this is africa

ACCRA, GHANA | HILL VIEW HOTEL, OFFICE è

"T-I-A, man, T-I-A."

it somehow becomes the rationalization of everything that goes wrong here.  things like cabbing to the bus station only to find there are no seats to burkina faso -- not now or anytime before christmas.  or cabbing to the airport, twice, to find expensive flights to ouagadougou, later being informed that a confirmed outbound does not a confirmed inbound make.  or, driving up and down through northern ghana and getting a flat tire, twice.  or, transporting two tied-up, screaming lambs and a goat on the top of your four-by-four for 1000 kilometeres.  or, not having enough money and losing your atm card to the bank of africa atm machine, shortly after imprinting your pin.  or, killing or trapping cockroaches in your bathroom, showering under cold water or with no water pressure, or watching your driver vomit on the side of the street.

this trip, a "pre-trip" to the official ghana study trip which begins on the 27th, has been everything but relaxing.  much of it was spent haggling, negotiating, and driving along bumpy roads.  it has been, many times, miserable and frustrating.  add to that a lack of rapport that i'm typically accustomed to when traveling long distances, and we have a recipe for wanderlust gone awry.

there have been some redeeming moments, though.  i loved the scores of children who wave at you as you speed past on the highway, or who congregate around your digital camera eager to see pictures of themselves.  i loved the charming little francophone town of bobo-dilausso, in the western part of burkina faso, which reminded me a bit of hanoi with its bicyclists, colorful streets, and french bread bakeries.  i have been impressed with the spirit and friendliness of the local ghanaians and burkinabe who, despite their position on the lowest rungs of the poverty ladder, remain respectful, generous, and refreshingly upbeat.  i have enjoyed practicing my french, eating chinese food in ouagadougou, and sipping a local village's brew from a piping hot cauldron.

still, i can't help but think how expensive this trip has been, both in direct and opportunity costs.  west africa is less inexpensive than all of us had imagined, and being away for the holidays has taken a larger toll on my psyche than i had expected when i first very excitedly booked this trip months ago.  it's christmas morning here, and it feels so incredibly surreal.  it's humid and hot (84 degrees fahrenheit), and i'm in freaking africa on christmas day.  i mean, come on, WTF?

fortunately, last night we connected with the second years who travelled through senegal and mali to ghana, and that has injected the experience with a boost of energy and normalization.  though i miss home and not excited about returning to the states just ten hours before my first class of the winter quarter, i am looking forward to really getting to know ghana and bonding with twenty-five of my gsb classmates.

wherever you are in the world today, i hope you're having a very merry christmas and happy holiday.

a momentary connection

LONDON, ENGLAND | HEATHROW TERMINAL FOUR, GATE ONE BRITISH AIRWAYS LOUNGE è

sometimes you just feel it, even with a total stranger, riding the piccadilly line to heathrow terminals one, two, and three.

i feel quite spoiled.  i'm sitting in the british airways gate one lounge, having just finished a hearty lunch of mixed greens salad, pasta primavera, and bacon and egg sandwich bites.  served myself a vodka diet, and am finishing off with chocolate and fig pie.  on my flight across the atlantic, i received a complimentary upgrade to business class, my first ever experience on a lay-flat bed on an international flight.  then once in london, i reconnected with some of my best and coolest friends, even getting most meals and incidentals paid for by my dear host yune.  here's a link to some of the weekend's highlights, including taz's phenomenal indian dinner birthday at st katherine's docks.

forty-eight hours was not enough.  not, at all, enough.  although, as yune correctly observed, "we've basically done a hastened version of what we normally do when you're here."  so true.

now, i board flight ba81 to accra, ghana where i meet up with fellow gsb'ers justin and justina.  they decided, after visiting lome, to cancel our trek through togo and instead traverse northward direct to burkina faso.  so be it -- my adventures in africa start tonight, at the crystal hostel in the center of accra.

when my mother dropped me off at the sfo airport a few days ago, we had a bit of a heart to heart and i couldn't help but well up with a few tears.  it's unbelievable, but she is 61.  my father, 66.  sometimes i forget how much they have sacrificed to support me.  i forget that they are people too, in addition to being parents.  my father got ill this past week and my mother admitted she misses her father sometimes, who passed away when he was 45.  "so all i remember of him is that he was young, just young."  my heart wrenched.

while at jfk, i caught up with an old ex of mine.  somehow i just know deep down inside that, despite the ridiculous curiosities of our oft-criticized relationship, she will be someone i know and will want to know for life.  i find that pretty comforting.

folks, while i was able to send out a few christmas cards this season, i had no time whatsoever to continue the joymix tradition with a 2007 version.  unfortunately, i might have to go back to academic year timing, i.e. 2007-2008.  i know that's unclassy but deal with it.  also, if you are my friend and didn't receive a christmas card, it's not because i didn't want to send one but because i didn't have your mailing address.  so send it along when you can.  i'll send you warm tidings from ghana.

it's now 1329, according to windows.

so much has gone through my head in the past few days.  it's like i was emotionally constipated for the past few weeks with the craziness that is business school, and job searching, and final exams.  now that i'm my usual self again, ruminating and documenting, analyzing and pontificating, i can relax and sit and listen to uplifting music as i jet through kensington and hounslow.  i can think of video montages i'd like to create.  i think of travels, and journaling, and photography.

i think i'm coming back to london.

three-minute update

STANFORD, CALIFORNIA | SCHWAB RESIDENTIAL CENTER, 1F è

1249 -- go!

tomorrow is my last final, in finance.  the past few weeks have been insane.  jobs, rejections, papers, friends, planning, social issues, hives, loves, inadequacies, excitements, anticipations, worry, fatigue, insanities.

this first quarter has been a mix of ups and downs, a chapter of extreme extremes.  never before in my life have i lived with such extremities.  never.

tomorrow is the last day of the fall quarter.  two days later i fly to london.  two days after that, accra.  for a week i'll be traveling in probably the most unsafe country i've ever set foot on -- togo.  and i don't speak french.

i ran out of money today.  almost $100 in late and returned check fees.  the opportunity costs of an MBA.

i return from africa on january 7, at 1030pm, the day before school resumes.  that first weekend is my birthday.  the next weekend is whistler.  and in februrary i fly virgin america for the first time, to las vegas.

i'm on a roller coaster and there's no time to get off!

1252!