Have Soy Sauce - Will Travel

even more like home

2008-08-18T22:58:00.005+01:00

Although I sometimes hate myself for it, our home here seems extremely luxurious - far fancier than our homes in New York and Philly. But our apartment is too big, even for four adults. It seems as though the only design criteria for the place was simply: As Big As Possible.

Because our kitchen is so gigantic, it used to be a somewhat difficult place for cooking. It has relatively little counter space, and I would resort - as I did in New York and London - to using the microwave as a pot stand or the floor as a an extra dish rack. So Peter, because he takes excellent care of me, commissioned a local carpenter to build us a kitchen island:

Having the island made our preparations for Saturday night's dinner party easy. Again we went to the fish market, and bought two large fish. Apparently, we bought two mullets. Here I am, looking both pleased and terrified by the fish.

Peter carved the mullets into several huge fillets, and again we had a feast of sweet, firm fish. Amazingly, we found red bell peppers at the market - banged up for sure, but the woman selling them cut off the bad parts and sold them to us at about $1.30/ pound.

For a starter we had some freshly popped (on the stove!) popcorn, and for dinner, we had grilled fish with a spicy pineapple chutney, grilled red peppers, roasted plantains, and a thai-style cabbage/grapefruit/peanut salad. Homemade mango ice cream for dessert. (Ok, the ice cream didn't exactly freeze, so we had very cold, chunky mango milkshakes.) I have to say, it was pretty damn good.

a normal weekend, sort of

2008-08-12T09:56:00.009+01:00

Every once in a while, we have a weekend that's normal...almost. Last Saturday, we decided to go buy some fish for dinner. That's something we often used to do at home. So we went to the fish market down the street. There were five-foot long barracudas and giant red groupers - a bit much for the two of us, so we bought a "small" grouper:

For dinner that night we grilled a third of it: two thick, meaty steaks and its enormous head. With a bit of olive oil, salt and pepper, and a few splashes of lime juice, it was magic.

Later that night, I completed one of my numerous culinary experiments: homemade challah. Not too difficult, as it turns out (even if one accidentally uses cold water, instead of warm). Here's Pete, showing it off to our roommate, Jim.

Not quite as puffy as I'd hoped...but I'll try again next weekend.

Sunday was a beautiful day - maybe the best we've had. After two straight days of rain, the air was clear, rather than muggy. On days like these, Liberia seems like a pretty happy place. I printed out the Sunday New York Times crossword, and lounged around on the couch.

Before heading down to the pool, Peter and I made lunch. Putzing around the kitchen in our bathing suits, listening to the radio, it didn't seem so different than the time we spent in Florida last December, or in St. Maarten several months before that.

We used the leftover grilled fish and the challah to make fish salad sandwiches for lunch. At home, we would have had tuna salad on bagels, potato chips on the side, and maybe an apple for dessert. Here we have grouper salad on challah, plaintain chips on the side, and papaya for dessert. Pretty close, right? (Diet Coke on ice, in both cases.)

Not bad at all, for a Sunday afternoon.

more signs

2008-08-12T09:32:00.005+01:00

As I've said before, very few signs here are printed. This is changing slowly, but for the most part, bumper stickers, signboards, and sometimes even bulletin boards are hand painted. Here are two of my recent favorites:

I didn't realize "the people" needed or wanted table tennis, but hey, who am I to say?

rain, rain, go away

2008-08-10T20:08:00.000+01:00

About 10 days ago, I was scheduled to travel by helicopter to northwestern Liberia to inspect some road rehabilitation works.

Here's my colleague, Paul, from the EC, in the red shirt:

We wear headphones to block out the noise of the chopper.

One of the Ukrainian UN pilots gave a short pre-flight talk (wear your seat belts, we'll be there in 45 minutes), and then we were off! Since the helicopter flies very close to the ground (apparently about 500 feet above the ground, the views were fantastic.

I like this photo because it shows the swampiness of the land around Monrovia. During the rainy season, clogged drains and flooding are a huge problem - more on that later.

But after 20 minutes, I felt the chopper tilt a bit, and bear left - we were turning around. It was too loud to talk, so one of the other passengers was gesturing to her colleague, holding her hands in front of her face, wiggling her fingers and moving them down...rain in the distance.

