who needs sleep?

I've been in Zambia for 2 weeks now.  It has been a wonderful, and thoroughly exhausting experience.  Every day is a work day, and lasts for at least 12 hours.  Breaks for meals?  sort of, except that you're talking about work the whole time!  My patience, comfort, and personal boundaries are being tested, and if I loved this work any less, I'd be on the first plane out of here.  That's the kicker.  I've never loved work like this before.  I'm in the middle of socially conscience academic research, watching one of my academic idols interact with villagers, community health workers, surveyors, and subordinates.  I've learned more in the past 2 weeks than I did in my last 3 years of my PhD program.  I'm sleep-deprived, covered in mosquito bites, sick of taking cold showers, and quite nervous about an all day data cleaning workshop that I'm running in the office today (agenda, who needs an agenda!?).  And I love it!  


Pictures to follow when I return home and have a quick internet connection, but they're good...wait for it...

Back to Africa

Matt and I moved into our new condo in Boston a few days ago, and I already have a suitcase at the door, ready to leave for Zambia in a few hours.  My life is feeling quite surreal these days.

I don't know how much time I'll have to blog about my experiences, but I'll try to keep up.  I actually anticipate that it will be difficult enough to find the time to eat, sleep, and maybe get a run or two in.  But I can't wait.  I almost feel high on the adrenaline of prepping for a 16 hour plane ride, exploring a new city, meeting new work colleagues, seeing how meaningful development economics research can be done...and all with a business card in my pocket that reads Dr. Johnson.

For the first time in a long time, I feel like I'm exactly where I'm supposed to be.  I couldn't be happier...well, I'll be happier once Matt paints over the pastel pink paint in our office (formerly a sickeningly sweet nursery).  I'm thinking black ;-)

wrap up from Moshi

Today is my last full day here in Moshi and it's bittersweet.  I am certainly looking forward to the modern conveniences of house - namely hot showers without a hand-held nozzle, clothes that actually get clean when you wash them, high-speed internet, and friends!  I will also miss many things about Moshi, and about my time here, but after being away from home for a month, I am ready to return. 

Today will be full of wrapping up all the loose ends with work.  The final version of my survey has been translated into Swahili, and then back into English.  Today I am working with Berny to make sure that the translation is good enough, and to make any last-minute changes.  Then, it's just a matter of logistics and paper-pushing when I get home to get the questions incorporated into the final survey in November.

While Berny and the other people in the office were working on the translations, yesterday, I went on a short 1-day safari in Arusha National Park.  It was much different than the safari I did last time I was in Tanzania, 6 years ago.  Up here, there is much more forested area, and therefore, no lions :-(  You can imagine my disappointment since they're my favorite animal.  While this is a bad thing for me, it's a very good thing for the rest of the animals in the park.  For instance, giraffes in the Serengeti must sleep standing up because of the constant fear of predators, but here in Arusha, they sleep laying down.  I even caught a few pictures of a sitting, resting, giraffe.  I had the opportunity to add on a 2 hour walking safari, which was the best part of the day.  I was accompanied by a park ranger, who carried a gun just in case any of the animals decided to charge us!  The ranger was also one of three women rangers in the entire park of about 40.  She spoke very good English, and it was really fun to talk with her for the few hours we had together.  I think the sweetest, and saddest animal story was of the dik-diks.  They are small antelopes that are monogamous.  They choose a mate early in life and stay with them until they die.  When one of the pair dies, it is common for the remaining dik-dik to either eat a plant they know is poisonous, or to stop eating until they also die.  I told the ranger that it reminded me of Romeo and Juliet, but I think the analogy was lost on her.

Anyway, I will be sure to post pictures and videos when I return (I get back to Durham on Sunday, so check back sometime after that).  Keep checking back - I've got a months worth of visual stories to tell...

And for now, I am getting ready to say goodbye to Moshi.  As I said before, it's bittersweet, although it's looking more and more likely that I'll be returning in November, so maybe it's just goodbye for now.

running...finally

I went for a run this afternoon for the first time in Africa, and it wasn't nearly as bad as I thought it would be.  There were definitely some challenges, but overall, it was really nice.  The biggest drawback is breathing the dust from the dirt roads, the smoke from burning stoves, and exhaust from the old, unmaintained cars.  The roads are bumpy with many rocks, and therefore, it's impossible to "zone out" - you have to constantly be watching your footing.  It was nice not having to stop for stop signs or stop lights, and it was also nice getting to interact with many of the locals.  Almost everyone I passed said hi to me (in Swahili of course) and I was able to respond with the little Swahili I've picked up so far.  The most common greeting I got was "pole" (pronounced pole-ay) which literally translates to "sorry".  I had to read up on this after I got back because I was really confused why people were apologizing to me as I was running by.  Apparently, it's customary to say "pole" when you are sorry, but also to express sympathy if someone is having a difficult time or (as in my case) working hard.  It is also used when someone is doing something as simple as walking across a room to get something.  In any case, I received a warm reception, and lots of staring, but overall, nothing to discourage me from doing it again (aside from the fact that the power went out when I got back, so I had to take a cold shower in the dark - ha).  I just might be able to squeeze in a long run before I leave next week.

