Habib!

Habib last night was awesome - Dobet Gnahore from Cote d'Ivoire and Vusi Mahlasela from South Africa were also amazing. It wasn't 3 separate sets, but trading songs and backing each other up. I think they only did one solo number each, actually. Afterwards we marched backstage (ignoring the guy who asked us who we were with - duh! We're with Habib!) and chatted with Habib for a little bit, and then some more after he finished signing CDs. It was really nice to catch up with him - I met him in 2000 on my first trip to Mali (long story) and we've hung out off and on in Bamako and in the states. Mostly Bamako though.

A whole truckload of DC-based Mali PCVs were there too and it was nice seeing everyone, even if only for five minutes. Gotta get down there to hang with the family more often.

Haircut

Got my haircut. I like it. Jenny at Crash was super nice and even called me on Monday to make sure I liked it and was doing ok. Guess I was a little frazzled during the process. Thinking about going even shorter....and Esther at work is egging me on.

Spying

I get on the shuttle this morning and realize the woman sitting in front of me works at my office. Not too many of us commute via the shuttle - it means a 15-20 minute walk through downtown to get to the building.

She's been in the field for a while and is just back as of a month or so. When she met me briefly I had longer hair and I figure she doesn't recognize me. Also, I'm wearing big sunglasses. I know her to be cool (from others) and she also looks the part, youngish, with streaky gray in her hair and sharp cheekbones.

She gets off at my stop and I follow. She walks pretty fast and there's this awesome The Knife song on my iPod, We Share Our Mother's Health (Trentemoller remix) so I feel like I'm in a spy movie, with my black coat and shades and tailing someone. She takes a slightly different route but I keep track of her the whole time and was never spotted. I'm about a 100m back when she gets to the door. Perfect.

Midnight Snack

Imminent Demise

Saturday is the Baltimore Half Marathon.

That's 13.1 miles.

Pretty far, innit?

We'll see if I can do it. Less worried about my aerobic capacity and leg strength than the integrity of my hip flexors and knee parts. There are free massages at the end but I'm pretty sure I will not be walking for the rest of the weekend.

I'll keep you posted!

What's Good

Is having a roommate like Edith, who is the same H&M size as you and roughly the same shoe size, and you can buy and share clothes! Doesn't hurt that she can kill mice that get caught in sticky traps either. I tried to dispatch one with a blow of a broom handle to the nape of the neck and of course did not hit hard enough to kill it outright, though I'm pretty sure I broke its spine. Edith's put-it-in-a-bag-and-whack-it-on-the-ground strategy is more impersonal and effective.

Mozambique!

Work is sending me to Mozambique in December for our Africa Regional meeting. Apparently the beaches are beautiful (not that we will have time to enjoy them!) and the prawns are 8 inches. Oh yeah.