Last time I wrote an entry, my time was winding down in Dar. There was great anticipation and a bit of sadness, as there always will be when leaving a city you call home and people you have come to know as friends. Since that last time back in May, I’ve taken a quick trip back home to catch up with family and the old friends that I hadn’t seen in years, and the Diploman and I went up to the Great White North to spend two weeks in what is, and I challenge otherwise, the most unique state in the union. Then I went back been back to Dar, where I spent a month explaining why I was back (work) and justifying time missed back in the states (in the end, absolutely worth it). And now, I’m finally happy to announce, I’m back with the Diploman on our newest of adventures, which is to say– resuming a somewhat regular life.

You may forget it, but life is an adventure, always! Currently more so, since getting a haircut and finding a yoga studio qualify as novel and adventurous, for the moment. I am finding myself with a bit of country mouse syndrome in this big city, though, after the last two years in Tanzania.

But still, there is a familiarity here in many things. It seems that no matter how many decades of progress will erase the chinese medicine stores and three-wheeled taxis and brooms made out of bamboo and hay. A simple ni hao rolls off my tongue for a greeting, and I’m satisfied that I can somewhat become one in the crowd of a billion. This sense of familiarity provides a buffer, and allows me the pleasure and excitement of being new in a new city.

I’m currently in between jobs, waiting for some paperwork to go through so I can start at the Embassy. In the meantime, I’m scoping out some opportunities at a local city publication and with some random folks that I’m meeting. And, I’m using this time to dust off some pretty thick cobwebs from the corners of my websites…so stay tuned!