We returned to Monrovia's small, domestic airport, Spriggs-Payne, and reluctantly climbed out of the helicopter. Maybe next time.

another guest

2008-08-03T20:26:00.009+01:00

For weeks, Peter and his coworkers (and especially our roommate, Denise) have been preparing for today's visit from a man who could sort of be described as Peter's boss's boss's boss's boss's boss's boss...former President of the United States, Bill Clinton.

For weeks, Denise and others have been developing potential visit schedules for President Clinton and the "delegation" accompanying him: celebrities, US government officials, Foundation staff, and press. The final schedule included a visit to a market, a hotel funded in part by the Clinton Global Initiative, a radio interview, and a reception at the Ministry of Foreign Affairs (MoFA). The Ministry of Foreign Affairs is serving as the President's official office until the Executive Mansion rehabilition is completed.

Our role today was to stay at MoFA, herd people along, and provide logistical support. (I actually was just tagging along, since I don't actually work for the Foundation.) Here are the buses of the delegation and press entering the MoFA parking lot:

Our first task was to arrange the bag lunches for the delegation. The sandwiches, supplied by a local grocery store, came with the usual fillings- ham, turkey, cheese - and with more exotic flavors: crab, mortadella, and "c. bocon" (Canadian bacon, we realized.)

Later, President Clinton greeted each and every one of the Foundation's Liberia staff - and posed for pictures all of them. (Unfortunately I don't have Peter's, but the Foundation HQ apparently will send it to us in the next few months.) Here's Denise:

After that, he made some official remarks in a small auditorium downstairs. The best part (in my opinion) of his talk was his last point. He encouraged Liberians to stay the course, and described what has happened in Rwanda. Four years after the end of the Rwandan genocide, the GDP per capita was less than $300, but now, 10 years after that point, the per capita GDP has nearly quadrupled. We read about it all the time, but it's still heartening to hear the message: Stay with the program, and support your progressive government.

We then exited into the lobby, for a short reception. President Ellen Johnson Sirleaf walked right in front of me!

And that was that.

She's all grown up

2008-07-10T14:44:00.005+01:00

Some of you will remember the pictures of our adorable puppy, Libby...whom we gave away not long after I arrived. We were doing a terrible job of training her and playing with her. Our friend James really wanted a dog, both for himself, and for his five year-old son. Since James has a house with a big yard...we couldn't say no.

James is Liberian, and even though he earns what's considered a good salary here (probably about $250/ month), it's still much, much less than what most expats here earn in a day.

So we were a little embarrassed when, about two months ago, we brought him Libby's huge bag of toys, a sheet, biscuits...and her own shampoo.

At any rate, they've taken great care of her, as you can see from this short film we took last week:

James is the man holding the DVD player, and the little boy is his son, John.

home

2008-07-10T13:22:00.003+01:00

Recently, we took a very brief trip home, for Peter's brother's wedding and to see our friends and family.

In 14 days, we visited. NY, Philly (less than 24 hours); Keystone, Colorado; Edwardsville, IL; and back to NY. Here are some pictures from NY and Colorado:

It was great, but there are many friends we did not get to see. I hope we'll be back in a few months.

variation

2008-06-08T11:55:00.004+01:00

I’ve now been in my new job for two months – long enough to get a sense of what things will be like for the next few months. So here are some initial observations:

It’s really busy. I’ve worked several 75-hour weeks, and most weeks I work every day. I wouldn’t be able to keep up this kind of pace, even if I wanted to. The thing is, we work this much because there is an enormous amount to do. Rebuilding the entire infrastructure of what was once a middle-income country where thousands of government employees and private citizens haven’t lived in a fully functional society in almost two decades? There’s a lot to do.

And, I’m certainly not the only expat keeping these kinds of hours. Peter, our roommates, and nearly all of our coworkers do, too.

Despite – or because of – the hours, I’m enjoying myself. One aspect I love about the job is that I’m learning about a wide range of things. Here’s what my schedule was on Thursday:

7:15 – 7:45
Respond to emails about infrastructure finance strategies

8:30 – 10:00
Review consultant’s report on the impact of urban works projects

10:00 – 11:00
Meet with (another) consultant to discuss potential for recycling programs in Monrovia

11:00 – 12:00
Review proposed dumping fees for Monrovia landfill; start building financial model to project potential municipal revenues from dumping fees

12:00 – 1:30
Meet with representative of US Embassy and US Department of State Regional Environmental Officer; talk about trash and sewage

1:30 – 2:30
Join conference call on financing strategies for providing power to Monrovia (specifically by connecting Liberia to West Africa Power Pool in Cote d’Ivoire)

2:30 – 4:00
Edit “framework” for restructuring one agency at Ministry of Public Works

4:00 – 4:30
Meet Monrovia Mayor; discuss dumping fees, streetsweeping, and restructuring

4:30 – 6:30
Finish editing restructuring “framework”

6:30 – 9:00
Exercise, eat, drink

9:00 – 11:30
Write emails about developments in port reform, hospital renovations, and transport strategy

I really like it. For the most part, I think that what we're doing will help to improve people’s lives, at least a tiny bit.

