Lusaka.

I've been here since Monday night. I was supposed to fly in mid-day, but when I got to the airport in Joburg Monday morning, they informed me that there was no fuel in Zambia and as such no more passengers / luggage would be allowed on the plane as it had a weight-max due to the need to carry extra fuel. I'm pretty sure I just missed the cut-off too because there wasn't anyone standing around before me looking all pissed off, but about 20 people behind me were just that. I took it in stride, it just meant working in the airport lounge all day, and not flying til that night.

Its cold here, I think even cooler than Joburg was. Its great, I love it. I'm not looking forward to Ghana's humidity, but at least there I'll be surfing on the weekends.

Good to see old friends here (I think I blogged about running into Kristin on my first time in Zambia, just saw her today), and Kabifya has been taking good care of me, shuttling me around and whatnot. I think I'll probably rent a car for at least one of these weekends and shoot down to cross Botswana, Namibia, and perhaps even Angola off my list, which will mean I've covered most of southern Africa minus Swaziland and Malawi. There's not a terrible lot to do around Lusaka but that's fine as I'll be pretty busy with work most of the time anyway.

Flying in on Saturday to Joburg was clutch. The son of the people who run the guesthouse I stayed at in Pretoria was throwing a small braai with some friends and they welcomed me right in, it was a fun night talking over dinner and drinks, especially when we dabbled into US politics. Sunday I was up early for church, where I saw Phil and Carolien, who got engaged the night before, and the Webbs. I miss the worship at that church already. Then in the afternoon I headed to the southern suburbs of the city and found Jess Wentling - one of our high school kids in the youth group at my church in NYC - at the orphanage she's volunteering at for the summer. Quite the commitment/adventure for a kid in high school, I'm sure, but I'd expect nothing less of our urban super-achiever kids. Got her some cell minutes and set up with my internet card so she could get on email, and then I rushed back to Pretoria for lunch with Gerard's family. Spent the afternoon seeing the doc and getting blood tests and getting my malaria prescription, and then had pizza from my favorite place whilst walking Jess through how to set up the internet on her computer. Then it was Monday morning and I was bound to the airport to (unknowingly) spend my day there.

Oh and I'm pretty sure I left my camera at the guest house in Pretoria. At least I hope I did. So that's great.

5:44 AM. Saturday morning. Its still dark, but I'm awake. In 12 hours I'll be leaving SA airspace. The project ended yesterday.

I grab the last orange Fanta out of the fridge and sit down to blog.

Kind of fell off the blogging horse for the last week or so - its been a bit crazy wrapping up the project, saying goodbye to everyone, packing up, juggling the possibility of 3 more months of extension work here (found out last night that its postponed til July, at best), and trying to settle on where I'm living when I get back. On the last one, it looks like NYC, with Dave, for the next year. After that I'm leaning towards re-igniting my seminary search, to start the following year. And I'm leaning towards the idea of a school near the coast, back in CA. Surf, baby.

The last few months kind of reignited the surfing bug, after many years dormant - specifically Mauritius and Cape Town, where I surfed last weekend, whilst staying with Mike and Kayln, and Gawie, who's living with them. They have a sweet ocean-view place on the atlantic side of the Cape - south of CT and only about 10 minutes north of the actual Cape itself. It is, authoritatively, one of the most beautiful spots on the planet. And there's incredible surf there.

So the plan from here is to finish packing, do some last minute shopping / errands, fly back to SF via DC, crash at Peters, and then get up to Sacto one way or another. Thursday I'll fly back to the city and stay at Dave's parents' place while we try to nail down an apartment. Mid May I'll head back to Cali and drive down the Baja coast of Mexico with Jonny and whichever of the other brothers have their affairs in order to join us, for mas surfing. These are my plans. I have no specific work projects lined up. I'd like to find a commuting gig in Europe, I think.

I'll miss the organic yogurt from Woolworths, the good cheap wine, the Zulu/Xhosa-influenced hip hop on the radio, the beautiful blonds, the great pizza, the game parks, the warm Indian Ocean, the early rising / early setting lifestyle, the almost-always perfect weather, the best client I've ever worked with (hands down), the flat-out sexy accents, orange Fanta, rugby on the telly, the favorable exchange rate, incredibly friendly people, and driving a BMW. I'm sure there will be lots of other things that I realize over the next couple of weeks that I will miss, but that's all I can think of at 6 in the morning.

Coming to Africa has been pretty much the coolest part of my life.

(More follow-up blogging on Uganda to follow in the next few days, as I get chances to do so.)

A few weeks before I last left Johannes- burg, a church I've been attending on Sunday evenings held a public forum of sorts, entitled "South Africa: Staying or Leaving?"

It was extremely well attended, if that tells you anything about the importance of the issue there, of late.

Emigration isn't a word you hear used a lot in the US. While immigration is a hot topic (one that even the presidential candidates must take position on), there simply isn't much focus on the opposite. Probably because there's not much reason to dwell on the possibility / idea of emigration - who would want to emigrate out of the US (although these words of mine may soon require a bit of adjusting, considering the economy of late)?

But emigration is a huge topic here. By some estimates, requests for it have risen over 400% in the last year alone in SA. If your not familiar with the reasons why, you can find them in this brief article. Speaking only as someone who's lived in ZA for the last 7 months or so, the article is pretty accurate. Storms are brewing there.

Enter the conference. The pastor gave some introductory notes:

1) Why are people wanting to leave South Africa? Four main reasons were cited:
- Rampant crime and the general fear of it
- Married people / parents worrying for their spouses' and childrens' safety, also white people having to worry if there will be jobs for their children, considering the pervasive affirmative action now in play
- ZA's shaky economic outlook
- ZA's perhaps-even-more-prominent shaky political outlook - while many people are appalled with Zuma's election to president of the ANC, it doesn't as of yet look as though there's much that will stop him from ruling the country come next year.

The pastor at this point stopped to recognize the fact that everyone has to draw the line somewhere on how much they are willing to stay and endure, the question is just where do you draw that line.

2) What does the Bible have to say about where we should live? The answer is: very little. Scripture is more primarily focused on how and why we should live, than it is where. References:
- Genesis 12:1 - the first big move (God prompts Abram)
- Ruth 1:1 - Elimelech's move due to famine (Ruth's father-in-law)
- Matthew 2:13-15 - Jesus' own family's emigration from the promise land, to escape persecution (they return in 2:19)
- Acts 8:1 - the church persecuted and scattered, but those who stayed and those who left kept on preaching the gospel
- Acts 18:1-3: Priscilla and Aquilla - wealthy early Christians with homes mentioned in Corinth, Ephesus, and also Rome (see Romans 16:3).