free day in moshi

Today was my first free day in Moshi and I think I made the most of it.  The lodge where I'm staying is quite a bit outside of town, but I decided to walk instead of call a car.  It took me about 45 minutes and it took a bit of coordination to not get hit by cars and motorbikes that were driving and turning from the left lane of traffic!  It is also very very dusty here.  It doesn't rain much and the roads are primarily dirt, which means lots of dust in the air.  I don't see many people walking around breaking into handkerchiefs like I remember from India - I wonder why not.  Anyway, I made it into town and went to a coffee shop that I heard had wireless internet (so far I've been accessing the internet through a data card which gets a maximum download speed of 40mb/sec - in case you're wondering it takes about 60 seconds to load a webpage and about 5 minutes to upload each of these blog posts...oh, how I miss highspeed).

Well, the internet wasn't working, but the coffee was really good.  I was talking with the project manager, Berny, who told me that even though Tanzania grows some of the best coffee in the world, Tanzanians don't like the taste of it.  So, most businesses only buy the cheap, instant coffee because it's not worth it to them to spend the money on the good stuff that grows next door that people won't buy.  It's pretty crazy.  But the coffee place I found caters to the tourists, and had the good stuff (expensive too at about $1.50 for a latte).  I stayed there and did a little work on my computer using my data card and then went for lunch at a place recommended in the guide book.  It was obvious that they get most of their business from tourists using Lonely Planet because the place was packed with white people - it was nuts! They offered as a side dish either rice, chips (french fries), or ugali.  Ugali is the local staple and I hadn't tried it yet.  It's made from corn flour and water and cooked until it's like dough consistency.  I asked for it, and the waiter said "no, no, you want chips" and I said "no, I really want to try to ugali."  Finally, he agreed.  I wouldn't say that I either liked or disliked it.  I would describe it as grits with the consistency of a stiff polenta.  It tasted like grits too.  I suppose that's not surprising since grits are made from hominy which is a lot like corn (or maybe it is corn, I don't know).

On my way out of town I stopped at the "hot bread shop" which is basically a bakery.  I had been craving something other than chicken, which is all that my hotel restaurant can seem to cook.  I'm not ashamed to admit that I ate donuts and pastries for dinner and that they were delicious!

I thought I had the route back to the hotel memorized when I left town, but apparently I had gotten a few turns wrong.  I found myself wandering, rather aimlessly, along unmarked dirt roads in the general direction that I thought the hotel was.   A boy came up across the road and we started talking as we were walking and we had quite a nice conversation.  He was a calculator salesman who was making sales calls to the tourist hotels.  He was very nice, but seemed genuinely concerned that I was almost 27 years old and was not married.  I really think he felt bad for me.  I tried to tell him that things are a little different in the U.S. but that didn't seem to alleviate his worry for me - ha.

He was very nice and even helped ask some people walking by if they knew of the road that my hotel was on.  It turns out that I was right all along and just turned one street too early.  Not too bad.  It was nice to have a 15 minute conversation with him though.

Back at the hotel I ran into the girl who is usually working in the restaurant and since it seems that I'm the only one staying at the hotel we talk almost every day.  She commented on how much she loved my shoes (reef flip flops with silver piping).  I told her that I would give them to her on the day that I left if she wanted and I swear I've never seen anyone's face light up the way hers did.  It was a good day, but I'm beat.  So much walking and dust, an oxygen mask sounds pretty awesome right now - ha.

back to work

I've been here in Moshi for 5 days and I finally feel settled enough to sit and write a little something about the work I'm doing here.

As you probably already know I've been intersted in the AIDS epidemic in Africa for quite a long time.  It was the subject of my honors thesis in college, and it was my main motivation for going back to grad school.  Last winter I met the director of the Duke Center for Health Policy, and she invited me to work with her on a project here in Moshi.  The project is called CHAT (Coping with HIV/AIDS in Tanzania) - catchy huh?  It started in 2008 when they began interviewing a mix of HIV positive and negative people in the Moshi area.  The study asks them many questions about their families, jobs, attitudes, opinions, health history, trauma history, medication history, and (most important for me) medication adherence.  While AIDS is certainly a huge problem in sub-Saharan Africa, many countries have taken huge steps in combatting the epidemic.  Tanzania, in particular, offers every citizen free anti-retro-viral drugs through the public health system.  We have found, through the first few rounds of data, that many HIV positive people who are on anti-retroviral drugs, do not fully adhere to their recommended treatment regimen, making the drugs far less effective, and in most cases, completely ineffective.

In a nutshell, my research is studying why, if they have access to free drugs, they do not fully adhere.  The subject is common in sociology, psychology, and public health, but not in economics.  I suppose it seems like a weak link to what most people think is economics, but having just finished teaching Economic Principles, I am even more convinced that my work has a place in the field.  After all, economics is the study of how individuals, businesses, and governments make decisions when resources are scarce.  It seems more relevant with this definition in mind.

