Chilly Cold Cold
February 3, 2007
We’re here in Boston.
We arrived at the charter to discover that they were holding it for us. We climbed on board and flew to Bamako for a seven hour layover.
We visited our good friends Ray and Geri. They are teachers at the main school. We had some beers and went out for a great dinner, winding up back at their place just in time for the school van to pick us up. As it turned out, there were two other teachers heading off to Cambridge with us. They were a couple that we had never met before. They even had a daughter the same age as Zachary. I opened the sliding door and said hello. I inquired as to whether they were heading for the Cambridge Fair as well; he replied “yes”. It was the last word he spoke to us though we flew on the same planes, waited at the same gates, stood next to each other in the Customs lines. Very strange.
At any rate, here we are. The temps are cold. We have had some nice walks. It’s actually quite refreshing to get chilly after sweating for so long. As luck would have it, there is a Starbucks right outside the entrance to our place and a Dunkin Donuts just down the block. We have been refreshed by lattes and donuts and are now ready to take on the world.
Speaking of which, we have been contacted by a school in Damascus, Syria. It looks like a good offer and they are serious about hiring us, so we may end up in the Middle East after all. I admit we are both trepidatious about moving right between Iraq and Israel, but sometimes we need to throw caution to the wind, right? We meet with him Thursday so we’ll see.
I tried on my new suit yesterday and got a haircut today. I haven’t worn a tie for so long and I still don’t miss it. I am getting nervous and more anxious as each day passes. Our time is also getting filled with appointments, shopping, etc. It’s odd to think that in one week we will be arriving back in Sadiola.
Being in the States is a very surreal thing. First of all, I am overwhelmed by the selection. Everything is a choice; maybe too many choices. I went to the bookstore yesterday and barely bought anything because I couldn’t make up my mind. We have our shopping list with us, but the things on it seem so irrelevant now that we are away from Mali. I’m not really sure I like having a Starbucks on every corner. There are whole sections of the market dedicated to forty-three kinds of bread; maybe we don’t really need so many choices. At home we are limited so we make do with what we have. We use everything until it can be used no longer. There is no running down to the corner for this or that so you figure out how to make it work or you do something else. Maybe that’s okay, maybe all this choice, all these options is actually a bad thing. I don’t know. It’s definitely a weird thing, a very overwhelming thing. It’s hard to get back into the swing of it. Is all of this choice actually a lack of choice? I’ll have to chew on that one for awhile.
In the meantime, we’ll keep you posted on the job thing. You write in and let us know where you think we ought to go. Here’s a partial list of possibilities: Turkey, Vietnam, Switzerland, Paraguay, Brazil, Chile, Sudan, Russia, Syria, India, and Malaysia…what do you think?
MJR
We’re here in Boston.
We arrived at the charter to discover that they were holding it for us. We climbed on board and flew to Bamako for a seven hour layover.
We visited our good friends Ray and Geri. They are teachers at the main school. We had some beers and went out for a great dinner, winding up back at their place just in time for the school van to pick us up. As it turned out, there were two other teachers heading off to Cambridge with us. They were a couple that we had never met before. They even had a daughter the same age as Zachary. I opened the sliding door and said hello. I inquired as to whether they were heading for the Cambridge Fair as well; he replied “yes”. It was the last word he spoke to us though we flew on the same planes, waited at the same gates, stood next to each other in the Customs lines. Very strange.
At any rate, here we are. The temps are cold. We have had some nice walks. It’s actually quite refreshing to get chilly after sweating for so long. As luck would have it, there is a Starbucks right outside the entrance to our place and a Dunkin Donuts just down the block. We have been refreshed by lattes and donuts and are now ready to take on the world.
Speaking of which, we have been contacted by a school in Damascus, Syria. It looks like a good offer and they are serious about hiring us, so we may end up in the Middle East after all. I admit we are both trepidatious about moving right between Iraq and Israel, but sometimes we need to throw caution to the wind, right? We meet with him Thursday so we’ll see.
I tried on my new suit yesterday and got a haircut today. I haven’t worn a tie for so long and I still don’t miss it. I am getting nervous and more anxious as each day passes. Our time is also getting filled with appointments, shopping, etc. It’s odd to think that in one week we will be arriving back in Sadiola.
Being in the States is a very surreal thing. First of all, I am overwhelmed by the selection. Everything is a choice; maybe too many choices. I went to the bookstore yesterday and barely bought anything because I couldn’t make up my mind. We have our shopping list with us, but the things on it seem so irrelevant now that we are away from Mali. I’m not really sure I like having a Starbucks on every corner. There are whole sections of the market dedicated to forty-three kinds of bread; maybe we don’t really need so many choices. At home we are limited so we make do with what we have. We use everything until it can be used no longer. There is no running down to the corner for this or that so you figure out how to make it work or you do something else. Maybe that’s okay, maybe all this choice, all these options is actually a bad thing. I don’t know. It’s definitely a weird thing, a very overwhelming thing. It’s hard to get back into the swing of it. Is all of this choice actually a lack of choice? I’ll have to chew on that one for awhile.
In the meantime, we’ll keep you posted on the job thing. You write in and let us know where you think we ought to go. Here’s a partial list of possibilities: Turkey, Vietnam, Switzerland, Paraguay, Brazil, Chile, Sudan, Russia, Syria, India, and Malaysia…what do you think?
MJR
posted by Bronx to Timbuktu at 8:45 PM
1 Comments:
We are extremely happy that all that is well with all of you guys but I have to admit the thought of you guys going to be so close to the fighting in Iraq really worries us. Can't you get something a little closer to a non war zone the thought of Switzerland seems a doable option. I hear that the country is beautiful. Please try to pick a safe place, no one here in NY wants to hear that any thing bad has happened to any of you. Well now that I put in my two cents give our best to Carrie and Zachary. WE all miss you very much. Hoping that you get back to New York before your next endeavor begins. All of our love Be safe. The Donahue's of the Bronx.
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