Steph in SF (which is better than NY)

Hey, I really enjoyed seeing Stephanie for the second time this year, as well as getting to meet her lovely new coworkers. But I'm sorry Joaquin didn't get to come, too. And I'm not at all bitter that it seems like half our group is living in New York, when San Francisco is empirically 4.76 times better. Here's a snippet of our conversation Sunday night:

S: "Blah,blah,blah... and Tommy's moving here soon."
H: "Really?!"
S: "Oh yeah, we're not in New York, are we?"

Okay, I probably shouldn't have used quotes, since those were totally not the real words, especially the "blah, blah, blah" part. And Stephanie's probably gonna get annoyed by that, but fortunately she'll be too far away to punch me.

FYI, did you know that there are rats the size of small dogs living in the sewers of New York? And I saw a documentary about Manhattan potentially being destroyed by a tidal wave, so watch out. (Or maybe that wasn't a documentary... I get confused sometimes.)

Anyway, now that that's out of my system... I totally plan to make it for Thanksgiving if we're not crazy busy at work. We can spend the weekend talking about people not present, like Dakotah.

Not bitter.

Love,
Harlan

Stephanie's second Thanksgiving plug

Hello group,

<>
I got to see Harlan again this weekend. He was a big help for me on Saturday by being a super-helpful volunteer at this conference thing for The Hunger Project. Things would have been much worse without Harlan around. But isn’t that always the case?

<>Dakotah, that’s ok that you can’t make Thanksgiving. But I expect the rest of you to be there, sleeping in my incredibly long hallway! <>

Stephanie

Chillin' here in Seattle

Hi everyone-

Well lets see, a lot has happened since I last posted on this blog. First Jessie came to visit me for 10 days at the beginning of this month. It was great!! I took her to visit my family where she got to meet everyone that you guys met on the safari when the family came to visit me in Malawi. Of course they loved her:) I now understand why I decided to wait for 6 months to see her even though it was challenging at times to have waited that long. Now Jessie is visiting her family down in Florida and will be moving back to seattle in august to work here as a Recreational Therapist in a senior home. I am so excited for her to move up here. She wont be living with me, that would be moving too fast for me. I will be going down to Florida soon to visit her family as well.

The other big news, is that I have recently received an National Science Foundation (NSF) grant through the Tribal Community College to do research. The grant will pay for my tuition here at UW for my pre-med classes (both summer and fall quarter) AND pay me to do research. What kind of research? Well after lots of meetings with the community college and other important people, I will probably be working with a UW medical research team that is doing research on cancer among the Indian community. Apparently there is no data on how cancer affects Indians, other than that we have one of the highest cancer rates as a group.

So the specific project that i think I will be doing is working with a team (a biostatician, an MD, and me) in developing a survey that will be given to native teenagers at a cancer awareness conference in October. One will be given at the beginning and one at the end -- the main purpose is to determine the knowledge retention. The survey will also give researchers a view into the minds of indian youth on their views on cancer.

Doesn't sound that exciting but I will enjoy developing the survey and then also working with the the native teenagers. Also this will give me some experience in conducting studies when looking at a specific population's health, something that will be invaluble when working at my tribal health center. This opportunity will also get me a foot in the door to doing more complex research and help with my medical school application too:)

So other than that I have just been going to school and, like Dan, watching lots of World Cup soccer -- the US now is sadly was knocked out today which was dissappointing to me because of all of the hype surrounding the team before the World Cup started. I will now be rooting for Ghana, the only african team to advance, because.......well they are africans and I now root for anything african:) While watching the Ghana vs USA game, the annoucer said the the country had to shut down all non-essential electrical appliences so that the country could have enough electricity to watch the game and also annouced a national holiday so that they could watch the game. Sound like africa?

I also have been going to lots of family gatherings, the most recent one was the annual canoe race held on my reservation. It was the 60th anniversy so there was a carnival, powwow, bone games (our traditional way of gambling), and a large salmon BBQ at my uncles place! Man, it is great to be home!

Anyways, sorry stephanie I won't be able to go to NY for the Thanksgiving even though it would be lots of fun. I will be staying here and going to my families since i missed them over the past couple of years. Ryan, cool about your new job:) Harlan quit playing video games at work......oh wait, that is your job. Dan, congrats on getting into grad school.

Please everyone keep posting as I like to hear how everyone is doing:) Talk to you all later

Later,
Dakotah

PS -- if any of you ever come to seattle let me know. you can for sure crash at my apartment.

Thanksgiving 2006

Hi all,

<>What are your Thanksgiving plans? I’m not saying anything definite, but I wanted to get an idea of how many people would be interested in coming out to New York for Thanksgiving. Let me know if you are interested, or if you already have other plans. I’d like a general idea so I can know if I’m offering to host 18 people, or just 2 or 3. Together, I’m sure we can create a masterpiece of a meal. I’m *not* volunteering Joaquin to feed all of us, let me be clear about that J If anything, I’m volunteering myself to do the best I can, as Joaquin will be horribly busy at that time with teaching and learning. <>
Either reply as comments to this post, or post on your own, or even email me privately. <>
I miss you all. <>

Stephanie

Just starting Lost

Hey everyone. So I'm a little late on the Lost thing. It was way down on my Netflix queue and I just got to it, but I knew I'd like it when I first heard the idea.