Ok, I'm getting way off track...Basically, I'm writing a new section of the CHAT survey to be included in the next 2 rounds (November and April) of data collection.  In order to make sure I have good, culturally relevant, and useful questions I came to Moshi to talk with people who are similar to the people in the CHAT survey.  This way I can get a preview of how my questions will be interpreted, what people don't understand, and first-hand information about how people think about the problems that I have written so much about.

On Monday I met with all of the 18 people that will be participating in my focus groups throughout the next week to make sure that they all knew which day they were supposed to come and what time we were starting, etc.  It was really an amazing experience to be in a room full of HIV positive patients who had all come into the office because of my project.  It was really the first time that I felt that I was in control of some aspect of my research and that it would go in the direction that I decided, it's really empowering.  I am obviously very thankful to all of them for agreeing to spend a day talking about HIV and helping me understand how they think about their situation and their future.  What I wasn't expecting at all was how enthusiastic they were about participating and how grateful they were to me for being interested.  Each and every one of them came up to me after the meeting wanting to shake my hand and thank me profusely.

Yesterday, Tuesday, was our first full day focus group.  While I'm still inexperienced, I can now say I have some experience running a focus group.  It was really kind of fun.  The project coordinator here, Berny, was translating from English to Swahili and back again.  He really was doing most of the work.  But it was so great to hear their answers to questions, think to myself, "why on earth would someone choose to loose $10 tomorrow instead of $5 today?" and be able to ask them myself and get an answer.  The most common answer to that question was that you need money today, and you have to deal with tomorrow when it comes.  It's pretty sad if you think about it.  In fact, there were many aspects about the day that were heartbreaking.  The people who came were all HIV positive and all had very depressing stories.  Most of them were widowed, and had overcome tremendous obstacles in their lives.  When asked if she would rather have 10 extra healthy days this year or 100 extra healthy days next year, a common response was that they would rather have the 10 days this year because they don't know if they will be alive to collect the healthy days next year.

I don't know if I'm getting any closer to answering my research question, but I am learning much more about the problem.  I suppose that has to be the first step.

internet.in.tanzania.is.very...slow

Boy, do I have some stories to tell.

Let me see where this story begins...last I wrote Matt and I had just arrived in London.  That really seems like it was a year ago now.  We got up on our only full day there, went out to breakfast and took the tube to Buckingham Palace.  We arrived as the changing of the guards had already started but we pushed through the crowds and got a pretty good place to stand and watch as the parade passed on the way out.  From there we spent the afternoon on a double-decker tourist bus, which was a lot more fun than I think it should have been.  With all the sightseeing and me being sick, we both really appreciated seeing the sights without tiring ourselves out from walking.  We got off the bus at the Tower of London and took our book's tour around the compound.  I'm not sure what I was expecting, but there was something about it that fell short for me.  Maybe I had just unrealistic expectations. 

We had a low key night and spent the next morning packing and planning.  Matt's flight left in the afternoon to DC and my 20 hour trip to Tanzania didn't start until even later in the evening.  After passing off all the formal clothes I had brought for the wedding plus a few other things for Matt to take back, we set out for our last meal together. 

In retrospect, we both ended up paying for all the good luck we had up until this point.  Matt ended up missing his connection in Washington DC, which was the last flight to Durham of the night, and decided to rent a car and drive the 5 hours back to Durham instead of wait overnight in DC.  But he made it home, only to find my car had been broken into while we were gone - I blame our housesitters - just kidding, we totally owe you guys!  I had fairly smooth travel, although I had to unexpectedly check one of my bags, buy an expensive replacement UK battery charger for my computer which for some reason got fried in the outlet in our hotel, and then when I arrived in Kilimanjaro, my ride forgot to pick me up.  I was left at the airport, not knowing Swahili, and not having a phone to call the guy anyway.  Ah, international travel, how I missed you all year...

Thankfully, the people here are the nicest of any I've ever met.  A taxi driver let me use his cell phone so I could call my ride.  He had mistakenly written down my flight arriving at night instead of in the afternoon, a simple mistake.  I ended up paying about double than I would have otherwise to take a taxi the 40 km from the airport into town.  But I arrived, met Berny, the project coordinator, and got checked in to the hotel.  While it's not very nice by our standards, it has the essentials for proper lodging in Moshi: electricity, hot water for 2 hours a day, a bed-net to protect from mosquitoes, and that's about it.  It's not the cleanest, but the owner "Mama-Moshi" is very nice and speaks English, and she let me borrow her cell phone so I have a way of connecting with Berny and the other people in the office.

My first impressions of Moshi are very positive.  It seems to have many characteristics of India, but with a much different feel to it.  I am overwhelmed with how nice and welcoming everyone is that I meet.  Welcome in Swahili is "Karibu" and I've never heard one word spoken so many times.  When Berny introduces me people get this huge smile on their face and thank me for coming to their city and their country.  The level of development is very similar to India, but people have a much different attitude.  In addition to there being much fewer people all together, everyone is very respectful and considerate (except when driving! - I've seen a taxi driver nearly run over a couple of school children who he thought were waiting too far into the street).  The streets are dirty, but not because people litter particularly much or pee in the streets, but more just because the roads are dirt, and there's dirt everywhere.  There are paved roads, but not many, and the ones that are often don't have sidewalks.

