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Time for a break

Hey everyone! I am writing this on midway through my last week before vacation and you know what? I think it's about time. Too long between emails, too much silliness, and then THIS? the guys in the fancy suits are from the Ministry of health and are wandering about checking for bird flu. What a place--even the chickens and pigeons want to blow you up.

I am looking forward to ebing out of here in part because the net nanny on our server keeps blocking me from the JIM site -- what kind of photos you putting on there anyway, Matt? It will be nice to go have my machine tuned up and catch up on everything. That's between naps and walks in the outdoors of course.

I'll probably be offline for a couple of days when I take off, but will get back on when I get to a place with internet connections. meanwhile have to go get everything that's left on my list done. You guys take care.

Oh hey. I guess I didn't send to everyone the good news that we have a post office box and according to people who've been here a while, it actually works? Mail seems to take 2 weeks from the State, probably the same from japan, perhaps less from Abu Dhabi. At any rate, in June try it out. My adress is

Neal Mangham

AED -- Higher Education Project

PO Box 5161

Central Post Office

Kabul

Afghanistan

Try it out!

Ocean Fix Voyage Part II
Laughlin – Little Sin City

After turning west on I 40 I set Sirius to love songs and gave myself to the open road. As you come off the Colorado plateau, the mountains become hills, erode to bumps and desert prevails with the occasional outcropping of rock, one interesting one appears right where you turn off to Laughlin. I know that because I missed the turn and had to drive a long distance before I could back track.

Laughlin…well why did I go there. After all it’s a gambling haven with casinos lined up on each side of the placidly flowing Colorado River. I really went for the river and to cut 3 hours off my driving time to Cleve’s house not wanting to do the drive all in one day.

Laughlin was a mistake. It’s difficult to enjoy the river as the concrete walkway is filled strolling smokers and to be honest I was still weak from my cold. I had to walk a ¼ of a mile from the car to the room and although the room was $19 a night (see pic of Colorado Belle), which is great, there was no coffee service. I had my French press, but idiotically assumed there would be a way to get hot water. Not. Well at least not until I called housekeeping and cried over the phone and they sent up a little coffee maker that made tepid water the next morning for my coffee.

Dinner was an impossibility on the Nevada side. No restaurants that were really free of smoke so I went to a Chili’s on the Colorado side which worked at well enough.

The next day I meandered out of Laughlin trying to find my way back to I 40 without retracing my steps. I finally made it and was off to Ventura.

There is this drive north of the San Bernardino Valley in the high desert that heads west, two lanes and it’s like a baby roller coaster, just these constant little hills and valleys. Kind of fun as long as everyone stays in the lane they are supposed to stay in. Coming out of this area once suddenly is on an Interstate that winds down through hills and canyons. A little wild, but still no problems to speak of. I was always glad to be in Big Red especially when 18 wheelers were framing me.

Once off this and after a short north ward turn on Five one gets off and heads due west through the Santa Clarita valley I think it is. At a gas station in the middle of orange groves I called Cleve on my cell phone and he vectored me in to Motel 6. He told me it was a good thing I decided not to stay with them as they had plumbing problem and no water. I managed to get to Motel 6 with no wrong turns just off Highway 101. After throwing my stuff into my room I headed for the beach and took a slow walk along the beach taking in the sounds of the waves and the brisk breeze. I found a rather green rock and a kinda red rock on the beach. They really looked out of place and pocketed them. I do this and then bring them home and put them aside and often in years to come forget where I was when they caught my eye.

That evening Cleve and Evelyn took me to a really wonderful Italian restaurant. We sat outside huddling beneath heaters sipping drinks and enjoying great food. The following day took me on a car tour through Ojai. It was lovely with a quaint little village full of shops, but the standout shop was a gallery with ornate wood carving that virtually defies description—so you will just have to go. We returned to the house where we enjoyed wine, grilled steaks, salad, and Hagan Daz with fresh California strawberries just out of the fields. Yummm!!

