| Ode to my Passport
It was so sad. I mailed off my beloved passport today to be renewed, the trusty record of all my glorious travels with its soft blue vinyl binding, the magical key unlocking the doors to Never-never-lands, the symbol of my national identity and of the protection of the @$%-kicking U.S. Federal Government who would come down with fury on the petty official somewhere who tried to mess with their exalted citizen. I miss my passport, and the new one when it comes will be blank, as if all my memories had been erased.
I was beginning to wonder if my wanderings had been stilled, if I would lock into a stable peaceful secure life, but somehow I just can't do it, so I guess I'll look around and find some pie-in-the-sky dream to wax romantic about.
I'm going on safari
By no imaginative flight had I ever pictured myself on safari in Africa, or approaching the sky-denting peaks of Mt. Kilamanjaro, but that's where I'm going in December, to Arusha, Tanzania for a conference required by a fellowship I hold. I'm not without apprehensions; the yellow fever vaccine and malaria pills, along with tales of pickpockets and a tourbook suggestion to dress modestly in this country where dowries can be enforced by law are indeed somewhat off-putting. Yet, I'm incredibly excited. Colleagues recommended that I go to Zanzibar and Dar-es-salaam to wander in bazaars and go scuba diving, and were completely confident of my safety and happiness. I'm hoping to make friends with the other fellows, because I learned toward the end of my time in China that wandering in a foreign country alone is the severest form of loneliness, and despite my willingness to hole up in my new treehouse apartment for weeks on end, and to lose my best friend, I do fear loneliness. But I love adventure. So I'm going to Tanzania, and as long as I'm there, I'm going to see what there is to see.
I'm also going to China in October to participate in fieldwork.
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| I gave a lecture today in the lecture class for the course I teach and it went reasonably well, so I'm proud. I took my friend to investigate the new Chinese restaurant on William. There were mostly Chinese customers (who seemed happy) and the service was good, but the food seems spotty. They seem to know how to fry, and vegetables seemed to be of quality, but my friend's Taiwan rice noodles were dreadful. The prices aren't high. They have some Taiwanese style dishes. |
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