for a FOUR DAY swing dance conference in Austin, TX next weekend and since you all know that swing dancing is my absolute favorite thing you can imagine how excited I am about it! Anyone wanna come??? Austin Lindy Exchange

We're thinking about having an unemployment party this weekend because, apparently, there are a lot of us floating around. Si vous voulez, vous pouvez venir! :)

I'm in Laguna Hills, California and its sort of a good/bad vacation. My mom and I planned to come here to see my grandma who turned 97 (!) Nov 5 and check on my aunt who was treating a brain tumor. Since we booked the tickets my aunt passed away so now our trip involves picking up her ashes, sorting through her apartment and organising her finances. My mom is doing everything and it just sucks that anyone has to do this but I guess it happens all the time. At the same time, its a nice chance for my mom and I to spend time together and hang out in the sunshine. Also, my bestest guy friend in the world, Noah, is coming all the way down from Berkley to see us. I haven't seen him since I went to Senegal so I am very very excited. So there are positives and negatives about this trip like everything in life. Its interesting being here in the wake of stupid Proposition 8 getting passed, its all over the news, and its nice to be in a sunny place where people don't look at you funny for supporting Obama. Happy weekend everyone. Hope all is well. x

"Senegal for Obama"

I am back in Oklahoma. It is bizarre. I'll tell you the truth, I haven't showered yet. I think I'm afraid to wash off all these amazing experiences of the last two years...

Goings on at the polls:

Everyone in line when I arrived was white. By the time I left there were a couple other colors but mainly white.

The man in front of me had never voted before, he looked about 35.

Everyone appeared to have driven even though they live in the same neighbourhood (I guess they have jobs or something?).

No one was really talking in the lines at all.

Oklahoma still uses open cardboard dividers between voters and paper ballots.

Lots of people were commenting that this is the first time they've ever had to stand in line to vote. I waited about thirty minutes.

There were all these local city issues that I hadn't seen on the OK Election site so felt like an idiot leaving stuff blank my very first time actually voting in person.

I knew fewer people in line than I thought, though I probably knew five of them by name.

I wore a Senegalese wrist band so I could pretend I was representing all the Senegalese people who wish they could vote for Obama.

I really got no feel at all for whether most people were voting McCain or Obama, but one can only hope...

There were lots of babies and dogs voting. Or rather, hangin' out.

Other than voting I've been holed up in my mom's house all day. I'm going to the big democratic watch party tonight so I'll get all glam and hopefully have fun. So Weird to be Back! I called my host family in Senegal. My host dad is staying up all night to watch the election in the Obama shirt I sent him. It was so great to talk to them (my french hasn't disappeared yet!) and it made me really wish I could share this day with them. Sigh. Hope you all voted and are as excited as I am about a real change in this country.

Its my last night in London probably for the next couple years. Its sad to think I'm saying goodbye to a city that has been so good to me and brought me so much joy but I like to think it will still be here when I come back.

Tomorrow I fly to Oklahoma and I am, comme toujours, very nervous about how it will all go. London has been a fly-by vacation filled with late nights and solitary walks and lots of time for reflection about Senegal. I have been the happiest I've been for years the last couple weeks. Everything has been easy, I've gotten to see great friends and I got to do a lot of silly, fun things. I know Oklahoma will be great but I always get anxious about what will be waiting for me there. Its funny becasue I'll really only be there two days before leaving for California and the election is happening so it'll fly by. The thing is, London feels very normal to me. I spent four years here before Senegal and I just understand how everything works without any effort. But its been six years since I spent more than two weeks in OKC at any one time and I'm looking at being around at least til January this time and its a bit daunting. The thing is, silly things that are completely normal to everyone else, like cars with ipod hook-ups, what football team is number 1, or what Jon Stewart said on the Daily Show last night are all very foreign concepts to me. The other problem is, I don't really care. I may start to care after a few weeks, but its just been a long time and I feel pretty disassociated from the life I left when I was 17. But I always feel this way when I go home so I should be used to it by now.