Orders of magnitude

2008-04-20T23:53:00.004+01:00

Every once in a while, statistics help put things in perspective. Most people have heard that more than one billion people live on a dollar a day. To me, that’s not that useful because I rarely calculate how much my daily life costs. When discussing our finances, we usually speak in terms of how much we earn.

The other night, a friend and I were having sushi (I know – ridiculous), and we were discussing the ongoing efforts to reform Liberia’s civil service.

“How much do government employees make here?” I asked.

“I think about $50, or maybe $80,” he said.

That’s pretty good, I thought. Here, most of the expat consultants charge $200-$400 a day, so while $50 is relatively low, the cost of living here is also much cheaper than it is at home…

“Per month.”

“Oh.”

I felt a bit sick, thinking about the number of times I’ve spent more on a single dinner than a Liberian civil servant makes in a month. A month.

Given those statistics, is it really surprising that so many of them rush home to run other businesses?

six months

2008-03-31T12:24:00.009+01:00

London in springtime: the sun is shining, birds are singing, and the sky is finally, amazingly, stunningly blue.

So I left.

Six months is just long enough to find London's mildness soothing, rather than boring; to stop being surprised when the English mention "the Europeans" rather than "we Europeans;" and to make a few good friends.

It's also, as it turns out, long enough to realize that I no longer want my "charitable" activities to be only hobbies; that golden handcuffs do come off (though they are very snug and definitely leave scars); and that I'd rather feel sheepish about leaving than resign myself to staying.

So, here I am. Thousands of miles from fine dining and fine art ...but two feet from my sweetie, and a million times happier.

(A bit sentimental, I know...but it's the truth.)

budgeting

2008-03-20T10:21:00.003Z

Meant to post this earlier, but oh well.

Last Wednesday, March 12, (before the Spain trip), the UK's annual government budget was released. The government official who presents it each year is the Chancellor of the Exchequer, (essentially the Secretary of the Treasury).

What's notable about this is that people here know when the budget comes, care about it, and actually change their behavior accordingly. It's amazing. No doubt, their concern is partly motivated by the UK's relatively high taxes and the frequency of the increases (apparently, annual).

But for the average person, the reason they care about the budget is that taxes are raised on very important items: beer, wine, and cigarettes. In coverage by at least one of the major newspapers, "Lifestyle taxes" were reported first. One of my coworkers actually bought several cases of wine on the 11th, in anticipation of major tax hikes. The taxes on cigarettes (11 pence on a pack) were to take place at 6 pm that day. Seems pretty far from the popular notion of slow government bureaucracy...

my kingdom for a salad

2008-03-19T00:19:00.009Z

Six days into Spain, and I'd kill for a decent green salad. Barcelona was all meat, all the time. Do Spaniards really eat like this? We've been having cold cuts around the clock, simply because they're here.

Delicate ham, spicy chorizo, peppery salchichón...I can't believe I'd ever admit this, but I'm a little sick of swine.

The fruit stands at
La Boqueria were gorgeous, but they were mostly just looks, except for the papaya, wild strawberries, and the gargantuan red peppers. Here's my brother Henry, holding up a beauty:

In Barcelona, we hung out with my siblings, parents, and my sister's boyfriend, Christian.

I'm very close to all of them, so it's been great to spend so much time together.

As you can probably tell, there's no shortage of silliness in this group, which makes it all the more fun.

chimps

2008-03-04T22:56:00.018Z

During my last visit to Monrovia, we went on a day trip to Marshall Island.

First, we stopped at the Liberian Institute for Biomedical Research (LIBR). Some time before the war, LIBR had been conducting research on chimpanzees. Somehow, the chimps (and the LIBR campus) survived 14 years of fighting, and then five years ago, the chimps were released on Marshall Island. Though they no longer live in captivity, they depend on their erstwhile keepers for sustenance. Apparently some people bring them food every day, and they also eat cookies thrown at them by tourists.

