Ian finally chimes in...

Hi,

So I've definitely let Laura take the lead on this here blogging thing. What with my academic pursuits and her lady of leisure time we let her run the blog-show. I'm going to quickly try to recap two of my past trips now a little after the fact.

Korea - March 14-21
South Korea was a great little hiatus from the heavy Italian food. The slightly lighter fare (hopefully pictured in the slides) provided me with a great array of Bibimbaps, Bulgogi, and small dishes of different vegetables. SAIS definitely represented it's impressive alumni connections and was able to set up meetings with the Ministry of Foreign Affairs, a Korean political “think tank”, Hyundai heavy industries (Hyundai's son was a SAIS grad), and the former Foreign Minister Dr. Young-Kwan Yoon. We also spent a night at a temple which included waking up at 4:30 am for silent morning yoga, followed by silent walking meditation, and then a silent ceremonial breakfast. The silent part was a challenge for my loquacious self but I did complete all tasks without a peep.

South Africa - June 18-30
EL COPA MUNDIAL!!!!! BAFANA BAFANA
Well as many of you know I tend to support the USA and French teams in World Cups so, their relatively poor showings didn't help my experience, but it was still amazing.
I went to the following six games:
Cote d'Ivoire v Brazil; Soccer City, Joburg (Was so hopeful for Cote d'Ivoire)
Argentina v Greece, Polokwane (Maradona literally fell over after a shot hit the post)
USA v Algeria, Pretoria (BEST GAME- Stayed at the stadium chanting/singing for an hour after the game, also may have been on Algerian television)
USA v Ghana, Rustenburg (Was on TV in the US with a sad face afterwards)
England v Germany, Bloemfontein (Looked like a goal from where I was sitting, although didn't mention that on the German fan bus ride home)
Japan v. Paraguay, Pretoria (Dressed as referees in the stands for the second time and was let down by the Blue Samurais)

The trip worked out really well and we shared a house in Linden with an assorted group of friends and two coworkers. Drove around with five big guys in a small red (clown) car.

I also did some reseearch for the African Studies department while in South Africa on the minibus transportation system's reaction to the Rea Vaya bus system which is being implemented. This clash of two transportation systems from the global north and less developed countries was really fascinating and if anyone wants the paper let me know.

I'll try to upload photos for these two trips. I'm now back in Haiti for the next month and a week, so the internet will be slow. I'll try to blog a little bit while I'm down here, as I'll have extra time since there's a curfew for most of the NGOs in town.

a dopo


Also

Spring Break

Not quite the raging college students that we once were, but Ian & I still had a pretty jam packed SB2K10! We spent a week visiting my family in Ireland: the Husseys in Co. Galway (Ballintava, Curragh West) & the Sheridans in Co. Donegal (Craig, Rathmullan). It was so good to see everyone, catch up with my unbelievably hospitable family all over, see a lot of the country & introduce Ian to the "real" Ireland outside of Dublin. We did get to play tourists for a bit with 2 days in Dublin, before hoping over to Brussels to visit our friend Ioanna. We had a really fantastic mini-Euro tour & can't believe we are leaving it all so soon.

galway.ballintava.curraghwest.ireland

rathmullan.ireland

dublin

brussels & amsterdam

Playing catch up

I've been extremely bad at keeping this blog updated since Christmas and as our days are numbered in Bologna, here's my best effort at sharing what we've been up to...

Just prior to Ian's finals wrapping up in Bologna in January the earthquake struck Haiti. Luckily, most of Ian's co-workers survived and the main PIH clinics outside the city as well as some emergency tent clinics they set up were able to (and continue to) provide support there. Given the amount of time Ian has spent in Haiti over the last few years, he decided to take his winter break volunteering with the procurement team. He made a quick visit to the Boston office, spent the majority of his time setting up a new depot in Miami to coordinate shipments to Port-au-Prince (PAP) & then wrapped up the trip with about a week in PAP. Here are a few pics that he put together from his time there.

Meanwhile, I did what any good lady of leisure does and went on our previously planned trip to Morocco...

2010.1.27-29.Marrakech

2010.1.30-31.Khenifra

2010.2.1-3.Morocco.Fes

Afternoon call to prayer

I attended the SAIS Austrian Ball in Vienna at the Hofsburg Palace with friends from school.

2010.2.Vienna

And spent Valentine's Day in Venice checking out the Carnevale. Rough life, I know.

2.14.10.Carnevale

We also had a few visitors:

Amanda & Lauren came and helped us with our Haiti Fundraiser "Charitivo" (Charity + Aperitivo)that raised over 2700€!:

From attachments

and my mama came to visit:

From KarenItalyTrip

To wrap up February & kick off March, Ian went to Korea, I had a birthday, & that's about it 'til our spring break trip, which I'll post soon!

From attachments

From Drop Box

Miss you all!

Better late than never...

Did I mention the Italian tradition of Cupid being in charge of delivering Christmas photos? No? Well then.... :)

Ian and I had a really wonderful & memorable Christmas abroad, celebrating a bit in Bologna prior to setting off for a grand tour of Sicilia with his family. A big thanks to them for the fantastic trip to Palermo, Segesta, Agrigento, and Siracusa!

