Background
Tuesday, May 31, 2011
Deira, Dubai, UAE
I’m dusting off the cobwebs on this website and putting it back into action for the next couple months. I recently finished a holiday in Indonesia and am cooling my heels in Dubai for the next few days while I wait for the bi-weekly plane to Hargeisa, Somaliland, where I will be spending two months volunteering at the Edna Aden Maternity Hospital. You can read more about the hospital here and here, or go out and buy a copy of Half the Sky and get the full story.
What follows is a brief back-story on the content of this blog. The posts from 2008 and 2009 primarily focus on my experiences in India, Nepal, and the Philippines while studying rice production techniques in collaboration with the International Rice Research Institute. I flew to the Philippines for a month of training, and then took up residence in Modipuram, India for five months while conducting field research. During spare time I traveled to most of northern India, as well a a brief trip to Nepal. That, oddly enough, was two and a half years ago. Since then I’ve graduated, worked in two research labs, lived at home, lived in Boston, cheered at ice hockey games, eaten greasy food, and generally just lived. I begin medical school in the fall.
The posts I will be writing over the next couple of months will be related to my current trip. I just finished two weeks on holiday in Indonesia, I’m in Dubai for a five days right now, and I will be in Somaliland for two months starting this Saturday.
I recently traveled to India and Thailand with Cornell’s International Ag and Rural Development Class. Reading your blog makes my heart yearn for the country I fell in love with, India.
We were with huge groups and only for two weeks, so I didn’t get as intimate a portrait of this crazy, colorful, passionate and real country as you are.
Your writing makes me remember everything I learned about culture, agriculture and life while on my trip. Thank you for sharing your thoughts.