Going home also really signifies the end of my crazy Peace Corps experience. Thankfully, I have an answer when people ask me what I'm going to do with the rest of my life. But I haven't figured out exactly what to say when people ask what I did with the last two years... The thing is, I just don't know what people want to hear. I've talked a lot in London about the pressures of living alone as a white woman in a black muslim country, and the amazing freedom of anonymity I've embraced so much in London. I've mentioned the business classes I taught and how I was able to help entrepreneurs secure loans to start or expand their businesses. I've mentioned the parties we had at the Peace Corps houses and the awesome libraries I ransacked. British people don't ask all that many questions, though, so most of the time I either avoided the subject or kept my answers short and anecdotal ("Yea, I sat on a sheep multiple times as it was being slaughtered...") But most of it doesn't sound all that interesting and unless I could accompany every conversation with a photo montage I just can't imagine it makes any real sense. But I'm going to try to just figure it out.

I also just need to recap some of the cool stuff I've done in the last couple weeks: eaten at Nandos four times, swing danced twice, saw UNDERWORLD at the Brixton Academy, visited a Lambic brewery in Brussels where the beer is made by spontaneous fermentation, visited the Tate Modern with Hunter Ryan, salsa danced for the first time with West Africans in Brussels, visited the coolest bookstore ever in Glasgow and had a home cooked meal, bowled with Victor and a crazy bunch of South Africans, walked through central London at night, went to the Blues bar four times, almost got married to a nice British guy, saw my professor, Deckers, at LSE, found out I was getting the Rotary scholarship and basically just smiled with the joy of someone who knows they've accomplished something she can be proud of. I've got to crash now before my flight early tomorrow but I thank you all again for supporting me and reading my uninteresting ramblings. x

I was going to write about Belgium but instead I'll just say: I just got a phone call telling me I've been accepted as a Rotary Peace Scholar for next year in Brisbane Australia so I'll be getting my masters degree in conflict resolution paid for in full by Rotary International!!! ALHAMDULILAHI!!!

I have to catch a train to Brussels at 7a.m. and for some ridiculous reason I'm still awake. It has, however, been a fabulous evening. I spent all day walking around London and I don't just mean mosey-ing around, I have walked this city to the ground. Its amazingly liberating to be able to walk without being harassed and London is my favorite city to walk in so I have LOVED anonymously wandering through old and new neighbourhoods. My first week here I walked from Kilburn to Oxford St, last night I walked from Waterloo station to Oxford St and today I walked from Holborn to Old st. Its amazing and no one ever even glances at me. I've had my Ipod in my ears most of the time (I previously was very against headphones) and the music has helped me bounce along to my own rhythm. So it makes it much easier to zone out which is exactly what I need in my bizarre readjustment stage. This evening, though, was fantastic. First, I ate at Nandos. Now, most of you have heard of my love for Nandos or been forced to eat at one. I had five hot hcicken wings and peri peri chips. Those of you who know, know. I tubed it to Oxford St just in time for the Swing Dance warm up at the 100 Club. Last week when I went dancing I had the wrong shoes and felt like a fool all night. Its hard after a year to swing like a pro on a dance floor and I was a bit upset with myself with last weeks performance. This week, however, I was armed with new, cute flats from Glasgow and a major desire to shake my tail feather. I danced every dance for three hours and it was amazing. If you've never been swing dancing, you must try it. I used to go every Monday and it was, and is, my absolute favorite thing about London. So I danced like crazy and was soaking with sweat by the time I decided to limp over to Ain't Nothin But... the best blues bar in London. When I arrive, who did I see but Hunter Ryan, a YRUU friend of mine from WAAAY back that I haven't seen for six years. It was amazing to see him as a man and to have a night out with him in London. When the blues bar closed we all headed off to the Cro Bar, the ultimate Heavy Metal Late Night bar in London and there we stayed until just recently when Tom and I caught a bus home. So now its time for me to catch my bus to Brussels and although I had intentions of a diatribe about readjustment, we'll all just have to wait. Bonne Nuit. xxx

Well well, time flies! I've got lots to say but Elis's keyboard is less reliable than a Senegalese keyboard so you'll have to wait til I'm back in LDN tomorrow. I'll just say: I love swing dancing and don't love cold. I love seeing Elis and don't love overnight buses. etc.

Also. Since everyone keeps asking, this is my itinerary til January:

Tonight- megabus to London

28-31 Oct with Tiffany in Brussles

31 Oct-3 Nov London

Nov 3-6 OKC

Nov 6-12 Orange County, CA with mom

12-before Thanksgiving OKC

Thanksgiving- Texas

after Thanksgiving-Dec 10- OKC

Dec 10- NYC

Dec 11-13 Washington DC

Dec 13- NYC

December 14-28 Israel (Birthright trip)

28 Dec-10 Jan With Melissa in NYC/Rochester

AFTER- MUST FIND A JOB.

