Preparing for a journey!

We are gearing up for our upcoming trip. For Shuwen it will be a shorter adventure, to Singapore and Malacca, Malaysia; for Marc the journey starts the same way and then continues to Cairo, Gothenburg, Sweden, and finally Addis Ababa. The precise itinerary may still change a bit, since Marc just got word about an additional opportunity to set up Terms of Reference for a coming Monitoring and Evaluation study of rural water and sanitation projects in the Nile delta. That may keep him in Cairo a bit longer than originally expected.

The Boston Marathon is long behind us, and Shuwen is ramping up her mileage and also learning to get around town on her bike. She acquired Carol's old bike (Carol moved away over a year ago and the bike has just been sitting around mostly) and now has a helmet, lock and lights to keep her and the bike safe. Marc went to campus with her the first time, since she was a bit tentative on the roads, but her comfort level is gradually increasing. It is great to be able to use multiple modes of transportation here, since parking is generally tight, the bus is not very efficient (time waiting at bus stops and in traffic while in the bus). Bikes really are the best way to get around most of Chapel Hill/Carrboro.

Meanwhile, Marc is back to running strong, and has been helping Brent in his preparations for a June marathon in Duluth. That has been a good way to keep some intensity in training but without any specific goal in mind. Brent is really fit right now and may just run under 2:20 if race day conditions are good. He's had bad luck in his two marathons, with heat in Chicago, and warm weather and hills in Nashville. Maybe this one will be better!

Marc is also working on papers and getting a presentation and initial results together for a meeting in Washington at the World Bank on Friday. It's going to be a good, full day of meetings; he will meet others working on climate change analysis and impacts with the Nile Team there. Then he will visit with Ambrose, Yana and Keith over the weekend before leaving from BWI to meet Shuwen on Monday in Minneapolis (en route to Singapore).

We will both be extremely happy to see our parents in Singapore again. It's been awhile, and we will surely enjoy good food, company and a partial break while there. The heat and humidity will be a bit of a shock since it has been such a cool, beautiful spring here in Carrboro. Today was by far the warmest day so far (87 and sunny), but it's supposed to cool off again tomorrow. We have been enjoying time outdoors, hearing local musicians play at outdoor venues (Big Fat Gap, a bluegrass band, and the Magnolia Klezmer Band, a southern jewish band with a very unique sound and approach). We are also still hosting friends for dinners whenever we can, including Lillis most recently, who was up here from Tallahassee last weekend.

Yes, life is good...