Woos Out For the Summer

Greetings Woos!

So cool to read about everyones adventures. Benny and I are tearing it up in Dar (by “tearing it up” I mean going to the beach frequently, smoking a fair amount of sheesha and talking about the relative states of our intestines a lot) He recently tried to post the details of his sordid love life to the blog but had no love from the internet gods- which I realized means that if I have success, I can post anything I like about him and he can’t retaliate. Its just gonna take me some time to decide which incriminating pictures to put up first…

Also in woo news- we met up with Therese for a kick-ass safari in Serengetti/ngorogoro crater in July and we are all four planning a trip to Zanzibar/Pemba with Dave “blushing groom” Ehrenberg next week. Planning to re-live the infamous DR trip as much as possible (in a 95% Muslim republic- should be a classy scene). So like.. if any of you feel like stopping by Zanzibar on your various journeys round the globe- then c’mon down!

So Tanzania has been cool. Tanzanians on the whole are lovely people.. in fact, so lovely that it took two months for someone to finally teach us some dirty words in Swahili. Now i only have a two weeks left to use them as much as possible. Aside from such forms of "cultural exchange", its been a pretty full summer- and working for Clinton foundation has brought us face to face with the joys of dealing with developing country bureaucracy. My first trip into the National Aids Coordinator’s office, he told me I “smelled all fresh and clean- like and American woman” and then promptly sat back and tuned out everything I said from that point forward. I don’t really remember what I said either, cuz I was too busy imagining dragging him into the bathroom and giving him “head flushies” until he begged for mercy and promised to make a public statement promoting equal treatment for women… But I digress…

Things have gotten better since then. We met President Clinton when he came through- which was flashy.. as in flashy planes, flashy suits and lots of flash photography. Actually, i mean that in both senses of the word "flash" since when i got the photos with the pres, i realized my bra was showing in pretty much every single one of them. Yep... pretty classy... politics may not be my thing after all.

Here's what i really like- motorcades. Wow is it fun to have the entire street cleared for you.

After the smoke cleared from clinton, we went to Gombe where Jane Goodall did her research on chimpsanzees. We got to stay in the research station and go see the chimps- we also met Jane briefly- which was cool for an anthro nerd like me- and i managed not to show her any of my underwear- so it was like, a really successful meeting.. This week we are heading down south to Mtwara, where the beaches are supposed to be kind of untouched and lovely. Oh! And we do some work too- mostly on getting free ARVs to hospitals and clinics that are supposed to be getting them but aren’t thanks to infrastructure/bureaucracy etc.. It involves lots of long jeep trips on very bad roads- but its also quite cool to see the rural areas.

Can’t believe its almost the end of the summer.. totally stoked be back in the warm embrace of Wooland in a few short weeks. Of course my joy is tinged with the bittersweet knowledge that I can’t go to math camp again (note dripping sarcasm) – but can’t wait to see you lot and hear your stories from the summer.

Kwaheri, Salamma and all that Jazz,
Elizabeth