3) What is the church's position? Overall, the position was to encourage people to stay in ZA, but more importantly the church wanted to stress that staying vs. leaving is not the central issue - the main focus should be on how and why you live.

After the introductory notes, a panel was asked on stage, consisting of a white man who had emigrated (somewhat ironically, I thought) to Zimbabwe with his family, a white couple from Zimbabwe that had decided to stay there, and a black mother of a family that had decided to stay in ZA. They all had interesting stories, especially the couple from Zimbabwe.

They had built a farm there in the 90's, raised their kids, and were employing a large number of local people on their farm (ostrich, cattle, sheep, also a shoe factory and clothing factory for both local sale and export, that they operated there, on their farm). Then, in the (government-supported) riots of 2003, one night their house was surrounded, and by the next morning - when they could get police escort to the local magistrate, they were told by the magistrate that they had one hour to take what they could from the house, which they no longer owned, on the farm that was no longer theirs. When they got back, all of their livestock was gone, and most of the property that hadn't been stolen had been ransacked. The new "owner" was there to dictate to the police escorts which items they could and could not take with them. And then they had nothing.

Fortunately they had the support of their local church to get them back on their feet, but it was quite fascinating to hear from a family that went through this, considered leaving, and then realized that they couldn't escape suffering in this life, and felt called to stay in Zimbabwe (they are still living there now, rebuilding their lives, farming, and trying to create more jobs for the locals).

Anyway, here are a few of my other random notes from that part of the night:

- When you give people jobs, you a) inherently give them a manner of dignity, and b) earn the right to influence them, to get involved in their lives. Supplying people with employment can be a powerful means of community building and eventually witness as well.
- The safest place in the world is to be in God's will. (I heard something similar on the first Sunday I went to the Every Nation's church I've since been attending on Sunday mornings in Joburg - the pastor said that if ZA is where God wants him and his family to be, there is no safer place for them in the world.)
- The Zimbabwe couple considered moving to Australia for a while, a place where some of their emigrating white friends had moved. What they saw there, however, was a life so easy to live that you "don't need God anymore." That was a fascinating and deeply convicting statement.

The pastor closed out the evening with 3 key principles from Scripture:

1) The Sovereignty of God
- Romans 8:28: "And we know that in all things God works for the good of those who love him, who have been called according to his purpose.") - while the verse is not for everyone, He yet works in all things for his children, for their good (the good, which is contained in v29).
- God's ultimate concern is not our comfort but our conformity to Christ. And nothing can separate us from His love (v37-39).
- Ps. 139: "...all the days ordained for me" - Christians are immortal until called home by God. Until that point: untouchable.

2) The Lie of Emigration
- People hate the insecurity and crime and politics with good reason, however there is no safety on this side of Eden. Sin and Satan are no less active in Melbourne than they are in Midrand, or Manhattan for that matter. You can move anywhere and serve God, but don't think that you can escape suffering.
- (Herein I was reminded instantly of the message behind M. Night Shyamalan's The Village, and also the quote on suffering that I will close this blog post with.)
- The only safety and security to be found on this earth is with Christ. And with Christ, there is suffering.

3) The Wasted Life
- Ease and comfort can never be a purpose for living - they are only a recipe for tragedy. We are made for a purpose beyond comfort: wherever you live you must make a difference for Christ.
- The Bible does not give us guidance on where to live. A story by John Piper was then quoted which I will semi-quote / paraphrase from sources I found online:
...and then, as many of you know, Ruby Eliason and Laura Edwards died this week in Cameroon in a car accident - Ruby in her eighties and Laura in her seventies. Ruby gave all her life in medical missions among the poor. Laura, a doctor who practiced in India for many years and then here in the Cities, was giving her retirement for the bodies and the souls of the poor in Cameroon. Both died suddenly when their car went over a cliff.

Was that a tragedy? Well, in one sense all death is tragic.

[But] I will tell you what a tragedy is. I will show you how to waste your life. Consider this story from the February 1998 Reader’s Digest: A couple ‘took early retirement from their jobs in the Northeast five years ago when he was 59 and she was 51. Now they live in Punta Gorda, Florida, where they cruise on their 30-foot trawler, play softball and collect shells...’ Picture them before Christ at the great day of judgment: ‘Look, Lord. See my shells.’ That is a tragedy.

- The purpose of life is not self-fulfillment but self-forgetfulness. As Jesus said, "Whoever wants to save his life will lose it..."
- One person can change the world, you don't have to be a Nelson Mandela or a William Wilberforce, you need only follow Christ

For those of you who aren't already aware, I'm seriously considering the possibility of staying in South Africa on a more long-term basis. I won't yet say "permanent" - and the US will always be "home" to me - but it is something I on my mind. I'm searching for discernment on the issue, but I feel that being there might help me stay in better touch with the contacts I have made / am making in the relief and development sector, where I would like to be working, long term, in Africa.

I remain realistic and alert and try to be wise on the issue of where I should live. But at the end of the day, I am immortal until I'm not supposed to be anymore, and where is not as big an issue as why.

At the onset of the disease...most of our brother Christians showed unbounded love and loyalty, never sparing themselves and thinking only of one another. Heedless of danger, they took charge of the sick. Attending to their every need and ministering to them in Christ, and with them departed this life serenely happy; for they were infected by others with the disease, drawing on themselves – the sickness of their neighbors and cheerfully accepting their pains. Many, in nursing and curing others transferred their death to themselves, and died in their stead... – Rodney Stark, The Rise of Christianity

So yeah. Today I was a speaker. I spoke, and everything. Ahoy.

The Council of Supply Chain Management Professionals (CSCMP) is basically one of the leading consortiums of...well...SCM Professionals...in the industry.

Today and tomorrow they're having their Southern Africa 2008 conference, and today I had the honor of presenting, along with my client lead, on Humanitarian Supply Chain Management in Africa. From the program:

The provision of humanitarian aid is fraught with significant challenges including hunger, infectious diseases, lack of sanitation and clean water, political conflict and crises as well as natural disasters such as tsunamis, earthquakes, flooding, and devastating fires. One common thread throughout all of these challenges is the need for efficient supply chains...etc..

