Taking a breather!

We've been remiss to blog lately, so apologies to anyone who may have been checking and looking for updates from our side. Really it's Marc's fault (the one typing this blog), since he promised Shu Wen that he would write the next blog long ago. There's some overused adage / cliche about the best of intentions in here, but let's not dwell on it.

Shu Wen has been to the UAE, San Diego, and Washington since we last posted something here, and Marc went along to San Diego and had his own trips to Paris and Washington as well. It's been a bit of a whirlwind getting adjusted to the new faculty positions we hold. Shu Wen's been with the Department of Nutrition for over a year now, and Marc started at Duke in July. There are lots of meetings and students to manage now, alongside expectations about research productivity and positive teaching evaluations.

Marc has been teaching a ten-person seminar on international water resources and their role in conflict and cooperation. His students seem motivated but sometimes complain about not developing "practical skills" and think that class research projects are sometimes overly nebulous (hello?). The course has covered a lot of ground, perhaps too much, and might work better as a doctoral seminar with students who are more independent and require less hand holding.

The highlight of the fall was probably our trip to San Diego. Shu Wen went there for her Obesity Society annual conference, and it coincided with Marc's fall break from Duke, so he went along. We both worked while there but took advantage of the evenings to go to dinners and made it to Old Town San Diego over the weekend, where an Art Fair was being held. We bought a couple of pieces, including a wooden box for a gift, and a crazy clock that now adorns our kitchen wall. We also ate very well and explored the city - particularly Balboa Park and the parks and port along the ocean shore - during our runs.

Marc has run a pair of races the last two weekends, the Pumpkin Run 4k last weekend for Halloween and the Raleigh half marathon this morning. This morning was a bit of a struggle due to a side stitch but he still made it through just under 1:10 on a rolling, challenging course. Next up will be the Thanksgiving races, a turkey run the Sunday before (literally, as we will try to win our Thanksgiving bird), and then the Gallop and Gorge 8k on Thanksgiving morning. Dad will be here for that! Both of us have been struggling to fit running into our more regimented schedules the way it fit in graduate school, and we note that our fitness is not what it used to be.

On Friday we heard Omara Portuondo at Memorial Hall at UNC. She's 80 and used to sing with the Buena Vista Social Club. What a performer! At her age, she still has an amazing pair of lungs and a fun stage presence. Next week we'll see Billy Eliot in Durham and a martial arts performance by Buddhist Shaolin monks at UNC.

It looks like Marc will be going to India in early December to help with a study on the uptake of clean water services, and then the holidays will be upon us. Shuwen's probably running a half marathon in Charlotte in early December.