New Art

In Bamako I got a painting from Bama Toure, cousin to Malik, and with grandparent Xmas money I got a stained glass window hanging from Steve on Chestnut Street in Hampden that I'd been eyeing for a while.

Christmas Eve food

We made super yummy Creamy Shrimp Grits with Prosciutto along with some fried oysters and smoked salmon for Christmas Eve dinner.

I heart Canadians

Canadians, they love me! This reinforces my sense that I am actually a good person. I have a very worthwhile hangover today after the 'wheels-up' party last night where I somehow managed to impress a key Red Cross person with my extensive political-malaria knowledge. After a week of low-grade wtf-am-I-doing-here this was very nice. The Canadian photographers and writers are also totally groovy. I think we will have a little love-in this evening before everyone leaves. I fly out 3am tuesday morning and will miss this crew - they are super duper.

I should point out that none of the girls in this picture are really Canadian, but they are all AWESOME.

Back from Segou

Campaign is going pretty well though some places have already run out of nets. The clinics were asked to send in population estimates before getting trained on how to do population estimates, and in many areas where we've visited there are a lot of migrant workers, who are not counted in the census. The first two or three places we visited did have nets but the 'advanced' and 'mobile' sites, served by health agents on motos and in 4x4s, were out as of yesterday. Both teams were taking down names and in a followup campaign after Tabaski (starting Saturday), the redistribution is supposed to take effect and people will gets nets sent over from other districts that had overestimated the need. Fortunately women and kids are still showing up for the vaccines, deworming and Vitamin A, and in places where nets are out things are much more calm. Crowd control was a not a major part of the health agent training and so of course there's a lot of crowding. In some places police were called in to help out. There's not always shade for everyone in line and so tempers can flare easily.

Today Ruth Riley from the WNBA and Diego Gutierrez and Dwayne DeRosario gave bball and soccer clinics, and then demonstrated how to use a mosquito net before handing out (not quite enough) nets to all the kids. Somewhat hokey but they will have nice images for fundraising, bully for them.

Off to take the Admiral shopping now...my commission at Ahmed's is getting huge!

Off to Segou

The campaign starts today, if the CScoms don't strike, and I'm off to Segou to translate for the Red Cross (Bambara/French, yeah right!) until tomorrow night.

Our team is doing a very good job but it's event logistics and not necessarily the fun/technical stuff. It's an important role but I'm a little grumpy and not knowing how exactly to be strategic about this whole trip.

I'm changing my flight to leave here late Monday night or Tuesday morning so that I can take care of some stuff at the office before Xmas....feeling a little découragé.

Mecaniciens

The airplane mechanics I met last time are back! We will see if they are more interesting than last time.

Had a nice meeting at lunch today where I pretty much defected to PSI for next week to take care of the Malaria No More visitors.


Ok must get money from the ATM. Which is in the hotel! I am still ecstatic over this.

Blast from the Past

--- wrote:
> Date: Sat, 12 Oct 2002 01:22:30 -0700 (PDT)
> From:
> Subject: oh my god i think i am going to throw up
> To: pcv1pcv@ga.peacecorps.gov,
>
> Michelle - for JTD - more commentary may follow
> later
> from me and allison
>
> Received: October 11 2002 at the Mouila Case
> 13 packages for Jennifer including:
>
> 2 twelve packs of double stuf oreo cookie packs
> 14 packets of beef jerky products
> 2 boxes wildberry poptarts
> splenda lo-cal sweetener
> 6 boxes velveeta shells and cheese
> 2 boxes nature valley granola bars
> 3 multipacks cheese and peanutbutter crackers
> 5 sweet roasted vanilla mixed nuts
> 4 red rice and beans
> 8 soup mixes
> starbrite peppermints
> 3 funpacks tic tacs
> 3 boxes nutrigrain cereal bars (slightly crushed)
> 5 bags creme savers
> starburst
> gumballs
> 2 packs pudding
> honey bear
> 4 general mills coffee (swiss mocha, french
> vanilla....'jean-luc!')
> 2 mulling spice mix
> oompas
> 2 trail mix
> 3 taco seasoning
> one bottle Sweet Baby Ray's BBQ sauce
> dinty moore beef stew
> tasters choice coffee
> 3 italian cappucino mix
> 10 chicken breast in water (canned)
> 3 sardines in Louisiana hot sauce
> 1 turkey SPAM
> macadamia nuts
> bag of red beans
> bag of chick peas
> bag of bean soup
> 14 starkist flavor fresh pouch (tuna)
> 3 chicken of the sea pink salmon pouch
> brown sugar and smores pop tarts
> box of 30 lb ziploc bags
> bugs and phrases stickers
> listerene breath strips (2 packs)
> danish wedding cookies
> wylers drink mix
> stovetop stuffing
> 4 cans pringles
> malt o meal
> dirty cup measure
> gravy mix
> peanuts> Tough Son of a Gun sponge
> crab boil in a bag
> werthers
> dumdums
> bob's sweet stripes
> stridex pads
> CD (mix)
> 5 packs bubbleyum
> sweet tarts
> bandaids
> fundips (razapple magic flavor)
> 2 40 oz Jif extra crunchy
> seeds
> 2 packs playtex living gloves
> taffy suckers
> 6 shock tarts
> 6 runts
> 11 taffy
> bag of assorted tacobell chinese popeyes condiments
> 4 gobstoppers
> 4 nerds (grape and strawberry)
> 2 antiitch gel and powder
> toothpaste
> Bounce dryer sheets
> 4pack starkist tuna in a pouch
> creole seasoning
> 5 starkist lunch to go
> 2 footpowder
> carnation instant nonfat dry milk, 3 qts
> biore self heating mask
> 6 tuna helper fettucini alfredo
> 4 crystal light
> pizza goldfish
> red zinger tea
> fruit by the foot
> cortizone 10
> 4 teas
> Dobie scrubber
> swiss miss cocoa
> 2 cans goat milk with vitamin D
> bag of bath products
> 7 pack towels
> 5 lbs Planters salted in shell peanuts
> 2 Mixups candy (200 pieces)
> 2 total balance natural meal replacement drink mix
> 5 pairs heavy latex gloves
> 2 welch's concord grape jelly, 2lbs
> 12 pack big league chew
> 6 assorted loofahs> 24 pushpops
> Amino Fuel
> first aid bit and sting kit
> 25 pack Mead folders with pockets
> strawberry splash bubble gum
> 2 tea tree soap
> magic BBQ seasoning
> magic BBQ seasoning salt
> cajun seasoning
> sheet
> dry erase board
> 2 mini tape recorders
> gumdrops
> tea
> assorted drink mix
> 2 plastic tablecloths
> color club water colors
> scarf
> bandana
> neutrogene acne wash
> 4 beach balls, inflatable
> balloons 50 count
> baking soda deoderant
> 2 big bottles advil
> energy booster supplement
> 3 boxes crayons
> 4 composition books
> incense
> shelf paper (flowered)
> 24 AA batteries
> another whole box full of candy for lambarene host
> family:
> 2 bags cotton candy
> 2 boxes gobstoppers
> 2 nerds
> nerf football
> 2 bubble tape
> 6 wrapped gifts
> 4 ring pops
> 2 flip n dip
> 5 popping candy
> one big wrapped gift, for parents
>
> Thirteen packages total, costing 751.90 in postage,
> not including the Fed Ex box (Extremely Urgent:
> recipient please hand deliver to addressee) which
> didn't have a postage amount on it.
>
> Jennifer said: Oh my god I think I'm gonna throw up.
> Oh my god oh my god oh my god (repeated). She also
> was
> disappointed that her khakis (the only thing she had
> really asked for) were not sent. Also, 'good thing
> I have students!'
>
> mom dad, people stateside - this is not a good
> representation of things to send me, except for the
> oreos. just looking at all that stuff made me freak
> out. we wanted to cover it with a sheet or
> something.
> what a wierd night.
>
> ciao, ragazzi,
> h