Suffice to say that my client, World Vision's Global Supply Chain Management Director, as well as the speaker that followed me, the CEO for Pharmaceutical Healthcare Distributors (one of the main orgs delivering the meds sponsored by PEPFAR - the President's Emergency Plan for Aids Relief), were much more experienced presenters than myself. So, in essence, I was the young, inexperienced, American creamy filling to their older, highly knowledgable, African Oreo cookie. Except they are both white gentlemen as well. But man could they command a crowd. They both said I did well but I hate standing in front of that many people. I need a few more years under my belt to get as conversational as they were in that environment.

But, it was an awesome opportunity and I do think a few tidbits of industry-specific knowledge may have actually spewed from my lips in the course of my blatherings. Anyway, great opportunity. My name in print and all that. Straight to the CV with that action.

After that I ran over to JNB and now I'm typing from Zambia, where I am for the week for work. My cell here is 0966-481298. There might be a country code needed there. Not that it matters. No one ever calls you in Africa.

Besides work this week, I hope to a) read, and b) blog. Here's what's on the docket:

- Retro-blogging my first trip to Zambia (irony, much?)
- Storytime - the best worst day of my life (yeah, the one I didn't get to last week)
- A recap on the story I recently wrote on Zimbabwe, which gained me more mild internet fame
- Maybe something else but frankly I doubt it

Happy March everybuddy.

Retro- blogging: First trip to Kruger.

So back when Brian was still here, he and I headed off for an extended weekend at Kruger, my second safari, I think his 3rd. Suffice to say we had fairly high expectations after such a great time at Medikwe.

Kruger is about a 4-5 hour drive from Pretoria, basically straight east - its situated right on the border with Mozambique. I had my first getting-pulled-over-for-speeding-and-bribing-the-cop experience. Its kind of an essential part of any trip to Kruger, I would come to find out last month when I took my parents back there.

Anyway, we rolled into the park and had a little trouble finding our way to the resort we were staying at, but in the midst of being lost, I did see my first rhino (white), albeit a bit far off. We saw all the usual stuff as well - kudu, springbok, warthog, gnu, zebra, ox, giraffe. Eventually we got to the main lodge, Camp Shawu. Its the bigger one and its situated closer to the river, but we were actually staying up in Camp Shonga, which is tucked up in this little valley between two hills, and only accessible by their Landrovers, so after a welcome beer we loaded our stuff up for the quick drive to where we were staying.

I have to say that staying in the middle of the park is a pretty awesome way to go on safari. The whole camp is basically on raised platforms - the main dining area / lounge, the pool, the walk-way to the individual villas. It was pretty much the same incredible high-level of comfort that Medikwe had offered, complete with the outdoor shower that I so very much covet want one just like it for myself.


The really great thing about Shonga is that there's only 5 villas, so at the very most, you're going to have 10 people there at any given time (which, conveniently, still fits in one Landrover for the game drives). We shared our first evening drive with an older "couple" that seemed to be on some kind of vacation fling thing. They had been there all week, and it was their last drive, so they very selfishly insisted that it not be a game drive. Right. I mean, why would you come all the way to Kruger park to drive around and see the animals? So we went speeding past everything, including a family of rhino, up close, so that we could get to this stupid rock outcropping on the side of a riverbed where supposedly there were 2000 year old paintings from the tribesmen. Well, turns out there was only half of one little sketch of a tiny dude left there, and it was barely visible to the naked eye. The river had long since washed everything else away. Awesome.

That evening, though, when we got back to camp, our guide did show us how to find the Southern Cross, which was another pretty cool first for me.

The days drives we didn't see a lot that we hadn't before, but we did get up close with 3 cheetah - and these guys were lazy, let me tell you what. They must not have been very hungry. During the afternoon down at the pool, we had a family of elephant wander right up to us - about 20 feet away, so that was pretty cool. The baby seemed pretty curious to head over closer to us, but the mom wasn't having any of that, she positioned herself between us and him, and that was the end of that. On the evening drive, I saw my first crocodile, and a pool full of hippo across the way as well.

After one more morning drive on Sunday, it was back off to Joburg. I was headed to evening church there so I hung out at Brian's for a bit and then went to the service over at the university. The end.

Didn't get around to more than a couple of things this week, and next week will likely be the same story. Leave for Mozambique for work all week there tomorrow night. They've been getting a ton of flooding so its my first exposure to emergency relief field work, which I'm really looking forward to.

No idea what connectivity will be like there but its safe to expect less blogging next week. Back in ZA next Saturday night if all goes according to plan.

Get the drawing up. Check.
Concussion story. Check.
Thoughts on questions. Check.
Retro-blog Nairobi and Masai. Check. Check.
Update on future plans.

4 out of 5 is not bad. That's a passing grade right there.

I'm pretty sure this is the most I've been writing in like...years, which is kinda scary. And I'm drawing. And playing stupid amounts of guitar. Its amazing what you can get done when you stop sleeping. I'm even almost back on track with work.

No big plans this weekend. Out in Joburg with some of the peeps last night, was pretty tired but it was worth heading out.

Today I banged out about a 10mi run and then dropped traveler at the office (traveler's my nick-name for the consultant-roommate who will be on the project through the end of the month), and I've spent the rest of the day outside a restaurant / coffee shop near our place, ganking their wireless broadband. I almost never see anyone here doing the same - its almost like its not worth it for them to have it if I'm the only person using it all week.

Anyway, tomorrow morning after church (might try another new one) I think I'm gonna head out to this lion park near Joburg and play with the cubs, then maybe find somewhere to knock off a few chapters of my latest book. Other than that I hope to get the desk all organized and back the laptop up and then defrag the frag out of it, but none of that is actually going to happen. Most likely.

I should have gone to Durbs for the weekend, that's what I should have done. There's a surf comp there and I'm missing it. Guess I'll just have to do that when I get back from Mozambique.

I'm tired and kinda numb and I guess so is my writing at this point.

And there is no update on future plans because I'm still pretty much right where I was a couple of weeks ago.

Disappeared for a bit there. Rents got back from Cape Town on Wednesday night, and after picking them at the airport (they leave the "up" out of "picking up" here), we had dinner in Pta and then the next morning we were off for Kruger bright and early.

