Sylvia's Journal

I started yesterday morning watching more TV and witnessed a piece on the amazing emergence of a new new sort of Tupperware party – the Taser party (‘don’t tase me sis”). Someone has managed to turn women’s worst fears into a marketing opportunity, selling pink or leopard print Taser guns designed just for women. Only in America! The stalker and attacker, mentioned earlier on the same channel, who is operating in and around Falls Church these days will surely boost demand. Business is booming in the name of security, our national obsession.

We had another very productive morning at ADRA and after lunch we called it quits; we had accomplished all that there was to accomplish in half the time we had planned. It was a perfect team experience; we were focused, aligned, productive and playful. We had planned to go out for lunch but opted instead for another Adventist lunch experience in the corporate Adventists cafetaria. Adventists have their own culinary culture. Each time I lunch at ADRA I learn more about this culture that seems to have its roots in the America of the 50s. Yesterday was Haystack day (Tuesday was soul-food days). Haystack is an Adventist variation on a taco; it has all the taco trimmings (except meat) but they are served over the old fashioned curly (and very salty) corn chips instead of in a taco shell. It is essentially a dip-snack masquerading as a main meal, but not bad. If the ingredients had been really fresh it might have been pretty good.

My early arrival at BWI airport (Baltimore) left me with oceans of time on my hand. Some of that time I spent scouting around for electrical outlets because my computer batteries are aging. I could tell from a distance where the outlets were because that’s where people sit in clusters on the ground (for some reason outlets are never placed near chairs). If you are looking for low (I mean battery) lives at airports that’s where they are. Sometimes it is one single low life that hoards both plugs, one for his cellphone and the other for his computer. It does make you wonder about the people who design or re-design airports. What did they think? That we travel for fun? Or that our batteries are in the prime of their lives? And plugging in should require some form of punishment, such as sitting on a cold floor?

Sita and I converged onto Logan in the early evening at about the same time; she from the East (Zurich) and I from the South. We arrived within 20 minutes of each other which made for a convenient airport pick up by Axel.

I received an email from my long time friend and past co-facilitator Namoudou who is from Guinea but lives in Togo. Namoudou has decided that this is the year in which he is going to learn to speak English fluently. He is looking for a family that does not speak French and where he can barter services (translation, teaching French) in exchange for room and board. If anyone has a lead, let me know. I promised him I would ask around.