David had a surprise when he came to see me for the first time after my arrival in Morocco. He had bought his ticket for the first week I was allowed to take vacation after training and the 'probationary' period (though we found out later that almost no on in Peace Corps actually pays attention to the rules). We had a lovely time hanging out in my village and David, as my 'husband' (since Moroccans don't really recognize 'partner') got to see more of my host family's farm than I ever did. The surprise was the announcement of mystery vacation, planned for the next holiday season 11 months later, and my first clue. I got a clue about our destination every month till we left, a 'travel pack' upon arrival (mostly books about the destination), and wasn't supposed to find out where I was going till I arrived at the airport. Of course, since I was in Morocco at the time and David was in Italy, I had to go to Marrakesh a week early to pick up my ticket, but the premise was great and my friends got so into the guessing game that every month I ended up forwarding the clue to what seemed like half the volunteers in Morocco.

It turned out that Portugal was the destination, and we had a fabulous three weeks there, despite some slight trauma involving food. The Portuguese seem to eat nothing but fish or meat, the former I can't stand and the latter I'm not a fan of in large quantities. I have a long, involved story abut our anniversary dinner where I ended up with an enormous slab of pork wrapped in a thick slice of ham, but I'll spare you and save that for another entry. Suffice to say we ate a lot of Chinese food, being readily available, while having a great time at the the castles, museums and stately homes.

In addition to lots pictures, there were two outcomes from the first mystery vacation: 1) David thought having to come up with 12 clues was too much work, so it's been limited to one a month for the six months before departure, and 2) that we would take turns planning the vacations. The following year, when it was my turn to plan, we were going to go to Egypt, but something (I don't remember what) came up. Then we lived in Italy, so little extra mystery was needed. Last year David had a trip to Belize planned, but I had too many conferences to worry about and we didn't go, so finally, almost five years later, it's my turn again to come up with the destination.

As a fabulous procrastinator, I'm getting the clue in just under the wire. We'll be going over Spring Break, which, due to Pitt's very weird spring schedule, is the first full week in March. So today, as the last day in September, is the last day I can give David his first clue. You're welcome to post guesses in the comment section, but just to torture everyone (especially David) nothing gets confirmed till the day we leave. I can't wait!

First clue: Mystery vacation destination varies in altitude between 3,000 and 13,000 feet.

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****We interrupt your regularly entertaining blog to bring you a special guest entry written by Irene, Leah's sister.****

Due to the project I have been working on at PBS, I was unable to take any vacation time until this month. As someone who has been ensconced in academia for several years, this took a little getting used to. Pittsburgh is actually the second leg of my vacation. I was visiting friends in Atlanta from the 8th through the 17th. That was a very, very nice and relaxing vacation. Essentially I was not allowed to do anything except read (I read or re-read 8 books), watch films (7 Hindi and 2 American films), eat tons of food (mainly Indian) and sleep (at least 8 hours a night). Now, that's what I think a vacation should be--getting pushed around by elderly Chinese women as David was is not my idea of a good time--though I think he would agree with me on that point. My Pittsburgh mini-vacation has been equally nice, though not really as restful. This is not because I've been required to do anything--indeed, the complete opposite. However, I feel as though I should be more active simply because Leah and David are. They've gotten up at 6 AM all but one of the mornings I've been here. And to add insult to injury (in my ever so humble opinion), they were then extremely active after waking--either going to the gym or doing their running/walking routine (which they'll tell you all about if you show the least bit of interest, or even if you don't). 6!! AM!!!! Feel free to take a moment to shake your head over the very thought--I'll wait.

The only morning they didn't rise and shine at 6 was on Friday morning and that was because we were all rudely awakened at 2 AM by the fire alarm. This, I learned, happens far more often that it should. They were chattering away about old wiring and foolish, foolish undergrads leaving stove/microwaves unattended all the while I was trying to stop from curling up on the steps of the church across the street from their apartment building and going back to sleep. David's story about the MGM Hotel in Las Vegas burning years ago and the enormous fireball that burst out the entrance which melted the cars parked across the street managed to rouse me a little. Now, I don't mean to worry you unnecessarily--the fire people came, spent what seemed about 5 seconds in the building and gave the all clear. Leah learned the next day that while the wiring is old, the detection system is relatively new and they believe a spider rested its legs for a little too long on the microchip sensor.

With the exception of that abrupt and quite rude interruption, this has been a most congenial and pleasant way to end my vacation time. I've been to the library twice, read 3 books, had the opportunity to have Caribou hot chocolate twice (the chocolate shavings on top of the whipped cream is what makes it better than others), enjoyed my first glass of Guinness and been bossed around by Junior She Who Must Be Obeyed. Now, while this last point may not seem terribly pleasant, it does bring about a certain sense of nostalgia for our childhood which is nice to experience-- occasionally. Lest you think I was completely useless, I did chauffer them both to Whole Foods where they stocked up on the heavier items (for example, they bought a carton of rice milk). I also brought a summer's worth of Entertainment Weekly magazines for them to peruse and 5 Hindi DVDs. While I have attempted to broaden their movie experiences, they nixed the idea of watching more than a few. And as I leave tomorrow, the "few" is turning into more like 1 plus some Hindi songs from one or two others. For example, we watched the first half of one last night (Dil Chata Hai), but they decreed that it should be stopped at intermission and finished this evening. Now, I agree with them that in comparison to most American films, Indian films run a little long. Dil Chata Hai, for example, has a running time of 185 minutes (just over 3 hours) Still, for all their being active at 6 AM!!!!, they really are big wimps.