Don't get me wrong, I loved parts of India, but Moshi is much easier to love.  This morning I met with some of the participants that will take part in my focus groups this week and I have much more to say about them which I will dedicate an entire post to after we meet tomorrow.  It will be a good one, so keep checking.  I'm sorry there are still no pictures, I was never able to find a camera cord in Paris or London, and now it would be a futile search.  I will provide a summary of photos and descriptions after I return.

london baby

The past few days have certainly been trying.  As Matt mentioned in his Tour post, I was getting sick the last you read, and it has only gotten worse.  The day after he wrote that I stayed in bed all day, truly unable to do anything more.  We had reservations to go up to the top of the Eiffel Tower that night, which we did, but it was really miserable for me.  Don't get me wrong, the Tower was beautiful, the view was amazing, and I wouldn't have done it differently...maybe without so much phlegm - ha.  The following day was our last full day in Paris, and being that I still wasn't up for the marathon site-seeing days that I had originally planned, we did a watered down version.  We went to Notre Dame (but not up into the towers because the line was so long), Sainte Chapelle (which was nice, although they are in the middle of a 5 year restoration period, and so the most beautiful part of the church, the altar, was completely covered by large tarps.  The picture outside made it look wonderful though!), and the Conciergerie, which is the prison where more than 2,000 prisoners were held during the French Revolution, including Marie Antoinette, and was their last stop before the guillotine at Place de la Concorde.  We also walked around to see the medieval building’s westernmost tower, “The Squealer,” was used for much worse-torture.

From there we boarded a dinner cruise down the Seine.  We used the advice of our guidebook and saved this until the last night, and it really was great.  The food itself was nothing spectacular (not that I could taste much of it anyway, but Matt confirmed), but floating on the Seine was amazing.  We passed all the major sights for the last time and just relaxed, soaking in the city.

Yesterday we left our apartment in the 8th arrondissement and flew to London, where we are now.  We're staying in a cute little boutique hotel right near the Kensington Gardens.  Today we're going on a super touristy double-decker bus tour and to watch the changing of the guards at Buckingham Palace.  Tomorrow is when Matt returns home, and I fly on to Tanzania...I'll update again once I get settled there.  For now, cheerio!

TOUR DE FRANCE!!!

-Guest blogger Matt here.  Let me start by admitting that I've never posted a single thing to 'net before, That said, the final stage of the Tour deserves sharing, if anything.  So here goes.

Whoa!  My first whoa goes to Kristin, who braved a pretty serious head cold to stand and wait with me all day on the noisy, polluted, crowded streets of Paris.  Fortunately, we caught not one, not two...but eight exciting, first-hand glimpses of the most exciting bike race in the world, so I think she would definitely agree that it was well worth it.

Looking back now, I don't think we could have timed things any better if we tried.  We ended up leaving our apartment at about 11am to find one of the few brasseries serving breakfast on Sunday.  It was a little trying on our patience to have to wait over an hour for a tiny cup of espresso, some baguettes and OJ, and a couple of croissants, but it gave us the fuel we needed to walk more than three miles down the Champs Elysees from L'Etoile to the Louvre and back up through the Tuileries to our spot.  I was also encouraged by the sleepy faces on everyone who got up earlier than me only to stake out a spot hundreds of meters away from the finishing line where they would be lucky to catch an errant glance from one of the riders who had already finished the race.  -Suckers.  Plus, we got to buy the same fresh TDF swag (like yellow musette bags and Skoda bears) as everyone else.  -Suckers...err...oh, well. 

Let me stop a minute and give credit to a random online discussion board that we found to be super helpful in finding a much less-crowded view on the garden-side of the Rue de Rivoli just across the street from the Westin Paris.  For future visitors, definitely check out this LINK. The tip about crossing over the tunnel from the Louvre to the gardens is particularly useful.  I have no idea why other people found it so difficult to cross the street, but it was absolutely true!  Maybe they need more jokes about chickens and less jokes about what is in their pants.  For the time being, or at least until Kristin gets her camera cord, you can imagine our approximate view up the Rue de Rivoli toward the finishing line (sans cycling madness) by clicking here:  GOOGLE STREET VIEW.  Another reason why things probably worked out so well for us is that at about 900m to go from the finish (YEAH!  Inside the final KM!), there was a rather large air vent coming up from the Metro tunnels that no one else seemed to want to stand on - at least until the other spots were taken.  Not so for us, though - the breeze ended up being rather welcome on an overcast, but stuffy afternoon. 

Enough about getting there, though.  On to the race!  Well, on to the parade at least.  The race wouldn't pass us by for another three hours or so.  Another good tip for future race-goers is to lie to your (girl)friends about how long it takes between the parade and the actual race.  An occasional "I think it's only another twenty minutes or so" goes a long way toward contributing to morale.  Actually, the caravan was kind of entertaining even if it was just a bunch of sponsors and ads with dancing girls and loudspeakers playing the same pop music tracks over and over.  It was certainly colorful and provided for good people-watching.  From what I had seen on TV, I certainly wasn't expecting the huge number of "floats," but it did get old after a while.