Whoa. This other world is bizarre. White people everywhere, trendy shoes, beer, ice cream, reliable comfortable public transportation, anonymity, leaves, bacon, and all sorts of other ridiculousness. The last couple days have been great. I've seen bubbles and puppy dogs and eaten yummy food and taken a lovely walk in a beautiful park- kicking leaves as I went, been cold, taken hot showers, worn makeup, slept multiple hours in one night, and basically have been relaxing and enjoying all the weird emotions that are accompanying my transition back into the first world. I feel very out of place a lot and have no idea how to contribute to conversations, but british people really don't ask a lot of questions anyway, so it hasn't been much of a problem. I feel SO un-cool though all the time. Every time I mention Africa it sounds like the lamest comment that these nice people have ever heard. Also, girls are SO pretty in the first world but they are ridiculous. Its so cold outside but they wear barely anything and although they look very sexy (SO much makeup) I'm not really feeling the urge to go buy a huge trendy wardrobe. I do need a coat though, and thats tomorrow's goal. THEN I get to go swing dancing and for the very first time ever my friends are actually saying they may come along. I doubt it will actually happen but we'll see...

This is my lovely friend, Victor. We lived together in Australia in 2001 and he was like a brother to me then. I hadn't seen him since and yet here he is in London and it was fantastic to see him. He came out with his lovely girlfriend the other night and we reminisced and giggled with very big smiles.

The driver of this awesome vehicle serenaded ME with a love song right outside of Covent Garden. I was all smiles and the bubbles were a wonderful added bonus- Oh the First World!

Elis and Paul staring out the bus window at about thirty cops who seemed to be standing around just to look mean and stuff. Silly.

Yaye Fatou and I...My little Malick...

My boys:Mike, Nick, Casey, Josh

Very cute kids on KoriteSandy and I after bribing our way into the Gambian side of the stadium for the match, exciting stuff!.... and the only picture I felt safe to take of the riots after....Look at me rockin' the Senegalese clothes on Korite...

Last but certainly not least, here's a picture of Jet Richarson, my replacment in Richard Toll. He's great and I can't wait to hear how he settles in next month...

Well, this is it team. The last post from Senegal. I'm pretty excited and very exhausted. I haven't been doing a whole lot except bureacratic stuff at the office, but I haven't slept well in the last couple weeks (anxiety?) and its starting to catch up with me.

So how do I feel at the end of my two years? I'm not really sure. I've learned a lot about Senegal, Islam, west African development, fish and rice, but everything else is sort of difficult to qualify. As some of you may know, I've had a lot of trouble with Senegalese culture. It is harsh and unforgiving and people have a weird sense of entitlement that I will never understand. I have made amazing and wonderful friends here, and it breaks my heart to know that I don't really plan on returning to Senegal any time soon and theres a very good chance I'll never see most of the people again. At the same time, Senegal has showed me a lot of the evils lurking inside me. I've treated people in ways that I never thought I was capable of and its difficult to reconcile the happiness I've felt here and the sincere sadness I feel thinking of what this country has done to me. I will have to come to terms with it all at some point. Not today, though. The point is that a Peace Corps service pulls you in every direction in every way- emotional, physically, psychologically. It is awesome and scary and unpredictable. But I never thought I would make it this far. I truly didn't. I sat with Melissa at a bar in Rochester drinking margaritas telling her sincerely that I thought I'd be home after two weeks. But here I am emailing you from our air conditioned Peace Corps office on my way to London Friday. Crazy. It feels absolutely awesome.

I watched a DVD of the Flaming Lips concert at the OKC Zoo (which coincidentally was the day before I joined the PC) yesterday (why is this DVD in Senegal?) and I can't tell you how excited I got just thinking that so soon I'll be back in Oklahoma seeing my family and all the positive energy that Oklahomans are so well known for. The election is looking hopeful for us democrats, I'm going to Israel in December and have at least one job offer to teach english in China so I may just survive a little while longer and my smile may not fade away. Saying goodbye to my PC crew will be hard tomorrow but there is a bright and wonderful future waiting for me.