I had my regular run in with the local fuzz and did the normal "Oh the police station is really far and I might be able to help you out some other way"-type-bribe thing and we were back on our merry way. Got to Kruger and had INCREDIBLE sightings on the way in - all the normal stuff (Zeb, Gir, Gnu, Kudu, Impala, Buff, even a Hippo) but the real star of the drive in was A BABY LION CUB ALL BY HIS LONESOME. Pictures are all on my parents cam so you'll just haveta wait for those. Serious awesomeness.

Had an evening drive Thurs, morning and long afternoon / evening drive Fri (where we saw something I've NEVER seen which I will save for the retro-blog when I get to it), and a super-early morning drive on Saturday before we showered up and left for JNB, where they caught their flight home. Good times.

Today was the normal. Whatever that is. Tried a new church on a whim. Didn't really work out. Oh and I blew my own mind with what I was able to draw in 2 dedicated hours or so.

Drawing always tells me something about where I'm at. Its usually "I have no idea where I am at." Which is pretty much spot on at the moment.

Up this week:

- today's drawing, once I finish shadowing it and get it scanned
- story-time: the memory-loss concussion
- thoughts on questions (it'll make more sense when I write it)
- retro-blogging: Nairobi and Masai Mara
- an update on future plans and how I have no idea where things are going (maybe)
- who knows, I'll be impressed if I even get to 3 of the last 5

Well, its been one of the many posts I've been meaning to write for a few months now, but I'm finally getting around to it - a layman's description of the type of work I'm doing here in Africa.

I remember I was with a friend, near the ocean, once upon a time, and we saw a freighter steaming on a southern heading. I told her that it was coming from Oakland, was about 50% full of cars, was headed to LA and then back to Japan. I could tell that much from looking at it a couple of miles off. She told me that she had no idea what it is that I do for a living. I told her that its hard to explain. So, with that in mind, here's what I'm doing in Africa.

Last year around this time I interviewed internally with a group called ACN* Developing Partnerships (ADP, for short) - the very small and very cool not-for-profit practice that my company operates to provide 1st world consulting services to organizations (mostly charitable NGOs) that are doing work in 3rd world environments. That's the external selling point, the internal one is that the executive in question gets to go travel, see the world, do fulfilling work like helping bring medical training to countries that need it, etc., and all at the cost of 50% of their salary. You keep benefits, they pay for travel and put you up while you're there. Its a pretty cool gig if you can swing it.

Anyway, I made the cut, which places one in the pool of potential applicants to join a project, should one be sold that requires someone of your skill-set / experience. I dabbled with a few potential projects with organizations that I was mildly interested in (UNICEF, etc.), before my dream project just kind of fell in my lap.

I've been a fan of World Vision - a private, Christian relief and development organization, financed mainly through child sponsorship - for quite a while. For my last 7 years out of college, I've been volunteering with the youth group at my church, and I've made it to the 30-hour-famine that WV runs with youth groups around the globe for every one of those years (including the one that I only showed up to play guitar for, when I was on my deathbed with the flu). So through that, as well as a number of other volunteering opportunities (packing boxes at their warehouses, etc.), I've had some great exposure to their organization. I respect what they do and when the opportunity came along to work with their Global Supply Chain Director in South Africa, doing Strategy Development, I'm pretty sure I peed myself just a little, out of sheer glee.

I don't make top-10 or top-5 lists or what have you, but South Africa has been one of my TOP desired planetary destinations, ever since a couple of Au Pair friends of mine told me all about it, as a teenager. And World Vision is like my dream organization to work with. And strategy development is the one arm of Management Consulting I've really been wanting to break into. Dream organization in dream location, doing dream work for them. Tres awesome, as the French say.

Essentially, ADP's work with WV is to help them operate more like a top-performer in the commercial world. They are surprisingly not far off from being able to accomplish that - thanks, I think, in large part to both the quality of people they have in their organization, as well as their massive size - they're the largest NGO doing emergency relief and development work (only WFP, UNICEF, and WHO - all govt. orgs, have bigger annual spends). But there are a number of specific areas in which Supply Chain, in particular, needs to be maximized within their organization, and that's what I'm here doing with my team - another manager, and a consultant.

Specifically, my work involves the creation of process manuals that help WV guide their Supply Chain operations - which we've grouped under what's called a Process Model, which has 4 parts: Plan, Source, Deliver, and Return. An initial pass at the Source (how they find and procure goods for delivery to beneficiaries) manual was created in the previous phase of work (although we're now revamping it), and I've been focused mainly on creating the Plan (how they plan the SC structure and functions) and Deliver/Return (how they move goods from point A to point B, and return them when necessary) manuals. We're also doing a couple other work streams - one helping them to define and develop their SC Organizational Structure, and another to assess the IT systems that they need to implement to facilitate both the Org Structure and the procedural guidance laid out in the manuals I'm creating.

So that's kind of a high level of the work. It involves working with various stakeholders throughout the organization, based in different functional groups, across the planet - Europe, all over Africa and Asia, Australia, the States, Latin America, you name it. They specialize in everything from emergency operations to donations management to in-field infrastructure development, and much more. And its incredibly high exposure - I'll be back in their global headquarters again in March for more presentations to the Advisory Committee on our work.

The project has taken me to Denver, LA, London, Nairobi, Zambia, Zimbabwe, and of course here in Joburg / Pretoria, where I'm based. Further plans will add Mozambique and perhaps Malawi, Uganda, and/or Ghana to that list. Basically, I've only been able to look at the work I've been doing, shake my head in disbelief that its actually me here getting to do this, and then wish I could be doing an even better job for them, somehow. Because at the end of the day, my (and their) work won't help drive up a share price, it will put food in a hungry kid's tummy.

And here's a treat: recently, the ADP program got a shout out on CNN. Bon appetite.



*(ACN is our NYSE abbreviation - I think most of you know the name by now anyway, but now you know how to find out on your own if you don't)

(Retro- blogging. Going to get shorter and sweeter. I'm determined to get caught up and be normal- blogging this trip.)

London.

London was good. I had to go there about a month into my time here in ZA for some training, so I headed up early to spend the weekend before kicking around. So that must have been...let's see. End of September, last year. Holy bovine am I running behind on getting these things blogged.

Anyway, its a long flight from the bottom of the planet up. I was tired. The hotel was near Hyde Park, which was nice.


Met up with Grant and walked south of the park looking for good places for him to live. I told him he should live in one of these old converted carriage houses on this street. He didn't go for it. So we went to a bar and had...


