After a restless night trying to sleep (jet lag plus excitement), the alarm went off at 5:10 a.m. I shaved, showered, put on my Mission Rabies t-shirt, scarfed down breakfast with the rest of the gang, were given our special phones with the Mission Rabies app, and then off we went, to the Health Center (our base camp) where all…
We landed in Kenya and were taken to Acacia Tree Lodge. This was a lovely hotel. We settled in and then tried to figure out what to do on Christmas day in Nairobi, January 2020. In Ethiopia, Christmas and New Years are ordinary days, because they use a different calendar. Their New Year is in September and their Christmas is…
Back in the late ‘70s, when punk music was all the rage, I became fanatically obsessed with it. I especially loved British punk and was very into The Sex Pistols, Clash, Stranglers, Buzzcocks, Jam, and countless other punk bands. One major favorite, though, was the band X-Ray Spex, led by the brilliant, talented singer Poly Styrene (born Marion Elliott). Poly’s…
Our final two days in Ethiopia were spent back in the capital, Addis Ababa. We flew in from Lalibela on a short flight, and arrived at our new, beautiful hotel, The Capital Hotel and Spa, around 3:00. We didn’t have much time to spare, because I had scheduled the Go Addis food tour for that evening. We tossed our bags…
Today we set our sights for Lake Bosomtwe! According to my Google maps, it’s about 5 hours by car, although I heard that this depends on what route you take and what shape the roads are in. Either way, it should be an adventurous trip. Driving is often a good way to get to see and know a country. After…
In March of last year, I visited the Allard Pierson Museum in Amsterdam. I had purchased a MuseumCard which gave me access to a slew of museums in Amsterdam and elsewhere in the Netherlands, and I had been methodically going down the list and visiting each one. The Allard Pierson is an archaeological museum with a permanent collection that contains…
Today we woke up earlier than usual. Sunday is a very important day of worship for the residents of Lalibela, and the procession of people heading to the church for services is an awe-inspiring sight. Our hotel knows that tourists like to watch the processional, so they had breakfast prepared early for us. Hailu came to pick us up at…
My friend Mike is very into comics, anime, and graphic novels. He raved about this re-imagining of the life of the cartoon character Snagglepuss. Treated as serious subject matter, the collection takes us through the McCarthy era and blacklisting, Stonewall (yes, Snagglepuss is gay!), the Rosenberg executions, Marilyn Monroe’s relationship with Joe DiMaggio and Arthur Miller, and many aspects of…
Accra, Ghana. 2:30 p.m. on a Saturday – After clearing customs and getting my suitcase, I met my driver holding a Mission Rabies sign, and we were off to the Agoo Hostel, where I can chill out and relax for a bit. At 7 p.m. I’ll have dinner with the other Mission Rabies Ghana 2020 team members who have arrived.…
As funny as it is epic, John Mulaney’s Saturday Night Live lavish musical about analyzing the health-risk limits of corner store bodega items returned this week with “Airport Sushi” – A journey into what happens when you order the pre-made sushi at Laguardi Airport. While the song and dance number is hilarious, the arc de triumph is when David Byrne…
This is a big book with a long title, but I ended up plowing through it pretty fast. Although I have a Master’s degree in immunology, the science has changed rapidly, and this book refreshed my memory on the basics and also got me caught up on some of the newer developments in the field. Using real people as examples,…
These aren’t necessarily “plans” however they are all amazing events I just may find myself at. – DIRECT AMSTERDAM TO LONDON TRAIN TO START RUNNING APRIL 30 The direct train from Amsterdam to London will officially start running on April 30th, NS and Eurostar announced on Tuesday. The direct connection from Rotterdam to London will follow on May 18th. Tickets go on sale…
This novel recounts the life of Little Dog, the son of Vietnamese immigrants, and his experiences growing up in the US. The author is an award-winning poet, and he certainly deserves the accolades. Nearly every sentence is dripping with perfect, beautiful wordplay. Sometimes I found myself stopping and re-reading some of the sentences simply because the words were amazing. For…
We woke up early, had breakfast at our hotel, and then met our guide, Haliu. We rode into town in a tuk-tuk while he gave us the history of the churches. – There are 13 churches. They are divided into groups. There’s the northern cluster, which we were going to visit in the morning. In the afternoon, we would explore…