Catching up

I'm sorry that it has been ages since I've posted anything. I'm in my last semester of school and I am stressing about all the things that need to get done in the next few months.

Here are some of the highlights from the last month:

Snow! In Atlanta! It wasn't much, but it was cute how excited everyone got. The kids of Atlanta were all really disappointed they didn't get a snow day.

A few weeks go we went to the Honda Battle of the Bands, a showcase for the top 10 marching bands from Historically Black Colleges and Universities. It was pretty incredible.

Praying for Rain

Sorry I've been MIA, I've been overwhelmed by work lately. I had to share this story from today's news. The Governor of Georgia hosted a non-denominational prayer group this morning to bring Georgians together to pray for rain. Hmmm... they really haven't said too much about water conservation but they are turning to prayer? Conveniently the weather forecasters are predicting a drizzle tomorrow.

Bob

Meg and I went to the Bob Dylan and Elvis Costello concert on Saturday night at the Gwinnett Center. Apparently the Gwinnett Center is in a place called Duluth and not in Gwinnett since Elvis and Amos Lee, the opening act, kept greeting the people of Duluth. Amos was great, Elvis amazing, and Bob… well… he was Bob. I can’t really say that Bob sang, it was more spoken word, but that would imply that the words were understandable. He sort of mumbled, but even that makes it sound like he was more articulate than he was. He never greeted the crowd and never interacted with his band. It was so weird. I’m glad I went, but I don’t have to do that again.

Dense Boobs

When I went in for my annual exam a few weeks ago, my doctor found a lump in my breast that she thought I should have checked out. So I went for my ultrasound today at the Winship Cancer Center. It was awful; there is minimal signage, so I didn’t have a clue where I was supposed to be going. The word ‘cancer’ is everywhere… seriously, do people really need to be reminded of why they are there? Once I finally found the appropriate office the receptionist was kind of a wacko; I thought maybe she was wearing a Bluetooth headset, but no, she was talking to herself. I spent two and a half hours sitting in a waiting room with other people while wearing a hospital gown. Couldn’t they let us keep our clothes until the exam?

The exam was five minutes. The doctor spent most of the time talking to the nurse and didn’t address me until the end of the exam when she told me she didn’t see anything and briefly made me feel stupid for being there. Now I am just angry about the way I was treated. She seemed to sneer a little bit when she said I have dense breasts.

Well the whole experience was a good lesson in what breast cancer screening shouldn’t be… good lessons for the thesis I guess. Grr. At least I did insist that they pay for my parking since they made me wait that long.

Meet-Ups

Well, I just signed up for the Metro Atlanta Dachshund Meet-Up Group, I was a member last year, but they dropped me for lack of participation (most of the meet-ups were outside the perimeter, ugh). I keep running into attractive men with dachshunds, so I’ve got my fingers crossed that they are part of this group. Do single heterosexual men own wiener dogs? Some dogs are pretty good indicators of the sexuality of their owner (ie. the herd of rhinestone collared Chihuahuas with the enormous man wearing the Atlanta Negro Gay Rugby League t-shirt). I just can’t tell what a dachshund says about a man.

Anyway, I was perusing the other meet-up groups in the Atlanta area, here are some highlights:
Local Survivors of International Child Abduction (13 members, oddly listed under “TV”)
The Atlanta-Georgia Draft Al Gore Premiere (27 members)
Paranormal Seekers & Investigators of Atlanta (176 members)
Atlanta Streetcar Advocacy (1 member)
Atlanta Vampire & Non-Conformists Meetup Group (271 members)
Classy Singles Waiting, Wanting But Not Desperate 4 Marriage (249 members)
The Atlanta Natural Hair Sistahs Meetup Group (269 members)
The Buford Highway Meetup Group (50 members)
Atlanta Christian Roommates (131 members)
Gypsy Mediterranean Arabic Balkan Dilos Musicians of Atlanta (26 members)
Atlanta Pirates and Wenches Guild (27 members)
Feral Cat Meetup Alerts
Keltrian Druid Meetup (7 members)
The Atlanta Shyness & Social Anxiety Meetup Group (104 members—do you think anyone shows up?)