Upgraded!

I just in the nick of time got my Flying Blue GOLD UPGRADE!!!

Now I no longer have to suffer on one-person airport waiting room seats during long layovers. I can access the lounge, baby!

Not sure if this is a random upgrade, or they're actually checking my flights, or if it's some latent bonus from the strike, but hey I'll take it!

The Wire Previews!

http://bigscreenlittlescreen.net/2007/11/29/the-wire-hbo-drops-premiere-date-16-early-on-demand-5-promos/

New Lease on Life

I think that because of the lucky outcome of my collision, I am supposed to have a new perspective on things. I've not yet figured out what that is, though. I think I still feel pretty much physically invincible (Unbreakable!), like most young people.

Maybe I'll just stick with that, for now.

Hit by Car

Friday morning I was rounding one of the last corners into work, where I have a stop sign and turn left into a small alley usually devoid of cars. Instead a car was speeding through, fast enough so that he wasn't there in the reflection in the large window opposite me that I use to check traffic, but then there he was when I went through the intersection. I thought I would make it somehow and he hit my left leg, knocking the bike sideways. I tore out of my toeclips and fell on my front teeth and the front of my helmet, rolling to the far curb.

My leg hurt a lot but at this point I still thought he'd hit my rear wheel. I could move my toes and didn't think it was broken. The guy, a detective, called an ambulance. His cop buddies came over from the police station a block away with some gauze. A big fire truck came with some medics. The ambulance arrived. My friend Chris from work was walking by when the accident happened and stayed till they took me away. My leg kept hurting and in the ambulance Sean and Dennis gave me some morphine and splinted both my ankles, there was a small scrape on my right one too that I hadn't noticed. My lip was cut and bleeding but my teeth were still there.

At UMD Shock Trauma they cut my jeans off (but saved my new patagonia green fleece!) and checked my spine and pupils. I had been shivering from shock but the morphine helped with that, and by the time they were xraying (chest, left leg, ankle, foot) it had worn off and I was shaking again. They gave me another two mg and it felt bitter through my body, but then I was warm.

A doctor came and stitched up my lip and a crazy volunteer came and talked to me while I waited for the xrays to come back. The guy in the next bed had had a stroke or a fall after a stroke but was really chatty. A cop was brought in who'd been in a collision and had some pain in his back but seemed like he would be ok.

Xrays were negative. Two (different) sergeants came by and took a statement and told me the bike was at the police station. At first I heard the guy who hit me was FBI but then someone said something about a 'task force' and all I could think was I got hit by the guys they based the Wire on. They sent me home with crutches which I haven't used at all and an Rx for oxycodone which I took two of and then felt like throwing up, though it might have been from hitting my head. All in all I have a bruised and maybe sprained left lower leg, scrapes and two stitches on my lip, badass bruise on my knee (from hitting the top tube on my bike as he hit me), and a small scrape and a bruise on my right ankle and hip. I expected a lot of whiplash soreness the next morning but really, it's been fine. I kind of look like a turtle or a giraffe, though, with my lip all poofy on top.

Everyone's been so great; Bonnie got me from the ER, Tarik brought chocolate, and Nick and a few others have called or stopped by. Edith and I went and got the bike on Saturday and it seems fine - which is sort of surprising and sort of not, considering he hit my leg and not the bike. I have some pics I'll post after I hook up the camera.

My helmet saved my head and my nose. Please wear your helmets.