Look Ma! NO HAIR!

We're leaving Botswana in exactly a week, and among tying up loose ends like...oh...shutting off utilities four days early so that they can get the final bill sorted before we vacate the continent (not sure how we're going to live without internet, phone or electricity for 4 days), dealing with the landlord who requires us to paint the house we've lived in for one year and which doesn't need much painting except for a few chips in the paint that were here when we moved in after the last tenant clearly did not paint it either (we are in country where everybody tries to get someone else to solve their problems and pay for them as well)...

among these things to finish up, one of the ones on my agenda was to get my hair cut. I'm heading back to the US, and am going to be doing job interviews again soon, so I had to say goodbye to the dreadlocks that have been with me the past four years and back to the short short short hair. I joked with JC (who's a US Marine) that I now fit the regulations. One upshot is that by baseball cap now fits easily on my head again and the extra extra large one my friend Sahar bought me is now too big. I expect that now that I've set the trend, Manny will be cutting his hair soon in L.A. as well.

For those of you who've never seen me without dreadlocks, here goes. Warning: Do not be frightened! It's just me! And no, my hair isn't in three chunks. I just have a house-shaped head...the hair connects beyond the horizon!

Stray Photos

Just a few photos for those wondering if we are still truly healthy and alive.

Here's one from our first wedding anniversary, just before we leave the house to go out for a fancy celebratory dinner:

And here's one at the Red Lantern Chinese Restaurant, at Rim's goodbye dinner. Rim (in purple) went back to finish her fourth year of medical school at UCSD. Rebeca (in red) left a short while later, going back to the US to do a summer course at HSPH. Unfortunately for Rebeca, she will be coming back to Botswana in September to complete the circumcision study she is conducting here. Michelle (in blue) is staying through December. It really makes us sad that we will not be around for our friends here in Botswana this coming spring and summer.