Kinda makes the dachshund fans look normal, huh?

The Dog ate my computer

I'm sorry for the lack of postings lately, I went out last week and bought a new computer since mine was a bit screwed up by the Kenyan IT folks and Kenyan power surges. So, the day after I bought the computer, I came home and the dog had eaten the powercord. I shocked myself when I touched the exposed wires, so I suppose I'm lucky my 13 pound dog didn't kill himself... I am also lucky that I had purchased the extended warranty. The guys at Sony said I set a record for being the first person to use the warranty within 24 hours of purchasing the machine.

I'm back online now and the dog is spending his time in the crate. I think he was just acting out since he is pissed that the ridiculously massive Dave Matthews and Allman Brothers concert is closing the dog park for the weekend. Tickets were sold out but I'm sure I'll be able to hear it from the front porch.

Further Proof that Monkeys are Evil

Sonal sent me this article this morning from the BBC. Apparently there are monkeys in Kenya who are sexually harassing village women. I can’t believe I ever liked monkeys…

Pesto Mania!

Saturday night was the annual Pesto Mania Party. For the last 15 years one of my neighbors, and the founder of the Better Basil Bureau, has hosted this party, and every year it gets a little more serious. About 4 years ago I placed second but I’m a little reluctant about the whole judging thing as one of my other neighbors, who makes fabulous pesto, placed last and the newsletter (yes, there is even a newsletter) listed all the entries and even had a discussion about why the last place pestos were the worst.

I decided to enter two pestos this year, one was a mixture of Whole Foods and Trader Joe’s pestos (I was feeling subversive) and an arugula/basil pesto. Neither one ranked in the top 5, but the arugula pesto was pretty fabulous in my opinion…

Anyway, despite not winning, the night was entertaining if a little awkward. A 54 year old married man confessed to me that he has an enormous crush on me… um, yeah. I ended up in a conversation with a Weslyan professor who was so incredibly pessimistic about my interest in working abroad. He basically told me it was time to grow up and get a real job. So glad he is responsible for guiding young minds…

Arugula Pesto
3/4 cup extra-virgin olive oil, 3 cups (loosely packed) fresh basil leaves, 1 cup (loosely packed) fresh arugula, ¾ cup grated pecorino Romano cheese, 1/3 cup walnuts, 4 garlic cloves, 1/2 teaspoon grated lemon peel, 2 tablespoons lukewarm water, drizzle of truffle oil

To keep the pesto green, blanch the basil and arugula and dry it well. Place 1/2 cup oil and next 6 ingredients in processor. Process to thick paste. With motor running, add remaining 1/4 cup oil and 2 tablespoons water to processor. Blend until smooth. Season pesto to taste with salt and pepper. (Can be made 2 days ahead. Pour thin layer of oil over pesto; cover and chill.)
Adapted from Bon Appétit, June 2001

Roosters

Must be a slow news day in Connecticut. The lead story on the evening news is about 17 roosters that were rescued from a cock fighting ring in Bloomfield. My first thought was, “really? Cock fighting? I wanna see that!” (I have a weird fascination with things like WWE, rodeos and monster truck extravaganzas.) Will and I missed the cock fight we tried to go to in Madagascar; we did however arrive in time to drink some warm beer.

Channel 3 had several minutes of footage of a woman stroking a rescued rooster and cooing over how beautiful it is. Personally, I think anyone who has spent some time with roosters will know how awful they are. They do not crow at dawn, they crow all night long. They can be mean, arrogant and aggressive. When Mme. Lucette’s rooster was stolen by a neighbor, I never told her that I spotted it at a neighbor’s.

Home

My last weekend in Nairobi was good. Yasmin and I went to the Sheldrick Elephant Orphanage and the Nairobi Animal Orphanage. We got to go in the cheetah cage and pet them. It was pretty cool. Our guide was really into introducing us to all the animals. He had me feed an ostrich (they bite hard) and a monkey that smacked me on the arm so hard it left a little monkey hand bruise.