And that seems like a great place to end this part of the journey…

Here We Are

Well, as some of you know, Ema recently had the mumps. You can see for yourselves that it was a fairly serious case.

It's a bit late here, but I thought I really should stop making excuses to myself and throw on a quick post, with a promise of more soon.

Keiko and Ema are fine. Ema is loving the second year of yochien and already sounds like a miniature high school girl when she gets on the phone with one of her friends. Emiko, Keiko's mother, is doing great right now and makes you think that maybe having a long, complicated surgical procedure isn't really a big deal.

The school year is underway and it's going to be a great one, I think. I'm pretty happy with my new English Course classroom, and the 9th grade girls are the nicest year group I've seen since I've been here. Possibly in part because I've taught many of them since they were 12 years old, and was able to trick their little brains into forging happy, laughing neural pathways all leading to a big goopy brainpic of me falling on the floor and writhing like a snake to teach the word 'snake.'

I'm not doing much writing for the website right this moment, but there will be another big batch coming in about a week or so. Like I told mom, I have some real reservations about the way they're approaching this, but as long as they keep depositing fat plugs of cash into my bank account I'll try not to get too emotionally involved. Also, having your name listed as the lead writer for a project that's funded in part by JTB and the government ministry overseeing tourism looks pretty good on a resume. I also just had two poems taken for publication in the summer issue of the Kyoto Journal. No money in poetry, of course, but it makes my scalp gleam. Next submissions will be to American publications, but KJ is a Pushcart Prize winner so I'm pretty pleased with the credit. It's not like appearing in The Drear Carrionflower Review or some such, sold only in the printer/publisher's vegan coffeehouse and artspace. Though that would be cool in a way too. With poetry, there's something sweet, snug and toasty about aiming low.

Anyway, that's my news for now. One more picture of Ema, from a couple weeks ago, doing the Brando impersonation.

15 Days, 11 hours, and 29 minutes But who's counting

Hey y'all! I am sitting in my little nest making lists of things to take with me, get in Dubai, and pick up in the States!!!!! YES, it's true -- I are escaping temporarily from the madness at hand and making every effort to contain myself. The matriarch has forewarned to starbuck's cum barnes&noble on the way home from the airport, so that shouldn't be too traumatic. Otherwise, just banging along doing our thing. Right now the big issues are finishing work on the Afhanistan Basic Law on Higher Education, trying to get a big ole generator up to the top of the hill to the school in Faryab -- right up in the Pamirs next to China -- and of course deciding which of my lovely hawaiian shirts to wear to my next meeting at the puzzle palace, otherwise the embassy. I think the black one with red parrots and white cockatoos!

I like what we're doing and what we're doing is even important, but some days you feel like.... well like the photo! Looking forward to this break, I gotta say. Even if I do have to write the IRS and argue with the mobile phone compay! it'll feel so NORMAL! Okay. gonna go troll the web for Matthew spoor -- Japan in Motion, heh?

Matt is Not Lost at Sea

Hello Patriarch and My Three Sons,

I've just figured out that Matt is not LOST AT SEA!!! He is hiding out in computer land. Check out Japan in Motion. It would seem that practically every piece on the site is written by him.

But I'm having trouble with the videos working, at least, in Netscape. Will try Explorer!

Is my wee Ema in one of the stories?? As one would expect of the eldest--all is written beautifully, but it does explain why he is missing. So he may not even be accessing this. Matt have you moved from appearing in video to just writing?

Let's all send him a traditional email and tell him we are desperate for his debut on this site.

Also please note the lovely yellow but no name flowers growing in my tiny garden.

Luvyaguys

Mom/K

Wesward Ho

Ocean Fix Voyage
Part One - Packing Big Red

Without my dear husband to load the car I was thrown back on my own devices. I’ve done this so oftenin the past couple of years that I have very particular notions about what goes where.

Small ice chest with edibles on the floorboard of passenger side with packed purse right in front with emergency meds and makeup. On the seat starting in a neat arrangement that lasts about two hours into the trip are books on tape, map, water bottle, container of roasted almonds, a book, Kleenex box, jacket over the back of the seat, small purse with credit cards etc.