Thank you all for your incredible unflinching support. I'll keep writing on here and hope to see everyone on the other side. xx Smiles, me

http://news.bbc.co.uk/sport2/hi/football/africa/7665619.stm

http://uk.reuters.com/article/worldFootballNews/idUKLB63067920081011

Whoa. Crazy stuff. I went to Thies Friday to say goodbye to my host family there and spent a little time with the new kids. Six of them decided to come in to Dakar with me Saturday for the Senegal-Gambie World Cup Qualifier. We came in and met probably twenty other volunteers and then everyone got separated trying to get into the stadium. The new kids got inside and immediately had a couple wallets stolen. The rest of us couldn't fight the mobs at every gate to get in so we sat outside for most of the match. There were eight other people with me when we eventually bribed our way into the Gambian section of the match, though we had to take off all our Senegal supporters gear. We only saw the last twenty minutes of the game but saw both goals and the crazy destruction that followed. Senegal didn't end up qualifying for the World Cup and there were some pretty angry fans.

We stayed in the stands as long as possible but a lot of the other volunteers, those who had made it in the stadium and also those who eventually gave up, got caught in massive riots as they tried to leave. We watched as fans ripped the opposite side of stands to shreds and lit anything they could on fire. At the same time, the new kids- who have been in country a whole month- went to their agreed meeting place to meet up with a car to go to the beach. They got in the car in the middle of a riot and the driver proceeded to run down two pedestrians at about 25 mph before jumping from the vehicle leaving the new kids to defend for themselves against the hordes. They basically got everything they had on them robbed (cameras, money, ID, phones) and one kid got hit in the head with a rock and bled. A lot. Another volunteer got attacked by a mob leaving the stadium and had upwards of five rocks hit him. I was with two other people and we ran into a nearby neaighborhood and found a bar and waited the situation out. It was more scary for the others than it was for us.

The problem is prices have gone up so much in Senegal lately for electricity and food that people are already worked up and angry. All week they've been having pretty big riots in Dakar about electricity blackouts and the stadium happens to be in the same neighborhood as the Senelec headquarters. When Senegal didn't qualify it was sort of another justification for violence. A really crazy way to end my service in Senegal. I'll try to post the very awesome photos from the game soon. Til then....

Well, that just about sums up life at the moment.

Leaving site was sad and also not. I am ready to move on and I think I will keep in touch with the few very close friends that I made. Saying goodbye to Yaye Fatou's dad was realy difficult. I've spent more time with him than probably anyone and he's one of very few men here that I trust and feel completetly comfortable around. He has been my dad here, comforting me when I'm sad, always making sure that I'm getting my work done, and encouraging me to go on to do great things when I leave here. Also, he's the only person in Senegal I have serious discussions with- about every topic under the sun. We've learned so much from each other and our goodbye was very heartfelt as was my goodbye with his three wonderful daughters.

I was having trouble sleeping my last couple weeks at site, probably as a result of nerves/fasting/my broken bed frame... My first night in Dakar I was able to sleep ten hours and it felt amazing. Last night, however, we stayed up til 3am watching the debates and then I woke up at 6:30 to get ready for my medical appointments today. I thought Obama looked pretty uncomfortable and incoherent last night but I see his leads in the polls haven't dropped, so thats comforting.

So I have one more week in Senegal and lots more to do. We have to go through bureaucratic craziness before the PC will let us leave and it all takes time. I'm also going to Thies friday to say goodbye to my host family from training two years ago and to talk to my replacement, Jet Richardson. I think he'll be a great replacement and will try to put a picture of him on here for you all. I'm very excited about the next stage in my life, even though I have no idea what I'm going to do. Yay for the unknown! Also, thank you to whoever commented on my last post, it was so kind.

It has come. I'm spending today with the two families who have meant the most to me and then leaving for Dakar early tomorrow morning. Last night four of my favorite peace corps friends came in and we had our last bacon cheeseburger barbecue on my roof. It was really fun and very sad to say goodbye to them this morning.

Saying goodbye to my Senegalese friends has been much as I expected, no crying, no hugs even, just a simple, ok, see you later. Today will be the big test though. As some of you know my relationship with the host family I live with is not that strong. But I spend all my time next door with Yaye Fatou's family and a lot of time with her aunt's family as well. Today I will be saying goodbye to them and i'm nervous. I'm sure it will be OK.

my room is empty. My bags are packed. Everything is done. Time to go.