YES. FISH AND CHIPS AND BEER. This made me happy. We were watching the rugby but ZA wasn't playing that weekend. Didn't matter much, I could already sense the impending doom in ye ole kingdom - the Springboks were destined for glory.


I took off for So. Kensington Station and headed over to the Abbey, waterfront, etc.. Ended up walking back through the theater district, most of the way back to my hotel. People like to sit in the middle of the street here.


And why, oh why, won't somebody tell me why don't they have these wonderful blessed delightful brilliant little signs on the escalators in the NYC subway? I can't say how happy these made me, I really can't. Simple pleasures. This is pretty much the only part of the London metro that's better than NY's, however.

Sunday was a beautiful day. After church downtown, right behind the Gurken, with Grant and Jenny, we walked over to a market across the river, apparently its a farmer's market / produce thing during the week, but on weekends its pretty quiet, even at the cool little pub / restaurants that are open there. So, we had another awesome meal of... YESSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSssssss


Then there was more walking around and seeing the sights. Like, extremely useful stairs, for instance. Also the Tower, London Bridge, the whole other side of the river including the Shakespeare house thing, back over to St. Pete's, down to that circle with the big pillar with the lions at the bottom - right in front of the museum - can't remember then name, then more Hyde park, then back to parts northerly to meet up with Brian and his friends for drinks and dinner. That was a big day.


Also, this sign is awesome.












As is this one.










Also, here's a few more pictures that I don't really have the energy to type anything about at the moment, other than to say that they were taken in London, and the one in the tube station got picked up off my Flickr page (see here) by some magazine that requested to use it in some article, along with one that I took at the South Kens station, so that's cool.

This much I will say about London - I had what is arguably the best 10 minutes of my 2007, as well as not-one-but-two of what I considered the worst 10-minute-experiences of my year as well. So it was a brief trip of some pretty crazy downs and ups. I don't hope to return too soon.

This one made everything OK for a minute.

The parents were in town through the weekend before heading off to Cape Town, and on Saturday I took them to the Apartheid Museum and then a tour of Soweto, both repeats for me.

On our tour, however, we stopped a grocer to buy a few head of cabbage and some sweet potatoes - filled up a couple of boxes and then headed into one of the poorest neighborhoods in the whole of Johannesburg. Shantytowns. Hard to describe in detail. Dirt and mud and random wood and tin and whatnot cobbled together to make a series of small dark spaces that people call homes. Just hard to believe people live in places like this.

We're walking back towards our van, getting ready to leave, and we're being swarmed by the kids, not begging but just seeing us rare white people as a brief afternoon entertainment. Happy that we've brought dinner, wondering what else we might produce.

I'm standing there with my camera in one hand and the other one hanging listlessly by my side while I watch 15 or so of them posing for pictures with the one Chinese guy in our group.

Then I feel her little hand just slip into mine like the most natural thing ever.

Melt my iceberg heart.

It had been so long I think I kind of forgot what just holding someone's hand is like. Everything that was wrong with the world just faded away for a minute while I held my new friend's hand. There was no black or white, rich or poor, no getting on a bus back to steak dinners or sleeping one more night on a dirt floor. There wasn't family that doesn't always get me or friends who aren't always there when you need them. There wasn't any wondering where the next meal would come from. There wasn't too much work and not enough time, there weren't flights to book and new positions to consider and trying to figure out what continent to live on. There wasn't the knowledge that you couldn't go to the bathroom in the dark because it wasn't safe to walk that far. All of my problems and all the things I'm trying to figure out about life and what I should do with it just kind of didn't matter, while I was holding my friend's hand.

I just hope it was that way for her too.

(first blog ever from Zimbabwe. hah.)

Yesterday morning I decided to boldly strike out from the safety of the hotel for a run. It was raining pretty steadily but it was that typically warm rain that they have here in Africa, all it does is make you wet, not cold. Its kind of refreshing, if you get out early enough in the morning.

We're a good deal further north here in Zimbabwe than where I've been living in ZA, and as such the sun doesn't make it up quite so early, and with the weather as its been in the mornings, its fairly hard to tell if it's actually up anyway. That is my way of explaining that it was dark. And rainy.

There's not much that passes for a town here. Its probably the 3rd or 4th biggest "city" in the country (Harare being the first), and yet there's almost nothing here. There's about 2 places that would pass as "restaurants," and even they are only open when they actually have something to serve, which isn't a guarantee. There are a few tourist-y shops on the main strip (about a block), but they are sparsely stocked and kind of grim. But not so grim as the shut-down shopping mall across the street - banks collecting dust as they sit in a country where the currency has become devoid of any meaning, food stores closed because there's no supply of food to sell - much less the money to afford what could be found, shops and such with no purpose for being anymore. Little electricity or lighting to speak of within view. Last evening while standing on the street, Paul and I were picking up 1,000 notes of currency off the ground, which, given the current exchange rate, are worth about $0.03 US. There's one petrol station that is sometimes open when they actually have some to sell, and that's about the end of town. Head the other way from the hotel, and you hit the bridge to Zambia.

So off I ran out of town, into the lush Zim countryside. They've been getting way too much rain the past couple of years - the Zambezi river continues to rise above flood stages currently and is now affecting not just Mozambique, but also parts of Zim and ZA. So saying that things are green here is a bit of an understatement. I passed people walking from town (those leaving their overnight jobs, I assumed, for the most part), and even more walking in (to their day jobs), and I must have been a rather strange sight - its doubtful that many tourists venture far past the hotel gates when not in a tour van, and there simply are not any white people living here. And it was raining.

Leaving a quiet town into an even quieter country-side was quite peaceful, and given that I love running in the rain, letting my thoughts sort themselves out, I was in the midst of a rather wonderful introvert's euphoria.

That's when I saw something strange on the grey horizon where the road curved away. I don't wear my glasses when I run, so my nearsightedness kicks in and I have trouble making out certain things at a distance, but it was clear enough to see that there was what I could only guess were people in the road, a few hundred yards ahead of me. A lot of people.

Now, this was strange. In Africa, you see people, simply everywhere, walking along the sides of the roads. You can't drive anywhere without seeing this, its just a very normal fact of life here - having cars is a luxury afforded only to the favored few. So most people are seen walking on the sides of the road - you might sometimes see someone crossing the road, but people walking in the middle of the road, let alone a large group of them, well - something seemed immediately off.