Finally, after what I'm sure seemed like forever for Kristin, and after all the team buses, all the King's men (gendarmes), and all the official red Skodas passed by, we caught our first sight of the cyclists.  It reminded me of the wave that you often see fans doing at a stadium event the way that the noise and motion in the crowd slowly built up and crested over us.  The second whoa goes to the awesome speed that the first break-away riders had when they rushed passed us.  As we were leaning over the barrier trying to get a good look, it was jaw-dropping just how close they came to us.  My most vivid memory from that first pass is seeing Astana's turquoise and white lead out team, including Contador all decked out in yellow with what I'm sure was a menacing grin on his face (damn you, Contador!).  It was all over in less than a minute, at which point, Kristin turned and asked "Was that all of them?"

Besides Kristin's surprise that it would be over that quickly (fortunately, we had seven laps to go at that point), there were two other things that struck me most:  First, out of 180 or so riders, I think I managed to recognize the faces of maybe a dozen as they went by.  Besides Contador, I'm sure I saw Levi and Lance a couple of times (I got to point him out to Kristin in what I hope will be a more recognizable picture to be posted in the coming days), Petacchi in green, and Thomas Voeckler, the champion of France, in what I couldn't help but think was quite a show-off move hanging about five meters off the back of the pack on just about every lap just so all the Frenchies could see him.   I had a hard time picking out the eventual stage winner, Cavendish, or a couple of my favorites, Schleck or Hincapie, even with their special jerseys.  It was also pretty amazing that on the third- and second-to-last-laps, the break-away group's seconds-only lead looked insurmountable.  Having a good straight-away view really made it seem doubtful that they would be caught the way I knew they always would.

From the hours between parade and race to the nail-biting final lap, it was clear that they really knew how to build the suspense.  I'll end there for now.  It was a great show and definitely made the trip for me.  It also made me miss riding my bike.

1 week down

We've been gone for about a week and it feels like a month...in a good way I think.  Unfortunately, despite my incessant lists and organization, I managed to forget the cord to connect my camera to my computer.  The result is that I am seeing and taking pictures of the most beautiful, well recognized, and respected things in the world, but you can't see them - ha ha.  So perhaps, I will re-edit this blog after I return home to add in the pictures, but for now, you have to live with my descriptions.

We started out in Whistler, Canada for Nik's wedding.  We picked Will Reynold's up in Vancouver on the way up and the three of drove the spectacular Sea to Sky highway from Vancouver to Whistler.  I have to say, that even though I will always be a Colorado Rockies girl at heart, this was, by far, the most spectacular scenery I've ever seen.  We made it into Whistler in time to catch the rehearsal dinner at the Greek restaurant, Kypriaki.  They had arranged a set menu of items, and every one of them was beyond delicious.  We all thoroughly stuffed ourselves with hummus, saganaki, greek salad, lamb, moussaka, and many more things that I can't remember or spell.

Before the wedding the next day, Matt, Will, and I hiked around at the base of Blackcomb mountain and watched some young ski jumpers practice by going off their jumps and landing in a swimming pool.

The wedding itself was beautiful.  It was in Pemberton, and they got married outside at the base of a majestic mountain...no flowers necessary.  Perhaps my favorite part was the selection of old-timey candy they had available before the ceremony - ah, it's the little things in life that make me happy!

The next day we drove back to Vancouver and met up with our friends Tristan and Kaili.  We had dinner at one of Matt's family's favorite Vancouver spots, the Blue Water Cafe.  We had delicious, raw, west-coast oysters, ceviche, salmon, halibut, scallops - everything fresh.  An unforgettable meal.

The next morning Matt and I started our 50 hour journey to Paris.  We drove from Vancouver to Seattle, then took an overnight plane from Seattle to Washington DC.  We had an entire day in DC before flying to London, so we made the most of it.  We went to the mall and saw the White House, the Washington Monument, the capital building, and we visited the National Air and Space Museum.  Next we boarded another overnight flight to London, and connected to our final flight to Paris.  We arrived, exhausted, but in one piece, and with all our luggage : )  We got the keys to our apartment for the week, took a much needed shower, and braved the streets of Paris to find food!

In the days since, we've done a lot of touristy stuff, but it's been great.  I've never been to Paris before, and it's much different than I had pictured in my head -  not really better or worse, just different.  I've been surprised with how much French has come back to me, and while Matt does most of talking because he can actually converse with people, I've been holding my own ordering off menus, etc.  With one exception, the waiter immediately realizes that we don't speak French and speaks back in English, which to me is a relief because I can't really understand well when they speak so fast, but we continue to speak French, and so far people couldn't be nicer.  It happens more and more that we get through entire exchanges in French, and that part is getting more and more fun.

