Day 1 in Windhoek - Already Surprised,

Not counting the lost day yesterday (2 straight baby-filled, red-eye flights, jet lag, and a few scotch and sodas pretty much killed off Thursday) today was my first open-eyed look at Windhoek, Namibia.

A few impressions:

- The scenery is very familiar in some ways - looks like Santa Monica mountains during a drought.












View From My Hotel

- Windhoek was, as expected, quite prosperous, yet I was pleasantly surprised to see it is not quite as "townshipized", a la S. Africa, as I expected. That said, there is a large township, Katutura, just outside of the center city that I will visit this weekend, so I may have a different perspective then.

- Also a very diverse place (I don't think you'd see this in too many other cities in Africa)













The Windhoek LGBT festival gets going


- The city is absolutely full of drunken S. African and British school-kids on holiday. Good news is that I am not "the ugly American" (relatively speaking), bad news is that the Queen's hordes have invaded my hotel. I will try not to make snide comments, I promise (oops, already did)

Alas, my wanderings through the city confirmed that I need to get out into the "veld" ASAP; although Windhoek is a great example of a well functioning, multi-racial African city, which is a great thing to behold, it is sadly.... quite dull. Hope my next round of posts will hold greater excitement!

Things to Do in London on a 12 hour Layover...

1. Take a nap on the grass in Hyde Park

2. Complain about all of the American tourists to other American tourists

3. Listen to people celebrate the departure of Tony the Tiger.



Personally, I think the accusations against Blair of being a "sell-out" are a bit silly. After all, he has been remarkably consistent in his support of interventionist US policy, whether by Bubba (Kosovo) or Dubya (Iraq). He didn't "sell-out", he's always had a bit of a messiah complex when it comes to "unfortunates of the planet" which dovetailed nicely with both Clinton and Bush. Hence, his new appointment:

Blair Becomes Middle East Envoy

4. Have, in my entirely un-informed opinion, the best lamb curry ever, HERE:




New Tayyabs - East London

Sure someone else found it first, and there were, sadly, a few questioning looks from two patrons when they heard an American accent, but damn if I didn't almost cry, it was so good - of course that also could have been the pepper...

Other suggestions are welcome. Now, off to Africa...

Dispatches from the Beltway - By George, there Were Happy Slaves At Mount Vernon!

"Hi my name is Eve! I was owned by George and Martha Washington. I worked long hard days in the fields and in the kitchen with my Mama. But I loved Saturdays, where I could play with the owner's children and other slaves, and we had sing-alongs and played hand-clap games..." Paraphrasing the "story" of "Eve", the name of the "slave doll" on sale at the Mount Vernon, VA gift shop for $12.95.

Looked alot like this:


See, I haven't even travelled outside of my metropolitan area, and already, I feel like I'm in a foreign country. Yeesh!!! Nothing against the sons and daughters of the South, but seriously, this is just plain wrong...

And thus it begins

The World Tour that is...

The office is cleaned out, apartment in Jersey abandoned (Jersey, I hardly knew ya), storage unit procured, piggy bank cracked open.

So lets go through the checklist:

- Vaccinations and non-psychosis inducing malaria pills; CHECK

- Short-term apartment in Lima that does not advertise that it is "perfect for the gentlmen seeking to entertain the lovely ladies of Miraflores"; CHECK

- Figuring out what a SIM card actually does (apparently it does not allow me to simulate interest in a conversation, but merely allows me to do so without international roaming charges. disappointing); STILL WORKING ON IT

All painful attempts at humor aside, beginning in just a few short weeks, I will be flying off to Namibia to participate in a volunteer international legal observation program with Lawyers Without Borders. http://www.lwob.org/.

After that, I'll be spending some time shuttling back and forth between DC and NYC and then off to Peru y otros paises de America Sur desde Septiembre (feel free to start commenting on the atrocious Spanish now - I find brutal, unyielding criticism to be an effective learning tool - and yes I am stealing freely from Judd Apatow with that thought)

Needless to say, my my state of mind is wobbling amongst fear, joy, amusement, with a dash of pride. Pride comes up when I get to tell people I quit my job and am travelling the globe. Sure it's not entirely true, but I say let the haters have their day. I'm sure I'll be coming to some of them for job references, so might as well play along right?

For now - here's a little "Where in the World is Matt?" visual for you: