Catching Up: Part Deux

So what exactly have you been up to Val since your research has been slow going?

Well, I took a trip to Ethiopia. My dad and I spent three weeks in June hanging out with my mom. She had some time off in the beginning of our visit so we hit the road and went to Adama (aka Nazareth) for the weekend. Adama is about an  hour's drive from the capital city, Addis Ababa. The road is good but the traffic is terrible since all the trucks carrying goods to and from Djibouti use this route. It has been years since I traveled outside the capital so I was pleasantly surprised to find a bustling town.

The rainy season was yet to come so it is dry

Really dry...

 

So dry, they keep camels

The 'Rents Relaxing at Sodere, the Hot Springs

Monkeys, monkeys everywhere. It is impossible to have have a picnic. When we were kids, my brother lost his banana (Cliche, I know) to these beasts

The bustling town

Catching up: Part Un

Wow! It has been too long since I have posted and I finally have some time to sit down and write something. You would think that the silence would mean I was busily at work. Busy yes, with research, not as much as I would like.

Let's start with the research update. The MOU mess finally got sorted out and it is, as I write, on a plane somewhere due to arrive in Kisumu on Wednesday. Finally.

The next steps are to get it signed by the Vice Chancellor of the University of Nairobi and then include a copy in my application for a research permit. Humph. I come back next month and I am just getting ready to apply for the research permit.

I am coming to terms with the fact that I will need to come back.

That said, a huge thanks to the U of MN Legal Counsel, particularly Don and Elizabeth, and to Bonnie and Chris at the WRC for their hard work in getting the document to me.

My Office View

This is the view from my office today: