Hello again. Some quick, non-political notes.
1) If I've understood my timing right, Kirk and Emma are respectively arriving in Zambia / Malaysia any moment now. Let's all channel positive thoughts to them during their oh-so-fun first days there. Hope your trips went well, guys, and give us a shout when you're alive again.
2) Weblogging - I'm still waiting for a final decision from Paul West at COL about where to host this thing. If COL can't do it, I'll just set it up on a server I already use; I think it could be a lot of fun. Hopefully word in the next day or so.
3) Planning - I know we're a couple of months off, but I'd been meaning to raise this even before Dave[y] did. Christmas: Canada is obviously out of the question for those of us in Africa at least, but I for one would like to do some travelling. I'd also love to have the chance to meet those of you I wasn't in Vancouver with.
So, are there bids - at least from the African contingent - on what we might think of doing? Are you guys interested in doing something at all? Miranda, Kirk and I had made vague noises about Zanzibar, which may or may not be a good idea. Any thoughts? Shannon? Anne?
4) Ketchup - nothing of the sort here. Why haven't I heard that song? (Because I'm in Africa, right.) I had my first, absolutely disasterous, venture to one of the big Nairobi nightclubs on Friday night. And you know what I discovered?
a) it was mostly filled with hookers, and that's just the way it works here, and
b) they listen to a lot of Celine Dion, Shania Twain, and Nelly Furtado. Shoot me now.
I'm still not sure if all the clubs here are quite so bad, but in all literal seriousness, about 75% of the women at that club (and there are only four or five clubs this size in Nairobi) were working that night. And I'd estimate that a similar percentage of men were looking to spend some money. A lot of US Marines, a lot of aging ex-pats. The hookers were insanely aggressive - unless you're talking to a girl, you're liable to get physically pinched, poked, prodded, grabbed where the sun don't shine, and in a few cases actively manhandled into a compromising position. It was... overwhelming. Felt like going to a club in first year, and being totally overwhelmed by it all. The companions I went with - newfound acquaintances through the High Commission - were right into it. I went home feeling anthropologically educated, but otherwise pretty miserable.
I'm still trying to find a way to write this up for my weblog in such a way that my familiy can read...
anyhow. Sorry for the long messages, folks. Let me know what you think!
-I.
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