The apartment we rented is a little 1 bedroom place about 2 blocks from the Arc de Triomphe, and in a busy and bustling neighborhood.  Right outside our door are cafes, patisseries, fromageries, boulangeries, etc.  We took a day trip out to Versailles a few days ago, which was one of the most interesting tours I've been on.  I suppose, I had never been to a truely famous historic site, such as the Hall of Mirrors where the Treaty of Versailles was signed.  It was moving.  It was cold and rainy, which ended up being a good thing because it dispersed some of the crowds.  Yesterday we went to the Louvre and saw all the most famous pieces of art in the world.  Again, we somehow managed to find a day and time combination that was not at all crowded, so we didn't wait in any lines, and barely had to push through people to get to the front of any exhibits.  I took some stunning pictures, which would appear here if I could get them out of my camera...I was particularly impressed with the Winged Angel of Victory, placed at the top of a long staircase under a skylight, standing at least 15 feet high.  It was truly breathtaking.  Of course we saw the Mona Lisa.  Our guidebook mentioned that many people are disappointed when they see her, because she is smaller and darker in person than you would expect from all the hype (the book also mentioned that the eyes of virtually all painted portraits follow you across the room, and that Mona is not special because of it).  The crowd that gathers in front of her is impressive enough, you surely know when you walk into the room because the energy of the place changes.  Being on the shorter side, and in a crowd of people all trying to see a (relatively) small painting, it was hard to see, but I'd say I was neither profoundly impressed or disappointed.

Today is the final stage of the Tour de France, where Contador (damn you, Contador!) will solidify his 3rd Tour win in 4 years.  Matt and I both really wanted to see Lance in victory here, but c'est la vie.  We tried to set up a bike tour of the city for yesterday so we could bike around part of the route that they would ride on today, but it fell through, so no biking...yet.  We found a great place to watch the race, bought a picnic of bread, cheese, and chocolate, and 2 cheap folding lawn chairs to camp out all day before they arrive around 5pm tonight.

We only have 3 more nights here, 2 nights in London, and then Matt flies back to Durham, and I fly the opposite direction to Kilimanjaro.  I'll try to post another update before we leave London.  Also, after reading this, Matt tells me I'm leaving out "all sorts of important stuff", so he might post something all on his own : )

time for another adventure

Matt and I are leaving on Thursday for a 2 week (much needed) vacation and then I fly to Kilimanjaro to start the data collection process for my dissertation. We start by spending a few nights in Whistler for a wedding of one of Matt's childhood friends, Nik Perleros. Having only been to Vancouver, I'm really looking forward to seeing Whistler. Our next stop: Paris for a week. I can't believe that in all my travels I've never been to France, but I won't be able to say that for long! We're staying in a cute little apartment just about 2 blocks from the Arc de Triomphe and we timed our trip perfectly so that we can catch the final stage of the Tour de France as they finish down the Champs d'Elysees. Next we head to London for just a few nights before Matt flies back to Durham, and my trip just begins. I'll fly from London to Kilimanjaro (Tanzania) to spend 2 weeks piloting survey questions for data I'll be collecting in November. I'll try to include a little more about my project in the next few days when I get a few free minutes. I'm going to try my best to keep this blog updated over the next month - I suppose with all the flying I can always use flights to catch up on blogging : )

vacation with Matt

I'd been looking forward to this week all summer and it really has been just as amazing as I expected. I finished all my work in Orissa just on the day I left to come meet Matt so I was really able to relax this past week.

My vacation began last Saturday and much less relaxed as I would have hoped. My flight was delayed 2 hours from Bhubaneswar to Delhi so I finally got to the hotel around midnight. Matt and I chose the hotel from online reviews and it’s not the first time that that has proven to be a mistake here in India. The place looked run-down even though it was only 2 years old, the floors were dirty, the bedlinens were dirty…I could go on, but the short story is that I decided we couldn’t stay there, and especially because I didn’t want that to be the first experience Matt would have in this country. So, at 1am I went on a quest for a new hotel. It was lucky that the boy that was going to drive me to the airport to pick up Matt 3 hours later didn’t actually work for the hotel and insisted on showing me another hotel in the neighborhood before I resorted to staying on “tourist row”. I didn’t get my hopes up as we drove to this other hotel, but it ended up being just fine. The boy, Rausen, really saved me a lot of time and hassle that night. So, by about 2am I was checked into the new hotel, with just enough time to unpack a little, shower and rush back downstairs to go to the airport with Rausen to pick up Matt at 3. Phew. Matt arrived on-time and with all his luggage!!! (Although he purposely didn’t check any bags, so this really isn’t a great accomplishment on Etihad’s part, but worth celebrating nonetheless. ***Side note: Etihad never found my bag that they lost in May, and have been utterly unhelpful and just plain rude in most of my dealings with them. Lesson learned: don’t fly Etihad!!)

We slept for a few hours and true to jetlag expectations Matt was up and ready to go at 8:30. I, unfortunately at this time, was not suffering from jetlag, but only 2 hours of sleep. Needless to say, we’ve been on slightly different sleeping patterns. It was dreary and rainy in Delhi that day so we decided to go to a hindi movie which I had been told are quite the event. We saw Love Aaj Kal which means . They don’t put subtitles on the movies in the theatre, but being sort of a romantic comedy it wasn’t hard to follow the main plot line. That night for dinner we went to Bukhara, a place listed in the “1000 Places to See Before you Die” book. It had a very cool atmosphere, but REALLY expensive Indian food. We ate an appetizer but decided to skip the main course. I decided that spending a lot of money on food in India is definitely not utility maximizing, considering you can get the best food EVER from a street stall for literally 10 cents.
The next morning we went to an American breakfast place called Mrs. Kaurs Crepes. I know, it’s probably not what Matt wanted, but it’s a place Colette took me when I was in Delhi in July and I just couldn’t resist. It was pouring rain that day again, which made traveling around a little uncomfortable, but we went to the famous Khan Market, then to a few boutique shops that we let an auto driver take us to (all way overpriced and designed especially for unsuspecting tourists to be taken unknowingly by an auto driver who gets a cut for bringing you. We knew this but decided to go anyway just to kill some time before our train. We also stopped quickly by India Gate. It’s very similar to the Gateway of India that I saw in Mumbai, but honestly, I don’t know the significance.


