April 1, 2003,

hold the phone --

the DC marathon was canceled? i'm sorry? because you need to spend more time vegging in front of cnn listening to dum dumdumdum war music? why doesn't everyone sit on their ass and listen to inane commentary 24/7 while eating super-high-fat frickin' freedom fries and drinking beer, i'm sure that would make the world a better place.

man.

this is giving me an inkling about how things are different now.

ok, other news. real news. um....yeah. not much happening here. condom sales to the vacationing students are clipping along. got a great package from my grandma, who usually sends grandma things, but this time it was a cute little tanktop with a cute little turtle pendant and some hawaian music cds, way to go grams! your package liquor package is still en route, il parait, or j'espere.

we went up to bongolo where the american missionaries live, and used their pool and their pantry and their vcr (spiderman; monsters inc.). Pizza. with real (frozen) veggies. extra cheese. we brought rum and vodka and grenadine and invented 'la missionaire', vodka-sprite-grenadine. a friend of ours, a gabonese from libreville who was in ndende visiting his family, drove us in his petit Landcruiser. i succeeded in not getting sunburned and won the noodle race. it's better not to ask.

my big score today was a recipe for bechamel (so easy!) and two big cans of spinach. i will be making lasagne shortly, or perhaps canneloni, because, hey, why not spend five hours on dinner? what else have i got to do? my quarterly report? sheesh.

i'm here in Mouila till tomorrow. getting condoms, printing fancy badges, buying a fan (mine grilled itself, as they say here). tonight we're going out with the ndende guy - he has a car, he dated a volunteer from our stage, is pretty 'modern', whatever that means....it's nice having a beau-frere take you around and buy you drinks and dinner, it's exactly the sort of platonic boy-time i've been craving for two years. plus, now everyone in ndende thinks we're sleeping together, which i find hilarious, because it's not true....'oh! le gars là, il arrive en ville et tout de suite il a eu la blanche! comment il a fait? nous qui sommes là depuis, et elle nous refuse! mais comme ca elle lui a accepté? oh! c'est comment!'

i like rocking the boat when there's nothing there. this may be a character flaw, however.

ok, boyo, stop working so hard - are there no monster truck rallies to go to? ladies' mud wrestling? beanie baby conventions?

take care, eat well, keep your chin up, and smile....i send you hugs from the jungle.

hanko, noodle race champion and falafel whiz