Packing Up

Today is my last day staying on campus. This morning when I woke up there were men in military uniform jumping out of a truck. They set up tents/shelters on the field in front of the guest house and then sat out the rain. I tried to take a picture from my room, but no luck.

I spent most of the day catching up on e-mails and cleaing my office. I moved all my files off my desk top, created a huge pile of recycling, and separated what I will carry on the first leg of our trip and what will get stored until we leave. (The International Office stores luggage!) I will continue to conduct interviews and plead for survey responses as we travel. The staff member at the AIDS Council is going to arrange a set of interviews and send me off with a driver! In addition I am meeting with the women's groups to brainstorm how to organize a presentation in July so that it isn't just me talking. This group seemed the best choice, b/c they are less consultant dependent.

I had dinner with Lina last night (Friday night). It was a bit disconcerting to tell her that Doug was leaving Friday morning and it was still severl hours before he was to take off! As we were eating the stall owners came in to move our table, b/c it was raining. Two women faculty members who didn't know enough to come in from the rain!

One piece of my life here can't be photographed. The office next store has a post-doc student from Pakistan. He is very loud. I can't tell if he is hard of hearing or just has lousy phone connections. About every two minutes I hear "hello, hell." None of my near office neighbors knows what language he is speaking. In addition to being loud the walls on campus are very thin. I can tell when someone in the next room at the Guest House has a cold!