I think this blog idea is great. I don't know how much/often I will be able to contribute, but I will certainly try. Somebody has to represent the trilingual illiterates among us. Yep, this means that I only understood about half of what all you folks were saying in Swahili when we were in Kenya. Now twenty years later (twenty years . . . how did that happen?), I strain a temporal lobe just trying decipher half of what I used to understand in Swahili. Despite my language deficits (I've been described as being barely lingual, let alone bilingual), I still use Swahili words and Kenyan place names for almost all my passwords (I wonder how many of you do the same).
Quick update: got married to classmate (Leyla Moossavi) in third year of medical school('92); first child (Sara) born in fourth year medical school ('94); somehow survived residency years ( Family Medicine for me and Ob/Gyn for Leyla) to eventually start practice in a rural health center in an under-served area near my hometown. Second child (Jack-'97) born at end of residency; third (& final?) child (Camran) born in '02; raising kids in the home I grew up in.
I would love to read updates from the rest of you. I did get caught up a little bit recently when Diana King and I attended the same medical conference and shared a few meals.
More important than an update, I truly hope we can get a group together this coming summer ('08). After top level negotiations with both my wife and my office manager it looks as though I can bring the Stack/Moossavi crew out to the Seattle area in late July-early August '08. Would that time period work for the rest of you? What dates don't work for people? Any ideas on what a reunion in the Seattle area would look like? One event? More than one (maybe one with and one without kids)? Let's hear from people and get the ball rolling.
My top 10 list of things I miss from our Peace Corps days (Brian, I loved your list):
10. Milk that was still warm delivered to my doorstep every morning.
9. When asking for directions, receiving the same answer no matter where I was going (don't make me say it).
8 Softball games against the Japanese volunteers in Kisumu.
7. Mail in my mailbox.
6. Traveling on the night train.
5. The short rains when a brief, intense storm would roll through the hills around Kisii only to surrender to the sun in a brilliant rainbow.
4. Jay Hotchkiss describing the "total body massage" experience we would all get when 'standing in line' in Kenya.
3. Keith Clay telling a story about anything.
2. Anything that Suzanne (Pope) Mathews cooked/baked.
1. A pombe with anyone of you.
Hope you all are well.
Mike
3 comments:
Hey Mike nice to hear from you. Regards to your family. I have an Uncle in Monroe, his kids spread out south of Ann Arbor. I think it is great you returned to a rural area to work, I know your practice is appreciated by many. A day in life note would be interesting, with some geography/demography of where you are.
Have a nice holiday season.
Ooooo ... I forgot all about the rush of getting mail. Definitely in the top five.
Thanks for the reminder, Mike. Welcome aboard.
How about the rush (of relief) from getting to the choo in time? Or that particular happiness associated with getting through the shortcut with the barbed wire without your skirt in tatters? Or the joy of finding a note addressed to you on the bulletin board at the Pigale or PCorps office (never the Thorntree). Running into one of you all anywhere. Avoiding you know who (fill in your particular blank) by dodging down Biashara Street or into the City Market. Hot maize off the street grill. Hot water at the Pigale. Clean hair. Clean un-omo'ed underwear. Getting a matatu at a time you knew there shouldn't be one. Afternoon tea in the staff room. Not top ten material, but definitely real simple pleasures.
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