We took a train that afternoon to Agra. I have to say that the Delhi train station might be the most hectic, chaotic, unnerving travel experience I’ve had yet.



Thankfully our only goal was to find the right platform number, which you’d think would be easy staring down at rows of train tracks. There were so many people crowding you and pushing to go in one direction or another that you could barely move in the direction you wanted. We didn’t even know what direction to push in since all the signs were in Hindi. After a couple minutes of just pushing at random we finally found a security guard who spoke enough English to tell us what platform number to push towards. Well, we made it to Agra in a few hours with no problems. When we got off the train we were looking for an auto to take from the airport. In general it’s a pretty good rule not to accept an offer from a taxi driver that comes up to hassle you the second you get off the train/plane, etc because they tend to be more expensive. In true form we were greeted by a taxi driver who showed us the list of pre-paid prices (trying to indicate that he was not ripping us off). We kept walking towards the group of autos and looking back I can’t remember what made us turn around, but we decided to accept this guy’s taxi offer. It ended up being the best decision we could have made. The guy introduced us to his brother (introduced as Ali Baba but we later found out his name is Akhtar) who would be the one driving us. Once in the car and on the way to the hotel we found out that Akhtar spoke English impressively well and had a witty sense of humor. He had the same rate card in the car that his brother first showed us and we decided to hire him for the entire next day to take us around to all the sights and then back to the train station. I have to say that it was really nice not hassling with auto drivers all day! That night we went to a restaurant that the guidebook said had a rooftop patio with an excellent view of the Taj Mahal.



The book didn’t mention a word about the food...it wasn't good.

The next day we woke up at around 5am so we could see the Taj Mahal at sunrise. I've been told it's the best time to go since it's really beautiful with the sunrise behind it and also it's much less crowded so early in the morning. Unfortunately it was really nasty and rainy outside that day so we didn't get very stunning photos...oh well.






There were a lot of camels in Agra.

After we went to the Taj we visited the Red Fort.


A view looking from the Red Fort back onto the Taj Mahal. This is also where the builder of the Taj Mahal was imprisoned by his son...purposely so he could look out onto his creation.


The monkey was getting interogated by the guard (actually he was feeding him sweets!)


We had some time to kill before our train left that night so Akhtar took us to some craft stores where you could see how the goods were made and then you were taken into a showroom where you could buy them. It's a very touristy thing to do and consequently very overpriced. This following picture shows men inlaying local marble with stones by hand.


Next we went to a carpet showroom where they even let us try tying a few knots.



At one of the other shops we went in Matt and Akhtar sat down to play a local game called Luda while I was searching for a dvd of Om Shanti Om (I found it by the way). The other guys that were hanging out in the shop got a kick out of Matt playing and were helping him choose his moves. He ended up beating Akhtar, which he reminded us was only because of his beginner's luck!


We took the train back to Delhi with no problems and left the following morning really early to go to Leh. It's one of the northernmost cities in India and sits right at the base of the Himalayas. The next couple pictures I took on the flight into the city.




We had found the hotel online and were both pleasantly surprised with how great the accomodations were. It was nothing too special but it was beautiful and peaceful. We were greeted with a van at the airport and tea and biscuits once we arrived.


The resort was owned by a local Ladakhi family who had decorated the entire place in traditional Ladakhi decor.


The view from our balcony...you can see the mountains in the background - far off, but they're still there:


The view as we walked into town from the hotel.


We visited some of the local monestaries and even sat in on an early morning prayer service.



The last day we were there we took a drive up the highest motorable road in the world. The top of the pass was at 18,380 feet. It took about 2 hours to get to the top of the pass from the town but it was amazing. Neither Matt or I had ever been up that high before and we could both feel the altitude (as well as the extremely cold weather that we were not dressed appropriately for). This crazy biker was riding UP the mountain.



I think Matt would agree with me that our time in Leh was the most relaxing and "vacation-like". We technically had another full day in Delhi when we returned, but unfortunately we had to spend almost 5 hours in the airline's office that day getting my flight figured out for the next day, so we weren't able to see any more of the city.

Thankfully the flights coming home all worked out without much delay, and all 3 of our checked luggage made it all the way to Durham. And that ends our great Himalayan vacation...

mumbai

I spent the weekend in Mumbai (formerly Bombay) with Esha and her family. It was a quick trip, but we packed it to the fullest!

