Merry Christmas!

Merry Christmas from the Brown Family! This picture is of Wendy and Anthony's housewarming/Christmas party- fun family event. I hope everybody is having a great Christmas/Hannukah/Kwanza or whatever.

Where have all the men gone?

So me and Martine felt the need to post this topic to the blog to get some feedback from you ladies (and men) out there. Has anybody noticed that men just aren't the same brave, brawny, tough, outdoor loving, beer drinking, shopping hating kind of guys anymore? Now to all my male friends out there, I'm not talking about you, so no getting mad. But it just seems as there's way too much waxing, shaving, shopping, martini drinking, and crying going on by men these days. Where's the men that could chop down wood on a cold winter's night if we needed them to (and without a shirt of course)? (p.s. if you know one of these, please send contact info to Julie, Martine, Kim, Maresa, and myself). And is it just me, or have the roles between men and women changed just a bit? It seems as if the ladies are enjoying the drinking, random make out sessions, and overall good times more than the men these days. Hey men, here's a message from us ladies: ditch the pink shirts and facials and come out and have some fun!!!

Please take note of the following:

Martine's Here

Martine has arrived! Let the partying begin (not as much as Friday night though as I think my liver might fail before the age of 30). Martine is on the left, Kim in the middle.

OUI, JE T'ACCEPTE

So my friend Jason (hey baby) has lead me to a fabulous, non-corrupt, African President's website. Of course it's Omar Bongo's. My favorite part is where you can send an email to Bongo. So perhaps we should have a little competition- who can come up with the best email draft to send to El Hadj Omar Bongo Ondimba? Kathy, you game?

http://www.omarbongo.org/

40 Years Between Volunteers

So I guess this entry is targeted at the Gabon RPCV's more than anybody else. I went to a NPCA event in Phoenix today. It was great- there were over 100 Arizona RPCV's all with great stories to tell. Something that was surprising to me was that approximately 75% of the RPCV's there were over the age of 60. They really had some interesting stories about serving in a time before the internet and cell phones. About halfway through the event, I noticed a man in his 60's or so whose nametag said Gabon, 1962-1964. I had to approach him as I'm sure you can all agree that finding Gabon RPCV's isn't as easy as with some other countries. As it turns out, Doug Hawkins was in the very first group to go over and serve in Gabon in 1962, exactly forty years before our group went. They did their training in Puerto Rico and St. Thomas and then went straight to their posts once in Gabon. He worked in the school construction program when they got to drive cars around. He worked in Lambarene and Ndende and a couple other small towns where they built schools. He actually worked in Lambarene when Albert Schweizer was there. Him and a couple other volunteers used to stop by the Hospital, help out, and chat with Albert Schweizer whenever possible. Wow! We swapped stories and tried to figure out the major changes between the 40 years that occurred between our services. One thing we concluded- in the 40 years since he served, not many roads had been paved! Anyway, just wanted to post this as it really got me thinking about Gabon. Gonna put up some pics for memories.

Sionara Work!

So I walked into work in jeans and a sweatshirt yesterday and said peace out. Though I am very happy to be moving on and not working in my 4' x 4' cubicle box, I am sad to leave the work friends. So this is a tribute to you work friends (think of the Bud Light radio commercials). Here's to you work friends- you were always there for me when I needed thrice used manila folders, always there when we needed beers at lunchtime, always there to mass email to get through the day, always willing to hook up with a y-connector, and always willing to role play when needed (oh no wait, not that one). Here's to you work friends.