{iad->dar}

bye, mom!

it was a long 26 hours, but i made it!  thanks to a combination of ambien and dramamine, i managed to sleep most of the first two flights, but also slept through all of the meal services.  i was very thankful my mom had packed all of the food that she had! 

my final flight was through addis ababa, ethiopia.  it was definitely an interesting airport, and not one i'm sure i want to travel through again.  

i made it to dar es salaam at about 2:30 am saturday morning and then had to get my cta stamp from the immigration office.  i was told to come prepared with copies of my cpa license, copies of my passport, passport photos, a copy of my resume, as well as other forms, and $200.  of course, once in tanzania, all they wanted was the $200.  someone just grabbed my passport and my money and magically, an hour later, i was given my cta certificate.  

i was a bit fearful my luggage wouldn't make it as i ended up having to check 2 bags, so i was pleasantly surprised to see them waiting for me in baggage claim.  then i hopped in a cab about 3:30 am and arrived at my amazing hotel about 4 am.  not what i was expecting in africa! 

after a quick nap at the hotel, i met some of the rest of the group, and our van picked us up at 9am to take us the 50 miles to bagamoyo. 

{kwaheri}

june 7, 2012

today is officially departure day!  my mom is kind enough to drive me to dc for my flight.  she has also packed me enough food to feed a family of 5. 

here's the flight itinerary:
5:55 pm - 8:05 am: DC to Frankfurt
11:40 am - 9:10 pm: Frankfurt to Addis Ababa, Ethiopia (with a short stop in Sudan)
10:45 pm - 2:15 am: Addis Ababa to Dar Es Salaam, Tanzania 

yes, it will be a LONG trip.  i can be kind of cheap sometimes, and i could not beat the price i got on this plane ticket...even if it will take me 26 hours to get to africa.  i'm hoping the trip is "poa kichizi kama ndizi" (cool like a crazy banana). 

so, kwaheri (goodbye) for now.  see you soon, africa!

{preparing for the trip}

june 4-6, 2012

most of the past 3 days have been spent running last minute errands, doing laundry, and mentally preparing myself for the trip.  i've also been eating salad and broccoli for just about every meal as i know i will be seriously missing it for the next 2 months.  if only i could trade salad for malaria pills (the medicine is already making me sick to my stomach and giving me crazy dreams).  

as i'm packing for activities ranging from a night at the embassy (more on that later) to climbing mt. kiliminjaro, and for temperatures ranging from below 0 to 85 degrees (or higher), deciding what to bring has been a bit of a challenge.  but, i've got everything packed, and i'm pleased to admit that almost EVERYTHING fits into my pack.  job well done, meg.  

 

 i promise i am not taking a lot of stuff.  my day pack (the bag on the left), is practically empty and only has a towel and the 18 luna bars i'm taking.  and the bag on the right just has the essentials - book, swahili lessons, and passport.  

and because my mom is afraid i'm going to freeze to death climbing the mountain (it gets below 0 up there), i tried on almost all of the layers i'm going to be wearing.  5 layers on the top, 3 layers on the bottom, and i couldn't even bear to put on the rest of my stuff because i practically overheated.  let's hope i feel that warm 19,000 feet up.    

 

i've been planning this trip for months and talking about it for longer, so i think i am FINALLY ready to go.  bring it on, africa!

{lang turns 2!}

june 2-3, 2012

my nephew, langdon, who we lovingly call either lango or lang, turned 2 on may 29.  since the family wasn't there on the actual day, we celebrated this past weekend in lexington.

lexington is a quaint little town in the mountains of virginia, about an hour southwest of charlottesville.  i absolutely LOVE visiting here - the scenery is beautiful and there is just enough to do to keep entertained.  my sister and brother-in-law have a beautiful house with a beautiful view of the mountains, and it is so easy to relax here (and not do your hair or put on makeup as you'll probably notice in the photos).  

 first stop was lunch at frank's.  i made the mistake of teaching lang to make funny faces in photos, and this was all he did for a while...

   since lindsay, matt, and evie were in tucson and couldn't be there with us, we opened presents over skype (you may be able to see linz and evie in the computer in the photo above).