2009.12.Christmas.Bologna

Collages

2009.12.Christmas.Sicilia

2010.1.6.Epiphany.Bologna

Holiday Traditions Abroad

This week in Bologna marked the official kickoff to the Christmas season on Tuesday with a national holiday for the Feast of the Immaculate Conception on December 8th. Similar to our American post-Turkey Day consumer spree, Black Friday, many Bolognese took off the day before to enjoy a 4 day weekend and get started on their Christmas shopping. Christmas stalls have started popping up around the city selling everything from candy and stockings to creches and ornaments. Our 2 foot Charlie Brown tree is a work in progress, but with a stop at the market over the weekend it should be post-worthy soon.

Ian and I have started getting into the Christmas spirit and are enjoying seeing how Italy celebrates, as well as learning about other cultures' holiday traditions, which we unintentionally end up comparing to our own. We thought we'd share our favorite Christmas story, as told by David Sedaris, which sort of sums up what it's like.

Open the following link in a new window. Then click on "Play all videos."

Six to Eight Black Men

The Dutch family I sit for made a quick trip home to the Netherlands this weekend to celebrate St. Nicholas Day. I asked the kids to tell me more about Sinterklaas and their holiday tradition and could barely keep myself from giggling as they told me about his arrival via boat from Spain. I asked if he had any elves with him and they told me, "Oh yes! There's about 31 of them and they're all black and wear lots of bright colors!" We compared traditions of stockings vs. shoes for goodies. I told them that bad American children get coal to which the little girl replied that bad children in Holland get beaten with a stick. Her brother chimed in that that wasn't true anymore and you might even still get one present, traditionally the first initial of your name in chocolate on St. Nicholas Eve. He also told me that Sinterklaas will find you anywhere in the world on St. Nicholas Day if you are Dutch or Spanish. I think this is likely how Santa Claus improves his efficiency and is able to cover the whole world Christmas Eve, since he's already got the Dutch & Spanish kids out of the way. I'm off to find us stockings to hang on our radiator, hoping he will find us in Italy...

Slovenia

I'm almost tempted to keep these albums a secret in fear that we'll start a mass of American tourists headed to Slovenia! We went for a quick trip this past weekend & can't say enough to describe how much we enjoyed it. Ljubljana was our first stop, where we stayed with my Aunt Jane's brother, Robert, his wife Janja, & their 6 year old son Luka. Our positive experience was certainly shaped by their welcoming family! They showed us all around Ljubljana Saturday morning (after feeding us breakfast---5 stars for accomodations, hospitality & the menu!!). Such a great little city! Lots of cafes, where the locals spend hours on Saturday mornings out on the patios along the river. I think they've got the Italians beat on how to linger over coffee. They also beat out Bologna for international cuisine--we ate Thai for lunch, Mexican for appetizers & Croatian for dinner. That will probably be our last Pad Thai, guacamole, and margaritas (not all together!) for awhile :(

Sunday we made a few stops outside the capital. Bled was gorgeous fairytale town complete with castle on a hill and medieval church on an island in the middle of a lake. Next stop, Vintgar gorge, which Robert recommended for a hike. I really enjoyed the fantastic fall colors as we followed a path along the river to a big waterfall. Hope you all enjoy the pics as much as I enjoyed taking them & being there!

Ciao & Happy Thanksgiving!

Laura & Ian

Ljubljana

Bled

Vintgar.Slovenia

though a picture is worth a thousand words...

I haven't done much writing on the blog since the first post, so here are the latest updates:

Ian is into the full swing of his semester. Classes are going well & his head hasn't exploded yet, but check back in when we hit midterms in a few weeks ;). Kidding, he's doing a wonderful job keeping things balanced & seems (at least from a familiar observer's perspective) to be keeping his stress in check. He's taking/auditing: Public Sector Economics, Macro., Comparative National Systems, International Trade Theory, Intro to Development, and War & Conflict in Sub-Saharan Africa. He's started a research assistant position with a professor at SAIS focused on Charles de Gaulle and perceptions of him during the war years, which he's finding interesting. He is playing soccer with a group from school & found a squash court in town and has challenged a few Bolognese. We are both taking Spanish class 3 times a week (in Italy...we know) and aren't quite at the point where we can practice at home, but talk to us again in a few months.

I am still a semi-leisurely lady. I have a smattering of odd jobs babysitting and "teaching" English. On Monday I started working with a small group of 11 & 12 year-olds that a friend of a friend, who is Italian & goes to school in Bologna, has been working with for a few years. She is too busy this year, so I am picking up where she left off. It's a pretty good gig; just 1.5-2 hours and we do a bit of conversation, play a game, or watch a movie in English. Every Wednesday, I babysit for a Dutch family I met at the international school where I have been subbing as a teacher's aide as needed. There are just 2 kids ages 6 & 8 and their English is great, so it's a pretty easy job. On Thursdays I have dinner with an older couple who have me over for dinner and we chat about current events for an hour and a half so they can keep up their English. Besides that, I joined the photography club that one of the students started. We've only met once, so I don't have much to report on that, but will keep you posted if we get a site going that's worth looking at. I also joined the International Women's Forum of Bologna, which is a group of English speaking women here that has various interest groups, professional networking, etc.

All in all, we are certainly staying busy. Miss you all--send us updates from home!

Buona giornata,

Laura (& Ian)