It was a very, very long trip home. I was up for something like 45 hours straight with no real sleep. The last 10 rows of the plane were filled with Somali refugees who were being resettled in the US, the rest of the plane was filled with people wearing khaki… one man was even wearing a pith helmet. I kid you not.

It is good to be home. I am totally enjoying being lazy and reading the enormous stack of magazines that was waiting for me when I got back. Still not sure when I’m headed south, need to sit down this weekend and sort everything out.

Next time I'm finding a furnished apartment

Ok, so here's the redecorated house. It may not look like much, but those of you who've been there will see the huge difference.


the wall hanging in the stairwell:

New upholstery and drapes:

New wood flooring, new curtains and a coat of paint:

This is the room that had the really nasty upholstered headboard:

A Thesis, Perhaps?

I think I have a thesis topic. The COO used to be in charge of a cancer program in Canada and he would like to develop a breast cancer screening program here in Kenya. Currently, people don’t come in for cancer treatment until it is end-stage and mammography is not widely available. Cancer is not something that is discussed very publicly here and in some communities it is seen as shameful. Most women do not go for general physical exams, so they don’t get any kind of regular screening from their doctors. Earlier this summer I attended a lecture on breast cancer in Kenya, I was blown away by the pictures; I had no idea what cancer could do if it was just left alone.

Though there is tons of cancer research done in the developed world, it is largely ignored in Africa because of things like AIDS and TB. My project would include a background on cancer in Africa, a review of successful screening programs in North America and a proposal for adapting a screening program to Nairobi. I think it be a really good project since it would combine my interests in community health education, health economics, public policy and culturally appropriate health services.

If it all works out, then I could come back when I graduate and implement the plan!

Last Days

So I thought Yasmin and I were just going out for a quiet dinner last night, but no. We went with another friend of hers and then three guys showed up to join us. I find the whole dynamics of the South Asian community in Nairobi really interesting, it is so isolated that people are always caught off guard when they see me in the group. Mwindi do not mix much with the mzungus and they have a bad reputation among the Kenyans for treating them poorly. Even within the ‘Brown’ community there is quite a bit of stereotyping. I’ve found that within the Ismaili community many of the girls are really catty because there are fewer Ismaili guys around. Anyway, we were having fun and one of the guys was totally running his mouth and I called him out on it. The other guys started laughing and said that that’s why they can’t date white girls; we see through their bullshit. I don’t think it is a white thing, I think it is an American thing, so many of the girls here have mastered the coy hair twirl and the high pitched giggle.

After dinner we stopped by a bar where we ran into someone they knew and her cousin who was visiting from the States for a few weeks. When the American girl was introduced to us it was really obvious that she didn’t realize Yasmin was American because when Yasmin asked her (in her obviously American accent) where she was from, the response was, “Dallas, that’s in Texas, in A-mer-i-ca.” I don’t know where she thought I was from, but she kept speaking very slowly and annunciating dramatically until someone else joined the conversation and noted that she’d found the other Americans.

Not much else happening here, I was home all morning waiting for the new curtains to be delivered. I am still waiting on the art to come back from the framer and the furniture to get back from the upholsterer, but the house looks great. I hope I get to see all the final bits. Other than taking care of the house, I have no real work to do and I seem to have fallen off of everybody’s radar which is fine with me. One more day tomorrow and I am done. It has been a great 10 weeks, I have learned a ton and I have so much respect for this organization and the people I’ve worked with, but I am so ready to go home.

The End is Near

I’ve reached a very satisfying point in the summer: I am now throwing my underwear away after I wear it. Hospital housekeeping washes my clothes, but won’t do my socks and underwear, so I’ve had to hand wash them myself. I know hand washing is supposed to be gentle, but there is something about the combination of the soap, cold water and air drying that leaves things stiff and stretched out.

(I’ve been bored at work lately and amusing myself with this church sign generator.)