Other than that, not much has changed here in Denver. I wanted to post earlier, but I wanted to wait until I had a job. And I kept getting promising leads only to fail. But I should be getting an offer early next week so I can finally see what that whole working thing is like. I might have to start shaving on a regular basis again...

Lisa came out for two weeks and went home last Friday. It was great to have her around. I took her to all the local places (Zoo, museum, mexican restaurants). I will go out to visit her (and maybe stay with her) later in the year, probably around October.

I guess that's it. I still check this daily hoping to hear more from you guys. I promise to try to be more frequent with my updates.

Khalani bwino-bwino,

Ryan

Volunteers needed in San Francisco

Hi all,

I get to go on my very first real-life-adult-business trip! To San Francisco. So if any of you will be there the weekend of June 24, 25, let me know. I already plan to see Harlan (woo-hoo!) and I don't think anyone else is around, but if you are, let me know. We could definetly use any volunteers who are willing to do a full day Saturday or Sunday, or half day Saturday afternoon (noon-6:30) to help. The Hunger Project is a great cause :) And you'd get to see me! It is an event to inspire our volunteers and fund-raise a bit.

Love,

Stephanie

five oclock and all's well in oaxaca. more or less. brazil just suffered a disapointing win. not to wish ill on anyone, but i love to see that team lose. speaking of the cup, mexico's in a generally great mood due to their ass-whooping of iran(another team i don't mind seeing lose). They started playing these great commercials that show this guy walking out of a house, going to work, looking like he obviously hasn't slept, with this (naturally) stunning women on the porch all with the title

Cuando Mexico Gana,
Todos Ganamos

it cracks me up everytime. but maybe just because it was the first commercial i understood in its entirety.

i'm here for about a month and a half. i'm going to try to be back in austin for the fourth of july. what am i doing here? a good question. immigration activism turned into a desire to follow the problem deeper coupled with contacts i made in austin from here. learning spanish to continue working in america. getting travelling out of my system for the time being before i go into serious nerddom.

as it turns out, some suckers in california agreed to pay for my masters(physics). not any top of the line schools, mind you, but one little institution in fresno. so, harlan, tommy, (others?) i'll be coming to your neck of the woods come august. i'll already planning a trip to yosemite labor day weekend. takers?

steph-i wont have the chance to see your friend sing until july but i would be very happy to meet her once i get back into town

scott-im envious of your kerrville experience, hope you had a great time

matt-mandarin? seriously? believe me, spanish is a lot easier

lots of love to all of you,

dan

Down with Fiji RPCVs

Greetings all, I hope all are well.

Just wanted to pass along a bit of tree hugging, (for those in the city where there are not many trees)

25x'25 Vision: By 2025, America's farms, forests and ranches will provide 25 percent of the total energy consumed in the United States, while continuing to produce safe, abundant, and affordable food, feed and fiber. http://www.25x25.org/index.php

If so inclined visit the site, select endorse 25x25 and fill in your data.

If you are not interested please complete at least one good smokey burnout (with the air conditioning on)

Take care,
Matt

Arrrrrrr

More Blog

Hey guys,

I'm almost caught up on Lost. Just about four more episodes to go. And someone pointed out to me that there's a website for the Hanso Foundation. Neat.

Have any of you seen Avenue Q? I haven't, but I saw a really cute video with a bunch of Warcraft characters singing The Internet is for Porn (which it absolutely is not!). If you don't know what Warcraft is, good for you.

BTW, I just moved into a new place. My new address is 813 Oak St., SF CA 94117. I've got about fourteen roommates, but there's still plenty of room for a sleepover. Come by soon, before they vote me out of the house for my disgusting eating habits. Tim Clark'll be dropping by in July. And Karen Leung is interning at Berkeley this summer. So SF is not completely devoid of RPCVs.

In fact, I met another one while I was looking for an apartment. A nice guy who served in Fiji. Told me that volunteers often took little handmade boats over vast stretches of water to get to their sites. Sounds scary. (Seeing as he didn't offer me the room, I guess he wasn't so nice.)

Harlan


PS: 'B' is for Baobab.

We need to blog more

Tommy, this steering wheel is driving me nuts.

And Now, a Word from Our Sponsor

Hey Buddy! Nice to hear from ya! Missouri, huh? Never been there. I know a few good folks from out that way, though. - We had a fast hard rain today. Reminded me of Malawi too. It's weird when those moments come and I am all alone in them.

Okay - since Patrick mentioned his "stench" it made me think of cigarettes and smoking, and though I probably ought to refrain here, I am not going to.
ALL OF YOU WHO ARE STILL SMOKING,
PLEASE QUIT !!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
I tell you, after seeing my mother demolished by cigarettes (she died of lung cancer, be it known), I wouldn't wish this on any of your families at some unknown time in the future, nor on you. You have time. You are young, you CAN do it. I beg you.

And have a nice day, punks.
:) MW