On Saturday night we went to a free live Hindustani classical music concert. The man on the left was playing the tabla, the woman is playing the Hawiian guitar, and the man on the far right is playing the sitar.


Not only was the music beautiful and moving, but the entire experience was quite different than any other performance I'd been to. The audience was so involved and enthusiastic. It was clear that the performers were playing well and with each exceptionally moving moment you could hear the response from the audience. I noticed people motioning with their hands, letting their fingers flow with the rhythms. The air was full of appreciation. We stayed for about 3 hours and, as Esha explained to me,we left just as they were about to start into another hour long raga.



That night we had dinner at her house and they served traditional Gujarati cuisine. Bombay is actually in the state of Maharashtra, but Esha's family is originally from the state of Gujarat.

On Sunday we woke up early, ate a delicious homemade breakfast, and headed out for a day in south Mumbai. We took the local train to get from Esha's house in north Mumbai to the south. It took about half an hour on the train but would have taken an hour to an hour and a half in a car.



It came out in the morning paper that day that the first person had died in Mumbai due to the H1N1 virus. Esha's dad was especially concerned and insisted we take the first class train ticket so that we weren't so close to the other passengers...as you can see, we had the coach to ourselves.


Mumbai is infamous for it's sprawling slums. Often they are situated near major landmarks like train tracks and water pipes for convenience. Here are a few pictures I snapped on the train ride.







The following is a picture of the train depot (Chhatrapati Sivaji Terminus), where we arrived from the local train, and also one of the site of the terrorist attacks that occurred in November 2008. It was powerful and eery to be at the exact sites that were targeted less than a year before.


This following picture is one that I took on Sunday of the Taj hotel. The Taj is a notable location in the book I just finished reading, Shantaram, but also one of the 8 sites of the attack. I found the other picture on the internet. From the same angle too, it really is disturbing.

After the Taj hotel we visited the Gateway of India.


It was built in 1911 to commemorate the visit of Kind George V and Queen Mary to Bombay. It's the first landmark you see as you sail into the city, and probably the cities most famous landmarks.


This guy in the next picture was diving off the pier...I just happened to be looking at another picture on my camera when Esha said "hey, what's that guy doing?". I turned around and clicked. Couldn't have been more perfect timing, right?



Mumbai is full of these Fiat taxis. All the taxis and auto rickshaws have meters (and actually use them!) so using them for transport is much easier, efficient, convenient, less stressful, etc, than anywhere else I've seen in India.


We took a stroll through the famous area of Colaba. It lies on the southernmost tip of the city and is well known for it's touristy restaurants and street vendors. Here are a few pictures I took at Leopold's Cafe, another popular reference in Shantaram.


We stopped for lunch at a shore-side italian restaurant. It was so beautiful and relxing being right next to the water.


The restaurant was on Marine Drive and overlooked the tip of the city, called the Queen's Necklace.



After lunch we went to the National Gallery of Modern Art to see the SOAK exhibit. While the monsoons are an integral part of Indian culture, the location and history of Mumbai make the monsoon particularly meaningful. On July 26, 2005 the monsoon rains started in Mumbai around 3pm and lasted for numerous days. They recorded almost 40 inches of rain in 24 hours and over 1000 deaths. The art exhibit started with a collection of newspaper headlines, photographs, and videos from that day. The most stark are the hoards of people walking along the train tracks after the trains were forced to stop running. Esha actually was at school that day, on the train, and remembers walking home the many miles through thigh-level waters.

One reason why the floods were particularly devastating in Mumbai is because much of the city is actually reclaimed land from the sea. The art exhibit actually showed the topographical maps of the city (which used to be an island) throughout time, showing how the land had been slowly reclaimed. Of course, when you start changing the shape of the coastline and the natural path of the rivers, when the city becomes full of water, there is no where for it to drain naturally.


Night time view of the train station.


That night we went to a local play house and saw a production of "The Alchemist", adapted from the book by Paulo Coelho. I have to say it was an interesting experience because even though it wasn't a musical, the narration was done in song. Indians just can't resist the urge to sing and dance! But overall it was very entertaining.

And that's it. Yesterday I came back to Bhubaneswar, for my last 3 days in Orissa. I leave on Friday to meet Matt in Delhi. We're spending a few days in the city, going to the Taj Mahal, etc., and then we're spending 4 days in Leh. Leh is one of the northernmost cities in the country located at the base of the Himalayas. It's also one of the world's highest in elevation inhabited cities at almost 11,500 feet. After a few days there, it's back to the States. No wrap up yet, I've still got too much exploring to do...

zoo

I took a trip to Nandakanan Zoo yesterday. The white tiger safari was closed for maintenance (isn't that my luck), so I just walked around the "regular" zoo. It was pretty much like any normal zoo except that there were monkeys and trainers with elephants wandering on the foot paths. No big story, here's some pictures...

















Notice that the monkey is eating "Masala Munch". They're basically like cheetos but super super spicey. I actually like them a lot, but can't eat more than a couple because they set your mouth on fire - I guess it's a true Indian monkey, he was eating them up!


This next one is just a picture I took of the women walking in front of me. I realized I hadn't posted very many picture of people, but the women in India are quite beautiful, always wearing beautiful sarees.