Which continent, exactly?

This blog's title isn't in reference to actual continents (I've now been to four), but is rather drawn from "The Third and Final Continent," a stunning short story by Jhumpa Lahiri, from her collection, The Interpreter of Maladies. In particular, I'm inspired by the following quote that summarizes the attitude I try to carry with me through life and on my travels

I am not the only person to seek his fortune far from home, and certainly I am not the first. Still there are times I am bewildered by each mile I have traveled, each meal I have eaten, each person I have known, each room in which I have slept. As ordinary as it all appears, there are times when it is beyond my imagination.

I love this. It calls on us to consider the tiny details of our experiences, both one-by-one, and in the aggregate, and to maintain a sense of wonder even about the seemingly mundane things that are the building blocks of our lives, and often, the glue that binds us to our traveling companions.

This blog began as a chronicle of my study abroad experience in Cairo in Spring 2008, and continued last year while volunteering in Geneva, and South Sudan with a wonderful organization, VIDES.

Now in graduate school, I'm returning to the Continent this summer while interning in New Delhi, India.

Please enjoy, inquire, and learn.

Sunday, July 21, 2013

Fauna-tastic, part 3: Creepy crawlies, things that go bump in the night, and BABY MONKEYS

A fascinating white tendriled bug that looked at first like a feather or wad of paper crawling along the ground. 

Our yard has been taken over by sizeable toads that come out late at night.   I only hope they got that big by eating mosquitoes. 

On a visit to a mission village a couple hours away for mass (more on that later), a family had adopted 2 baby monkeys.  We saw a bunch more wild ones (yep, it’s official, I’m in Africa) on the way back but the ride was too bumpy to get them on camera.  


It’s hard to see, but I caught a picture of the bats that circle above the compound, hopefully eating mosquitoes. Bats are cool. 

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