We drove to a small village, where the locals were selling some red fruits. Initially we were ecstatic - we thought we had found a secret source of red peppers.

The fruits are "a little sweet and a little sour," according to one of our drivers. I think they are called "cruces" or something similar. The one I tried tasted a bit like an unripe persimmon - it gave me that same, dry mouth feeling.

Two men agreed to take us to Marshall Island in dugout canoes.

After an hour of slow movement down the river, we saw chimps! Our guide, Morris, brought us very close to the shore, and tossed packets of cookies onto the beach.

Their bottoms were, uh, inflamed.

The younger chimps were very cute, but the adults were actually a little frightening. They were much larger than we had expected, and the biggest ones seemed as a large as us. Some of them ventured into the water toward us, and I thought for a moment that they would swim or wade to our canoes. When we ran out of food, one of larger males splashed us - in anger, perhaps? I wondered if he was insulted when we laughed. The largest, oldest male, had only one arm, but put it to good use: after picking up a biscuit from the ground, he would dip it into the water before eating it. Sort of the way I would dip a biscotti into a cup of tea...except that this was a river, and he was a huge, balding, scary, one-armed chimpanzee.

You may not be able to tell, but in the last picture, Morris' shirt says, "WKRP in Cincinnati."

the big day

2008-02-21T08:41:00.002Z

As you probably already know, today is a very big day for Liberians: GW Bush is landing in a few hours, as are the First Lady and Secretary of State. For a nation of only about 3.5 million people - with a capital city of maybe 1 million - this is a huge, HUGE deal. Streets have been swept. Curbs painted. Banners hung. Shacks demolished, and people relocated. Most of the city has been given the day off.

We saw the first signs of the impending madness last week: piles of dirt on one of Monrovia's main roads, about every 3 feet apart. I suppose they don't have giant dustpans here, so the collection had to happen sometime after the sweeping.

The curbs at the bus stops have been painted red, white, and blue - not, as we had initially feared, to represent the good ole Stars and Stripes - but because the Liberian national colors are (of course) red, white, and blue. (The obvious imitation of the US flag is another uncomfortable reminder of the country's always visible, sometimes proud, and occasionally humiliating legacy - but more on that later.)

There were rumors that there would be absolutely no mobile phone or internet access today, and I'm happy that this post proves them false. More to come later today...

our new family member

2008-02-13T18:41:00.004Z

I arrived at our apartment in Liberia at 4:30 AM on Monday morning (Sunday night). Peter had reminded me that there would be someone special to greet me, and in fact, there was:

Meet Libby, the newest member of the 16th street household(inspired by her country of birth). She likes puppy chow, belly rubs, and chewing on everything. Her favorite toys include a cardboard paper towel roll and a crushed Pepsi can.

getaway

2008-02-11T17:54:00.000Z

Last Sunday was my 33rd birthday. When I turned 31, I vowed to spend each birthday in a different place - perhaps just to stave off the boredom associated with all post-30 birthdays. At any rate, I spent my 30th in New York; 31st in London; and 32nd in Philadelphia.

So this year...where could I go? London was already out, and Liberia is a bit far for just a weekend trip. Ideally, I would go somewhere new, nearby, and visit someone I know...

Luxembourg!

My b school classmate Hilary lives there, with her husband and adorable twin boys, Landon and Aaron.

Luxembourg is actually quite lovely. Despite its relative non-existence on the international tourism map, it's nice. Squeezed between France, Belgium, and Germany, it feels - to the ignorant outsider - a bit like a generic European city.

Luxembourg also has more Michelin-starred restaurants per square mile (and per capita) than any other country in the world. This *probably* has something to do with Luxembourg's other notable characteristic: highest GDP per capita.

We took advantage of the city's culinary offerings with a visit to Toit pour toi, a gorgeous restored farmhouse lit entirely by candles.

Delicious. After dinner, a large party sat down next to us, including a very large, round man...the chef! He and his party sat down, except for one: an enormous black dog with a friendly face and light brown paws, who sniffed the rest of the tables before returning to his own.

it's the little things

2008-01-22T22:23:00.000Z

When I tell people that London has been...difficult, they're surprised, and frankly, so am I. But it's the little things. For example, I've been trying to download my checking account transactions into Quicken, so I can see how I've been spending my money. For some reason, it hasn't been working. I could be using the wrong file format. I could be importing the data wrong. It could be that my Windows Vista machine no longer works with Quicken, just like it no longer works with any number of applications. Whatever.