****This concludes the special guest portion of Leah and David's website. We now return you to your regularly scheduled blog.****

Posted by David | Permalink | Comments (2)

Three days a week, for the last couple of weeks, Leah and I have been running together. Just before dawn, we take a short walk out to Schenley--a large, elaborate park with many broad, tree lined trails, picnicking and playground equipment, hills, valleys, huge bridges, stairs and a pond with sleepy looking ducks--where we join a handful of other early risers. Among the early risers is Army. (Note: it's not "the" Army, just Army; especially, after netflixing Arrested Development and belly-laughing when Buster explains that he is home early because, "Army had a half day." Everyone should watch it.)

Panther Lake, Schenley Park

Actually, the runners wearing blue shorts and grey shirts with Army logos must be ROTC, but we like to say we run with Army, though in reality, they run past us. They run ahead because in the beginning stages of our "program", there is more prescribed walking than running (e.g. yesterday, we ran for 1min, walked for 4min, and repeated this 8 times.) Inevitably, we discuss other runners' techniques and form questions. Do they have good posture? Do they "break" by placing a foot too far forward when it contacts the ground? Do they bounce, and thereby uselessly exert power upwards? Heel kick? Arm position? And most importantly, are we really qualified to impute aspects of their form? No, but we have been reading about running technique, and now possess an intellectual's arm-chair view of the sport, even though our own forms are far from correct. Despite this, observation is a reasonable strategy, and Army conveniently includes a statistically motley bunch. There are text-book runners, smooth runners, bouncers, high kickers, flailers, stompers, and even a puzzling gait that swings the torso wildly from side to side. Hopefully, our own trots will improve with time. By the end of our 13-week program, we should be running for 60min, continuously--we'll see.

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With some free time this week, I wrote a few small programs (scripts) to generate a webpage that displays my reading list. I've finally disentangled myself from the yoke of MediaQueue and entangled myself with my own code, uninspiringly named BookGallery. Improvements include the flexibility to add my own ratings, comments, and provide links to WorldCat, rather than Amazon. WorldCat is a search engine that locates books at libraries nearest to you, or, if you're dying to spend money, the ubiquitous Amazon link is on many WorldCat pages. On the downside, my scripts don't have a nice graphical interface, like MediaQueue's, to search for books--at least, not yet. However, for now, I plan to pause development on BookGallery and use some re-acquired free time to read.

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Amy, our wonderful friend, posted about geotagging in flickr. If, like myself, you are new to geotagging, it's a map that displays thumbnail pictures positioned where the photos were taken. Truely spatial people may be touched with awe, probably somewhere on the right side of the brain. With joy, I just discovered geotagging is also possible with Picasa and Google Earth. Randomly, I found a nice tutorial on Picasa geotagging by Joe Hughes. I don't know the full extent of the functionality yet, but I did save a file so click here to download three pictures from Labor Day weekend. One disadvantage to this file: it must be opened with Google Earth, so you need to have it installed on your computer. But if you have Google Earth, or don't mind downloading it (for free), the map and picture set is fun.

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You'd think we would be done traveling for awhile, especially since school started August 28, but as it happens, you would be wrong. Uncle Alan, David's uncle, and his fiancee Ellen, were married in Danvers, MA Sunday at noon, so of course we had to go. David has been dragged to any number of my cousin's weddings over the last ten years and is now almost perfect at establishing the relationships of everyone in the rather large extended family on Mama's side. But until this summer I haven't had a chance to meet any of David's extended family, since Steven's side hides out in New England and Sharon's side is scattered places we don't get to.

In addition to meeting lots of family, we also got to see some friends. Zach and Corey, newly married and living in Northampton, let us crash on their futon Friday and Sunday nights. We had a great time stuffing ourselves with wine and cheese, being shown around their new town and sampling breakfast at two of their favorite places. Saturday night Christa, Greg and Helen drove up to Haverhill from Cambidge to have dessert with us. Christa and I have been friends since high school, but haven't seen each other in almost six years, which made meeting Helen, their four-and-a-half month old, lots of fun. Fun because I adore babies, but even more fun, since she is extremely cute and very well behaved.

It was actually quite the baby weekend. Two of David's cousins, Kristie and Richard, along with their spouses, have small children. Ally (Alessandra), is nine months old, and the daughter of Kristie and Mark, while Richard and his wife Brynn have two children: Acher, almost three, and Annelie, who's eight months old. All very happy children, so of course David kept himself busy during most of the reception by taking lots of pictures. As a bonus, I got to hold Annelie during the ceremony, since her parents had wedding duties. We had a slight disagreement over who should have control of my earrings, but we resolved it amicably.

In all, an excellent weekend, though next time we may try to avoid all the driving and fly in. Especially since we have so much family to visit, now.

Posted by Leah | Permalink | Comments (1)