I had read all the warnings of the potential for political rallies, riots, etc. in the area, but it didn't seem to make much sense, in the rain, at quarter to six in the morning. Outside such a dead little town, on the border. Surely not here. I kept running. The dark shapes got closer.

As I got closer I could see more clearly that the dark figures were short. Quite short. Children, perhaps? On the way to school? But then every second or two one of them seemed to grow suddenly taller, and then shrink again. And why would they be in the road?

What the…

Curiosity killed the cat. I kept running. And then I was upon them.

I was running directly through a herd (or whatever the heck you call it) of baboons. Hundreds of them, all walking down the road in the direction of town, like they owned the place. Big baboons, medium baboons, baby baboons, you name it. There was one that looked like he might be about 5 feet tall if he stood upright.

A car coming from the other direction - heading towards town - had to come to a stop, as none of them were turning around to acknowledge it. They paid little mind to me, which I was happy about, as I continued to run and try not to look any of them in the eye, or smell of fear in any way whatsoever. I struggled to not entertain the notion of 20-30 of them turning on me and ripping me to tasty shreds in a puddle on the side of the road. And so I just kept running.

Once I was a hundred yards or so past them, I heard what must have been the herd of baboon happening upon a herd of wart hog coming out of the long grass on the side of the road. I couldn't see anything at that point, but the sound was fairly unmistakable.

I like it here.

Warnings have been the theme lately. I'm off to Zimbabwe / Zambia this weekend, the first of which took a measure of finangling with the Asset Protection group to get a waiver to actually go there (I'm an asset). From an email with the Global AP guy:

...the restriction remains in place. In fact, tomorrow (12 January) is the launching of the nationwide rally followed on the 23rd by rallies isolated in Harare. We will gain a better understanding of the security environment after tomorrow’s rally and the one on the 23 January.

The main wing of the opposition Movement for Democratic Change (MDC), led by Morgan Tsvangirai, has announced the launch on 12 January of a nationwide ‘New Zimbabwe Campaign’. The campaign includes plans for 300 rallies to be held in rural and suburban areas in January, as campaigning begins for presidential and parliamentary elections expected to take place in March.

The rallies are planned primarily for rural areas, where support for President Robert Mugabe and his ruling Zimbabwe African National Union – Patriotic Front (ZANU-PF) is traditionally strong. However, initial events will be held on 12 January in the Mbare, Glen View and Dzivarasekwa suburbs of the capital Harare and Chitungwiza (19 miles (30km) outside Harare). Rallies in Harare itself are apparently planned for 23 January, though police approval has reportedly yet to be granted. The security forces tend to deal heavy-handedly with opposition gatherings, though Mugabe has recently announced his willingness to open up democratic space, and is unlikely to encourage severe repression as long as ZANU-PF’s continuing – but increasingly fragile – negotiations with the MDC continue. Nonetheless, Control Risks warns that there is a credible risk of clashes in any area where a rally is planned or held.

This also means I'm back on the malaria medication, which I hate. Its called Mefloquine, the brand name for the generic Mefliam. Here's some of the fun stuff it does to people:

Mefloquine may cause psychiatric symptoms in some patients, ranging from anxiety, paranoia and depression to more serious hallucinations and psychotic behavior. In some instances, these symptoms have continued long after mefloquine was stopped, according to reports. Rare cases of suicide and suicidal ideation have been reported, although no causal relationship with mefloquine has been confirmed. To minimize the chances of these adverse events, mefloquine should be avoided in patients with depression or a past history of depression, generalized anxiety disorder, psychosis, including schizophrenia or other psychiatric disturbances.

If psychiatric symptoms such as unexplained anxiety, depression, restlessness or confusion are evident during mefloquine prophylaxis, the medicine must be discontinued and alternative prophylaxis instituted, as these could be prodromal to a more serous neuropsychiatric event.

Also, for good measure, some highlights from the US State Dept. website when registering my trip with the embassy there:

The political, social, economic, and security situations in Zimbabwe are volatile and could deteriorate quickly without warning. In response to growing public protests against deteriorating conditions, the Zimbabwe Government continues to authorize its security forces to suppress all dissent by whatever means deemed necessary. In recent months, political leaders at the highest levels of the Zimbabwean government have condoned the security forces’ use of violence against opponents of the government. The government has defended its right to treat individuals roughly, including those in custody, and has warned of more such actions.

...

As campaigning and preparations for 2008 presidential elections take place, there is an increased potential for political violence, particularly at large rallies or demonstrations. Government security forces have attacked peaceful demonstrations protesting political repression and a deteriorating economic situation. U.S. citizens are strongly urged to avoid all political rallies and demonstrations, or large gatherings of any kind anywhere in Zimbabwe.

...

Crime is a serious problem in Zimbabwe, and is driven by the country's deteriorating economy.

Street crime in Zimbabwe is a serious problem. Americans and other foreigners are perceived to be wealthy and are frequently targeted by criminals who operate in the vicinity of hotels, restaurants, and shopping areas of the major cities and tourist areas such as Victoria Falls. Although the majority of crimes in Zimbabwe are non-violent, perpetrators are generally armed with weapons, which can include firearms. The downtown sector of Harare and its high density residential suburbs are particularly high-crime areas. A number of American visitors have been assaulted or robbed while walking in the town of Victoria Falls, especially after dark.

File under "don't tell mom." Click here to learn a bit more about Zim in pictures. Click here to learn more in words.

(Retro- blogging) (Cape Town Part 2 - see here for Part 1)

On our second morning of the Cape Town trip, we woke up to find the ocean still beating away at the rocks on the coastline there in Gansbaai. Ate a hurried breakfast of leftover pizza (we had, in our infinite wisdom, saw fit to order that in addition to dinner, the night before), and then hopped into our swim gear, warm clothes over that, and off for the boat.

(It should be noted that I didn't really take one good digital picture from the boat at all, because I was either a) in the water with the waterproof camera or b) capturing everything on video from the observation deck.)

After a brief morning briefing, we loaded our plump tourist torsos onto the ship of death, and off we chugged into the surf. 15 minutes later we were a few hundred yards off the coast, albeit on the far side of the sweeping bay. You could hear the surf crashing in the distance, and there were 2-3 other boats in view, all preparing to do what we were preparing to do. The water was green and inviting - didn't look very cold at all (it wasn't).