But when I go to the Intuit website to seek, help, I find this:

Important notice for Quicken Users:

Intuit UK has made a difficult business decision to discontinue future development of Quicken products for the UK market. To help customers affected by this decision, we will continue providing access to Quicken customer support and online services through to the end of January 2006.

Oh.

I just discovered this. It's not as though knowing that there is no Intuit customer support here would have stopped me from moving here. It's not even a significant, real reason for having a bad day, or even a bad hour. It's just...disappointing.

It's just the little things, I guess.

it's just as you would have thought

2008-01-15T22:02:00.000Z

Two weeks ago, we took a short road trip around southern England.

First stop, Avebury. Avebury is one of England's prehistoric stone circles. Think Stonehenge, but in a bigger circle, and with fewer stones intact. Not...terrifically exciting. Here's how I felt, after 45 minutes of walking around in very cold rain:

The next day, we strolled the streets of Bath, so named for the hot springs that originate there. The Roman Baths are amazingly still intact. The city was lovely.

Far more beautiful, however, was the English countryside. Hm...where are those little people with the hairy feet?

We took the next photo from Maiden Hill, England's largest hillfort.

On our way back to London, we stopped for a short hike at Lulworth Cove.

The best part of the trip? Not the sheep,

or the cows,

or the ponies.

Or even staying in a huge, gorgeous B&B, all by ourselves:

The best part of the trip was that we saw all this and we had time to stop and buy me a dining table from a used furniture store.

Finally...let the dinner parties begin!

a few differences

2008-01-10T22:10:00.000Z

It's easy - too easy, really - to simply post observations about the superficial differences between the UK and the US, but occasionally I will indulge myself:

We all know what's popular here: beer, soccer, and Princess Di. If you've been here recently, you probably even know about Maddy and Fabio (not the one you're thinking of).

What I *didn't* know about is Playboy. Now, I'm sure that, in many other places, it's relatively easy to buy selected Playboy items, such as Playboy adhesive phone crystals or the Playboy beach towel.

But the range of products is unlike any I'd seen back in Hugh's homeland. At home, I never see this fleece throw,or this camping chair.

It's not like these things are at sketchy sex shops. They're at Argos, which is sort of like the now defunct chain, Service Merchandise. When I first arrived, I needed some household stuff, including an iron and a hair dryer, and I went to Argos. It's a store with no showroom. You reserve things online and then pick them up at the store. I love Argos. It's efficient. It's affordable. It's probably carbon-efficient.

But seeing all the Playboy stuff in the catalog there is a little incongruous. It would be like going to Target and seeing that, in addition to piles and piles of Harry Potter books and DVDs of The Santa Clause, the manager had decided to stock some Anna Nicole Smith wall clocks.

Everyone says that the US is a divided nation, and that what we need is an American president to bring us together. Strike that. What we need is some Playboy hot water bottle cozies.

On the Argos website, I found 111 Playboy items. Seriously.

Peter's second post!

2007-12-14T14:24:00.000Z

Liberia is in a phase of reinvention with a very ‘00s spin. Everything is about participatory-ness. Let’s hear from the “cross-cutting” issues of gender and HIV/AIDS while we plan which roads we need to build. Let’s take time to call the small number of entrepreneurs into a room with the Minister of Finance so that she can hear their concerns. Let’s acknowledge that there was a brutal war and lay our feelings on the table so we can move past it. Perhaps all of the touchy-feeliness is inevitable in a country whose new leadership spent most of their adulthood in the US, but it surprises me every time. Every other aspect of our setting drips with reminders that we are in Africa. (The UNICEF consultant leading the workshop I was in yesterday morning was literally drenched with sweat. His pants too—- where he’d rested his elbows on his knees when he sat down briefly.)

When I first traveled to Monrovia 6 months ago I had what I thought was a simple job: to write a new set of HIV/AIDS treatment guidelines. What a unique opportunity, I thought. To be involved in something from the beginning. But no. It turns out that there’s an opportunity like that just about every week: poverty reduction, social welfare, adoption, telecom, mining, education... The policies are all being started from nothing. It’s crazy. There’s scarcely been a law written here since 1979.

This week I am writing the Terms of Reference for a consultant to assist in creating a safe blood supply system. As far as I can tell I am one of two people in the country who is willing to put time into making this effort happen. It is not that the Ministry of Health or the government doesn’t care-- the Chief Medical Officer has expressed support for my activities when we’ve discussed them in private. But how many issues can take priority at one time? She’s got less than 40 doctors to serve the whole country. The infrastructure is lying in ruins around her. Blood supply? Yes, please make it safe for us. I have no pathologist to assign to your team. No hematologist. No modern transfusion laboratories. No money to pay for quality assurance or to advertise for voluntary blood donation. If you know anyone who is interested in helping-- yes, please have them come.
...

And they better come quick— cause we’re already onto the next plan. The Malaria Control Program had its workshop to develop its strategic framework yesterday. No doubt they started off their meeting with a song and a discussion of the impacts of the war as well.

alternative holiday gifts

2007-12-11T23:45:00.000Z

If you celebrate year-end holidays by exchanging gifts, and if you, like me, dread the last-minute retail binge, try one of these sites:

www.globalgiving.com

www.kiva.org

What I love about these is that they allow you, very directly, to make a difference in someone else's life. According to a 2006 story in the Economist, Christmas/holiday spending by a typical US household is about $1600. Rather than consuming more books, toys, socks, sweaters, DVDs, books, and gadgets, why not ask for $25, $50, or even $100 of your gift to be given to someone who really, really, really needs it?

For the New Yorkers - I know you can do this. $25 is two drinks at one of the city's numerous overpriced bars. Give up a martini. Or two. It's not much to us, but a it goes a really long way in poor countries.

thanksgiving

2007-12-11T16:56:00.000Z

A couple weeks ago, I celebrated Thanksgiving in Monrovia. Here are a few pictures, courtesy of our friends Jim and Amanda :

As you can see, our stovetop is, well, small.

We are extremely lucky to have an apartment large enough for 25ish:

Here are the two physicians, putting their surgical skills to good use:

And perhaps my favorite photo of the lot, here we are examining the Showtime Rotisserie. We did not, per Mr. Popeil's suggestion, "Set it and forget it."

East African underwater fiber-optic cable

2007-12-01T13:20:00.000Z

On Monday, an IFC-led consortium announced the signing of loan agreements to build a new fiber optic cable along the eastern coast of Africa.

This is terrific news. Let's just hope they actually start it in mid-December, as planned. According to an article from Red Herring, construction had originally been scheduled to start in 2006.

The Red Herring article also mentions what I've heard a number of expats in Liberia say- that there *is* already a submarine fiber optic cable along Africa's western coast but that "Liberia doesn't have access." I don't have the full story yet, but it seems as though those who control the cable haven't done enough to improve sub-Saharan Internet access. For example, the cable "lands" at neither Freetown nor Monrovia.

More to come on this as I start digging around...

World Aids Day...

2007-12-01T12:54:00.000Z

...is December 1. I'm sorry to say that I'm not doing much to commemorate, but check out this amazing 13 year-old kid, who has helped to raise more than $150,000 to build a school for AIDS orphans in Zambia:

Hope for AIDS orphans

So while he's motivated by his faith, and I'm not particularly religious, I feel somewhat heartened by people like him. He's an ordinary kid who has taken the time and effort to involve thousands of other ordinary kids. Together, they are helping someone other than themselves. Bravo.

sunshine

2007-11-20T10:16:00.001Z

My first morning back in Liberia. Rather than being jarred awake by workmen shouting and car doors slamming, I woke to chirping birds and sunshine! In August, I always groaned and covered my eyes in the morning, but today, I actually skipped around the apartment. Pete thinks I am nuts. We are, after all, in the tropics.

Here are our very bright "offices":

A few years ago, a close girlfriend of mine, M, got married in San Francisco. The morning after her wedding, M's aunt hosted a brunch in the East Bay. It was late May, and though it was bright enough, the temperature wasn't particularly high, and most of us wore jeans and t-shirts. M's British in-laws, however, paraded out in tank tops and shorts - one of the aunts actually sported a bikini top and some "Roman" sandals with straps that wrapped around her lower shins- and the rest of us snickered. It isn't even that hot, we thought.

Now, after two months of London's still, pale, gray, I completely understand. When everyday is cloudy, damp, and dark, *any* sunshine is cause for celebration.