Beneath the radio sits lip balm, eye drops at the ready, and eye glass cleaner and cloth. In the visor overhead are glasses, national parks pass and car insurance card.

In the back floorboard on passenger side are two bags of household stuff like coffee, cups, utensils, paper towels etc. On the seat is a collection of mufflers, hats, shawls and behind the driver hangs clothing and on the floor board is computer. A pillow supports my back.

In the way back is a small roll on with essentials and huge roll on which I never take out but is filled with ‘what if I need this’ sort of stuff. A box with 5 gallons of water completes ensemble.

house is locked up, heat off, tipped over back yard swing remains tipped over, plants in bathtub well watered and note on door telling UPS to hold deliveries until April 10.

Sirius radio is connected and I begin the trip with the easy listening station. Out the gates and east on Willow Lakes Rd to 89 and head north to 40 and then westward bound for my ocean fix.

Ah the open road...

I'm too pretty to go to prison.

This is something I think about all the time while living here. Usually it springs to mind when I'm behind the wheel and I get cut off by a pack of Nazi Youth Wisconsonites roaring around in their parents' SUV's or when I come to a screetching halt as some kid launches his or herself onto the road, serene in the (mistaken) belief that pedestrians have the right of way no matter where they decide to cross and that this arcane rule imparts some sort of invulnerability to them that will allow them to brush off the hungry fenders of balding, tired and more or less incompetent-behind-the-wheel chemistry grad students. This morning I didn't have those thoughts though. Britt was driving and is much, much better at it than I am. However the other drivers were still out and as we were almost dispatched by some guy blithely ignoring his stop sign (I think he was too preoccupied with flipping off my wife as drove her viscious little fist into the horn and stood on the brakes to preserve our lives) the thought came into my mind that while I may be too pretty for prison, I am definately too pretty for heaven. That and that I might need a new pair of underwear if this kept up.

So, sorry I haven't written on the new blog yet. Things here have been of a nature such that I didn't really feel like writing at all. Most of you know but I'm not sure that Chris knows that Britt did not get this French job that she was applying for so come the end of June she'll be unemployed. She's looking for more French teaching work. This is good because she really likes it and is excellent at it and it will give us enough cashation to put her through a distance doctorate degree through the University of Southampton. This is bad because there are no jobs anywhere closer than Milwaukee or OshKosh available and it's a pretty sure bet that Britt will get beaten out by people with PhD's for those two jobs, which leaves open a slew of community college positions, the best looking of which is is Edmonds Washington. So there's a really good chance that Britt and I will spend a year apart ( provided it only takes me a year from this summer to finish, an eventuality that is by no means guaranteed). I may sound whiny but I'm really unhappy about this. I like Britt. I like spending time around her. On the other hand, if she does get this job in Washington, that's a great reason to go looking for stuff in the NW which is pretty full of opportunities and is a place I've always wanted to live.

The good part about this is that it has lit a fire under my butt and I'm working pretty hard trying to get out of here. Right now that means finishing my Research Proposal, a paper and presentation of research that I would do if someone gave me the moolah to do it. I was working on this for a while on kind of a dead-end topic but now I've got a really good one going. I'm looking at new ways of combining carbon fibers and polymers to make really tough (100 x stronger than steel tough) composites. It should be pretty sweet and now that I have it laid out I should be able to get it done pretty quickly. And who knows, maybe one day I'll actually try to make the stuff. And yes, Chris, I will of course make you a skin tight suit of body armor from the material. I'll even make it glow under black lights by mixing in quantum dots along with carbon nanofibers. So that's the news here. Talk to y'all soon.

Did someone not tell me?

I came out of the bathroom and everybody was gone. I looked around for a while thinking it was some kind of joke, even smiled once or twice when I came to a corner where i though for sure I'd find my pals. But no. I had in fact been left, too uncool or stinky to play. They went and started another blog without me. No one replied, posted letters or pictures, nuthin'. Sigh! Maybe someday they will invite me to theri secret lair of fun.