After they maneuvered the steel cage into the water and secured it next to the boat, the portly captain gave us his final warning speech on the particulars of getting in and out, and when he got to his question of who wanted to go first, Brian and I already had our hands in the air. So we wet-suited up, grabbed some goggles, strapped weights on, and hopped in the cage. They were chumming the water all the while, and once we were in a largish (say about the size of a nerf football) chunk of tuna was tossed out, on the end of a rope with a small bouy to keep it afloat. It hovered there just below the surface, maybe 15 feet in front of the cage with 4 sacks of human meat encased in neoprene in it.

About 1/4th of the cage is above water the whole time, and they tell you to keep your head above water so that you can hear them shout at you when to go down, if they see the shark coming. Screw that, I had my face under the water the second I was in there. I tried to keep one ear above water for the most part, to hear when they did shout, but for the first few minutes I was busy swimming around the bottom of the cage, trying to see something before anyone else.


Which I did, go me. An 20' long 2,000 lb. beast from the depths, swimming non- chalantly about 15 feet under the tuna, acting like it wasn't really interested. It just kind of faded into the green haze, and then, just as I was going up for air BAM, out of nowhere she comes flying up at a 45 degree angle, honed in on the tuna. Chomp. Gone.


That was the nature of our sightings for the next few hours. You'd see them poking around from time to time, checking out the boat, the cage, the tuna, but you'd rarely see them just before they went for it. Most times they'd just come straight up from the bottom, engulf the tuna in their massive jaws (most of which had roughly 16,000 massive razor teeth), and then they were gone, as quick as they came.


After seeing at least 2 or 3 of them take multiple tuna samplings, we got out so that the next group could go in, and went up to the observation deck to take pictures / video. We went in again later in the morning, and although we didn't see as much, we did get our closest exposure, when one kind of came at the cage as it struggled to get the tuna off the line. They thrash their massive tails around and it causes a lot of bubbles/foam, but 2000 lbs. of shark muscle is hard to miss when its right next to you. So I decided to give it a little love tap, and stuck my stupid hand outside the cage to touch it, on the top of the tail, just behind and down a little bit from the dorsal fin. I'm pretty sure it didn't notice. I still have my hand.


All in all we probably saw 12-15 different sharks, most of them multiple times. Its hard to tell exactly, they look a lot a like when all you see is a flash of grey and then enough teeth to tear a cow in two.


So then we packed it in and headed back for dry land, which is safe, and where you have much more chance of seeing death by massive creature coming for you, which is rather comforting. Like the penguins, for instance, which we stopped to see, and more unfortunately smell. Except they are not massive, and they do not want to eat you. Well, they might, but they're clearly not well organized enough to be much of a threat.


We drove off to Franshoeck, one of the 2 main wine countries outside of Cape Town, and found our B&B. After unloading, we sauntered around the town a bit and then found a nice bar/restaurant that opened onto a kind of enclosed square in the artsy little shopping area. They had a massive screen put up for the rugby qualifiers so we watched that, accompanied by many beers and plates of not-very-good-for-us food.


The next morning we hit a few of the wineries, the first of which, although it was signed like a winery, in the middle of a massive vineyard, and looked for all intents and purposes like a winery, was actually a private residence on the side of the valley with an incredible view from the portico between what apparently was the house and the big building that was certainly not a winery. Maybe it was a library. Who knows. Anyway the guy, looking like a guy our age who had just woken up on a Saturday morning, politely informed us we were mistaken, but let us take some pictures of his view.


Then we went to some real wineries, the best of which was Cabriere, which I hope to get back to. They have a Pinot Noir Blanc (not a red) that was incredible, but it may have just been because it was the last one I tasted. The old dude who showed us around was pretty funny and closed his act by inviting pretty girls on stage to help him open bubbly bottles with a sabre, the old fashioned way. Their reward for success (or failure, for that matter), was a kiss from Mr. Lech.


Back to Cape Town. Found our hotel downtown, checked in, took off for Table Mountain, climbed it - about a 3 hour climb but we were hoofing it a lot faster than that. Great views of the city from the top, then on the way down in the cable car I brilliantly recorded over some of my shark footage. Idiot.


That night we headed out to Long Street with Jenny, who was also in town. Billiards, Mexican dinner, more billiards, then copious amounts of late night dancing.

Sunday after packing everything up we hit the waterfront for some light shopping and lunch before heading back to the airport. Met some other US / UK consultants in the airport headed back to JNB as well, Brian and Jenny got to know them better over the next month or so, but I was a little busy for follow-up at the time.


The best part about Cape Town was the sharks, hands down. I won't say its the best part of my time in Africa so far, because there's been a lot of incredible things, but seeing those things up close vaulted right up there next to skydiving, for me. It made you feel your humanity, it reminded me that I am just food, albeit with a soul. But the shark neither knows nor cares about the second part.

Random stuff mostly related to being in Africa:

I'm going to Lesotho this weekend and am going to do the highest abseil in the entire world. So I can cross that off the list. See here.

South Africa has the highest number of HIV infections in the world. Something like 70% of the worlds' cases exist in sub-Saharan Africa. See here.

My hands are doing just fine, because its summer here, but even in the winter it stays warm enough and there's enough moisture in the air that I don't think I'd have a problem. I'm debating whether this is a sign, or not - but I like living somewhere that I don't have to worry about them.

Tipping is a bigger part of life here, there's more of it, but you tip less, amount-wise.

The food here is pretty good. Pizza rocks. Chinese sucks. Burgers are average. Bacon is different and is sub par so bacon cheeseburgers are right out. Salads are not big here as its a very meat-eating culture, so usually they're average at best. Steaks are pretty darn good, and the highest-end ones are cheap, in USD. They have most of the normal fruits and veggies I'm used to although my blueberries are now imported from Europe. They have Hass avocados (but they call them avos, here), so this officially qualifies as somewhere on the planet I could live long term. Cheeses are average, and the selection is much smaller. The water is fine, haven't had any problems with it. Oh and there's an organic strawberry yogurt from Woolies (Woolworth's) that I will miss very much when I leave.

Its still a pretty lonesome (which is a different word than lonely) experience here on the whole. I don't really have a lot of friends, and the nature of the work is such (typical of a consulting project) that I don't have a lot of evening time to make them. I've been trying to make them through church and so forth, but my social muscles have gone a little slack. Plus the whole introversion thing. I have more time to myself (be it working or otherwise) than is probably good for me.

The Rand (ZAR - their monetary unit) is back up to almost 6.80 against the USD. It was 7.30 when I got here, and dipped below 6.50 at points in the last 2 months. So now is a better time to go on vacation, but still could be better.

