The last few months have been pretty whirlwind, in what turns out is pretty typical fashion. Guatemala was great, despite spending the last few meals of money on a gorgeous and super amazingly warm blanket that I am allergic to. Returning to home in Juneau was also great, though jam packed with finalizing a move to my new/temporary home in Palmer, AK where I was living out of Toro (the amazing allergen-absorbing purple truck) for a few weeks before caving and renting some space from good bud Wiley.

AK oil pipeline near valdez

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The semester finished in a blur of papers and exams, leading straight into several weeks of recuperation and preparation. As I sorted out my summer, I worked on rehabilitating my ankle and planning for the next year of academic fun. I finished my vacation in New York with a series of visits and chats with friends, which served to remind me that I have done a very poor job of making good on my new year’s resolution to be more social. Next semester, I promise.

Transit to the Central African Republic got off to an auspicious start. Air India called to tell me my flight to Paris had been canceled. The word hung for a moment and I echoed it back to the customer service representative. Canceled? Yes. Pause. But I was re-booked on another airline and please don’t hesitate to call us if you have any problems.

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I’m headed to CAR for the summer.  Here is some background to help put everything in context

CAR Humanitarian and Development Partnership Team

CAR Google Earth File (it’s better than a map: download Google Earth here)

Wikipedia entry

Another source