and then we celebrated with stop sign cake!  

i have to admit (brag?) that my gift turned out to be lang's favorite because it has a "wa-wa" (windshield wiper) that actually moves. 

the rest of the weekend we spent a lot of time riding in the polaris, sitting in all of the different cars and turning on the windshield wipers, walking to the mailbox, walking to the stop sign and feeding it berries, picking dandelions, pushing the bubble lawn mower, reading books, and saying "okay!" and "of course."  

it was such a great weekend in virginia with family, and i'm so excited that i'll get to meet my second nephew during my next visit to lexington in september! 

and so my other sister doesn't feel left out, i'll end with a recent photo of the berkmans.  we missed you guys and can't wait to see you in september!

{the neverending drive from nyc to va}

june 1, 2012

 thanks to too much fun had the night before, my morning may have started a little bit later than originally anticipated...however, that extra time in bed was probably the best idea i had all day.  

somehow my roommate and i still managed to have everything out of the apartment, and i had my rental car packed, by 10:15 am.  

 

 sweet, empty, 229 e. 13th street

  the schedule for the day was set - cleaning service would arrive at 10 am (with 2 people and all necessary supplies) and be done by noon, and the super had the painters starting at 12:30.  i was planning to leave town at 11, drive the 6.5 hours home to va, meet my dad at the richmond airport to drop off the rental car, and then drive to my sister's house in lexington, va. 

      naturally, because it is nyc, nothing went as planned.  rather than freaking out when only one person showed up to clean the apartment over an hour late with no cleaning supplies, i tracked some down and decided to spend an hour perusing the union square farmers market one last time. 

after an hour, i made sure the super was ok with the ghetto cleaning service, realized the painters had already started to paint a still dirty apartment, and decided that was my cue to hit the road.  one last stop to drop a few more boxes in the storage unit and i'd be on my way.  

i left long island city at 1 pm.  thanks to lane closures, road construction, road construction on the detour alternate routes, and ridiculous traffic, by 4pm, i hadn't even gone 50 miles.  

and then, close to baltimore, i hit this:

i really timed my drive home perfectly - tornadoes had touched down in virginia and maryland, the baltimore, national, and dulles airports were grounded, and i was still on the road (with no phone battery for the last 3 hours of the trip).   

needless to say, it was a long day, and the longest 9.5 hour drive i've ever had from nyc to richmond. i made it safely though, and was rewarded for my efforts with a hug from my dad and a cozy night's sleep in my old room at my parent's house.      

     

{farewell for the summer}

my last day in new york was quite possibly the most beautiful day to date of the spring.  it was a busy day full of some early morning shopping on 5th avenue (there's always time for that), last minute appointments, picking up the rental car in jersey city for the drive home (i finally rode the path train for the first time), final packing, and one last happy hour with pwc friends. 

may 31, 2012 - first stop - mad46 on top of the roosevelt hotel (thanks, becky!)

then it was on to wilfie and nell to catch up with the fdd guys...

who then forced me to go to bounce, and that's when the photos stop.  i am officially too old for that place.

thanks to you all - it was definitely a great last night in the city!   

{foster this}

my second-to-last night in nyc was spent seeing one of my favorite bands with some of my favorite people in central park.  the atl crew is still going strong - and continuing to grow!  sarah and her husband, peter (both fellow pwc'ers), just moved up from atl and we are SO HAPPY they're here!  

foster the people - central park - may 30, 2012

  

nikki, ashley, and i secured spots in the beer line before susan, matt, sarah, and peter met us.

 

in my opinion "warrant" is the best song on the album, and susan and i may have gotten a little excited when they played it.  do yourself a favor and have a listen: 

 http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-nt4Lujk9NE

the weather, company, and music just made this one of the most fun and perfect nights - though if you ask anybody, i think i've said that about every day lately.   

 we ended the night with a delicious meal (thanks, guys!) at mxco - where susan, ashley and i had one of our very first meals together after we all moved up to nyc.  

i will miss this crew so much this summer and cannot wait until our reunion in october!