I am behind on my work.

Things that the sore on the inside of my cheek where I accidentally bit myself does not like: Italian dressing. Also, chips and guacamole, but its just had to learn to deal with that one.

There aren't a lot of cops here (and they wonder why there's a crime problem). So sometimes, when I stay late in the office, and there's not a lot of traffic out, I drive home like I'm in a Rally race. Which is pretty fun.

I've developed either a sinus infection or an allergy to something in the last 24 hours. I hope its the former and I hope it goes away soon.

I get to watch everybody wake up, so to speak, as daylight generally hits their part of the world and they log on to their various IM application of preference. When I get in, the London people usually show up about an hour after me. Around 2pm US the early birds from the Eastern US start to show up. Western US joins about 3 hours later, as 5pm here is 7am their time. I can also see who's generally up late in the US, because they're still online when I get in every morning.

It will be strange going back to the US and jumping straight into winter. Hasn't felt like Christmas here one little bit. Its hot. You don't have Christmas when its hot.

I'm gonna have a heck of a lot of video editing to catch up on when I get home.

We have a pretty cool 2-bed / 2-bath apartment here in Pretoria. By "we" I mean Paul, the consultant who joined the team recently, and myself. We're paying too much for the rent (by local standards) but its under our project budget so its not a big deal. Its furnished comfortably, although the general theme of the place is fairly minimalist, and has lots of nice deck space to sit out on (its a penthouse apartment). I'll try to get some pictures of it up. I miss the old place a little but the bed in this one is way more comfy, which is a big plus, although I'm struggling more to get up in the morning and run. Its right across the street from a shopping center, which is pretty key seeing as we share a car.

Dry cleaning is crazy expensive here.

(Retro- blogging) (Cape Town Part 1)

The weekend after Madikwe, Brian and I took off for Cape Town. I mis-booked my flight originally for a day later, so I had a minor fiasco at the airport securing a flight on another airline (SAA was less-than-not-very-helpful, thank you less-than-not-very-much). Then that other airline did something I was simply shocked by. I was near the front of the queue to board, since I was very early for that flight, seeing as I had arrived thinking I would be on another flight. So I was one of the lucky 30 people they asked to switch to another airplane (as this one was overbooked), "departing Joburg and arriving Cape Town" at the exact same time (right, like they have parallel runways here like its O'hare or something, I later realized). So I say "sure, why not" and they move 30 of us to the gate right next door. And then they board the other flight, the one I was originally on. And they don't board us. And they don't tell us anything. And our departure time comes and goes, and still they tell us nothing. A couple hours later they finally board us and fly us to CT, without so much as an apology from anyone. They lied to my face. Worst customer service experience ever.

But, the trip was not to be darkened by that nightmare. We got into Cape Town and drove to our first hotel on the waterfront in Simon's Town, near where we would go on a shark-breach viewing cruise early the next morning. Except the next morning I couldn't drag Brian out of his bed, even after pouring water on him (that pissed him right off!). So I drove to the docks alone, in the dark. Met up with the other folk there for the cruise and then met our boat operators, and then we were off. It was about a 20 minute ride out to Seal Island.

Seal Island is pretty much the only place in the entire world that you can go and watch the great whites actually breach (read: jump fully out of the water). Its due to the nature of the shallow waters around the island, the color on the bottom of the sea floor and the color of the sharks themselves, and the sheer numbers of endless seals that like to use this island when they're not off swimming around the world. There's anywhere from a few hundred to a few thousand seals coming in from or going back out to sea from the island on a given day.

The way the sharks work is that they come straight from underneath their prey, and when they hit it (usually swimming along the surface), they are propelled by their momentum into the air, where they hang for a brief second before disappearing to the deep again, hopefully with a blubbery little snack in their maw.

I didn't really get many pictures of this trip because I was working the video camera more than anything, as there's a much better chance of catching a breaching on video than on the digital cam. I did get one breaching on tape, albeit far off, but it was truly awesome to see, as you can hear in the video when I start freaking out about it (when I get some time off at home this month, I'll try to get clips up on youtube).

We did a little trolling around the island with our fake carpet seal behind us but didn't get much response there, nor to the chum in the water later - had a couple big ones come by briefly but none that stayed around, so no one bothered going in the cage. After that we poked around the bay and saw some whales, and then back to port. Brian had woken up and did a later-departing whale-watching cruise, so I waited for him to get back and then we kind of off-handedly decided to drive down and see Cape Point.



The park was pretty interesting, I'd like to go back and spend a little more time at the beaches there some time. The point itself is actually pretty hilly, so once you leave your car in the parking lot and dodge a few baboons there, you start either the hike up or can take a tram half the way. We opted for the tram, for time's sake, which was a good idea - there's still a pretty significant hike out towards the point from the top of the tram. So yeah - this is me, at the end of the earth.





























We hiked back down (all the way), saw some more baboons, and then drove out of the park, stopping for Mr. Turtle, who was leisurely crossing the street. It was cool to see so many cars casually stopped for him, like this was what you did here, I wish I could have gotten a shot of the scene.


















Upon picking up our gear back at the hotel, we were off to Gansbaai - it was a beautiful couple of hours drive down there, mostly along the the water, although not with a clear view of it the whole time. Coming through one mountain pass, I was zipping along at probably 140kms and BAM there goes a baboon shooting across the road like a bullet. We missed him by no more than a meter. It was just like in the states where you almost hit a deer, except it was a freakin baboon - yep, you're in Africa.


We arrived late afternoon in Gansbaai, to another hotel on the waterfront, dropped off our stuff and headed into town to get some internet, so I could send off my status report for work, and then find dinner at a local bar/restaurant joint where we were clearly the only sore thumbs in the place. The food was terrible and we were smart enough to get a pizza to help tide us over back at the hotel. When we got back we decided to trek down onto the rocks by the water in the dark, and no sooner had we got out there than we saw a couple of sets of headlights careening around the bay towards us. Turned out to be local cops trying to catch poachers (of what we didn't find out), but they looked pretty relieved to see two stupid tourists with a small flashlight, and we were relieved to see them relieved. Hung out on the rocks a little after that, then back to the hotel, for night 2 of going to sleep to the sound of waves crashing, which is pretty much the second best thing ever.

The first best thing ever would happen the next morning, and that will be Cape Town, part deux.