Monthly Archives: September 2005

Hello everyone, it’s a beautiful autumn day in Baltimore.

Today I attended a very interesting and eye-opening lunch lecture on policy and health disparities between racial groups in the U.S. Two very distinguished women legislators spoke about how creating effective policy can improve health status for underserved populations. They gave us some very concrete ideas about how that can be done, such as enacting policy to ensure African-Americans’ participation in clinical trials for drugs and treatment therapies.

This evening I’m moving in with a very nice couple, Wendy and Keith, who have a guestroom in their beautiful 3-story rowhome near the main Johns Hopkins campus. I will stay with them until I finish my in-class coursework and all my finals on October 26, after which I will move down to North Carolina. Wendy and Keith also have a really cute and sweet Sharpei dog named China who loves to go on walks. I am in luck because their house is near several parks and cafes, two yoga centers and the Johns Hopkins shuttle stop.

I don’t really believe in guardian angels or any of that stuff, but something is definitely up. Lately, every time I need something, someone comes along and helps me out. Did this happen before the hurricane and I just didn’t realize it? Are the people at Hopkins just extra special people? Do I just notice these things more now in these difficult times? Two examples just from today: I had just the slightest bit of a runny nose in class, and the girl sitting next to me looked me right in the eye and asked if I needed a tissue. A tissue was the very thing I wanted most at that moment! She then gave me a tissue, plus an extra one ‘for later, just in case.’

Then after the lunch lecture I had a very bad headache and wasn’t looking forward to my long journey home on two different buses. (It usually takes about 1 1/2 hours to go home every day.) After the first leg of the trip, I discovered that I had just missed the bus for the second leg and that I would have to wait another HOUR for the next one to come along. Completely dejected, I sat on the bench and tried not to think about my pounding head. I was so miserable. Just then, a new acquaintance of mine — a girl named Lori — rode by on her bike and asked me if she could go home to get her car and give me a ride home, because she was on her way to Target anyway. Of course I accepted. Can you believe it!? Two things in one day. I feel like the world’s most spoiled person.

If you would like to read some bitterly funny daily commentary on world news, I just discovered the Daily Kos: State of the Nation. Check out Pastor Dan too, who has a blog that looks just like mine (!). He writes about spirtuality and the world from a very hopeful, human perspective, such as what God would say about stress and too little sleep. He also posts on Street Prophets.

Crystal, Mom, Great-Grandma and Grandma

then you’ll always get what you’ve always gotten.
That was in my fortune cookie yesterday.

Wow, it’s been a long time since my last post. Let’s see. Last week I tried Hot Vinyasa Yoga at the Midtown Yoga Center in Baltimore. It was a very sweaty and painful experience, but I think I’ll keep going back for more.

I had a wonderful evening and home-cooked meal at the Baltimore home of a lady named Peta, who is the mother of the wife (Rebecca) of Clinton’s New Hampshire friend Jared. I had never met any of these people before and was put into contact with her over e-mail. It’s people like Peta, formerly a complete stranger, whose generosity and kindness reinforces my faith in humankind. She gave me a great deal of reading material perfect for a Baltimore newcomer, including a book about hiking in areas around the city. This weekend I’m going on one of the hikes as a birthday treat to myself.

I just spent an awesome weekend with Clinton in Washington DC. He got a ride up from North Carolina very late Friday night with some of his co-workers who were exhibitors at a convention in Bethesda, MD called the Small Press Expo. It was a large gathering of talented and creative people who independently publish and sell their books and comic books. I had an interesting experience in the lobby of Bethesda’s Holiday Inn Select at 12:30 AM while I waited for Clinton to arrive. The social behavior patterns of hundreds of comic book nerds shuffling around with drinks in their hands in an attempt to lose their inhibitions and talk to people was fascinating.

On Saturday morning, I was pleasantly surprised to discover that the Expo was a whole lot of fun and that I actually love comics. They really make me laugh. We then went to DC on the Metro to experience the United for Peace rally and festival. We got to see the march for a few minutes but were too hungry to join in. It takes calories to march, after all. Thank goodness for Thai food. That night, we watched Say Anything, which is Clinton’s favorite movie of all time, with John Cusack. We spent all day yesterday at the National Zoo. They have the craziest gibbons!

This Saturday I’m signed up for the Race for the Cure, which I’ll walk with Carly and the team from the school where she teaches. On October 15th, I’m running 10 kilometers (7 miles) on a relay team (Team Atanga) for the Baltimore Marathon. I ran 4.5 miles this morning. Go Crystal!

One mid-term exam down, one to go. And a presentation tomorrow. I’d better get to it.
Have a good week.

Friday night I rode the Baltimore Metro for the first time. I was on my way to Camden Yards for the Orioles game in a big group of 15 or so people, most of whom I had just met, as well as some RPCVs from Gabon I hadn’t seen in years. So we chatted incessantly from the time we left the Johns Hopkin’s “Friday Night Happy Hour”, through the entire baseball game (I didn’t even watch it, but we lost to Tampa Bay anyway), non-stop up until we left the Midtown Yacht Club at 1:30 AM! My voice was actually hoarse! I also got to dance upstairs at the Yacht Club’s mysterious “Spy Bar”. I had a fabulous time and met some very high quality people, including a nice lady named Erin who is my new hero. She even invited me to move in with her for the month of October, in her 3-story rowhouse near Baltimore’s big Druid Hill Park. She has a spare bedroom and a German Shepherd who might sleep on the bed with me!

So, it is HOT in Baltimore. Not as bad as New Orleans this time of year, but pretty darned warm. And humid. I should do like we did in Africa — sprinkle some Gold Bond Medicated Powder in all the right places to keep cool…

I created a slideshow of my photos from the wild trip around southern Vietnam with my great-grandma and other relatives, complete with music and visual effects. As soon as I figure out how to put that on the Internet, I’ll let you know.

My plans for a December wedding in New Orleans were foiled by Katrina, but Clinton and I still eventually want to have a fantastic wedding to which we could invite all our family and friends. We are just not sure yet when or where. We will be settling in the Raleigh/Durham area (Clinton just accepted a great job there — congratulations Clinton!!!), so the event would almost certainly be in North Carolina. We will keep you posted.

I am at the coffeeshop taking a break from homework, so I’d better get back to it.
Have a good Sunday.

On Saturday I went for a jog in Carly’s leafy Baltimore neighborhood. Ahh, happy brain chemicals! Exercise is the poor man’s Prozac.

On Sunday, the anniversary of 9/11, I treated myself to a trip to The Maryland Zoo. It’s not the same as the Audubon Zoo in New Orleans. Not the same at all. For one thing, I’m positive that the New Orleans monkey and ape section is (was) much better, but Maryland has fantastic polar bear and giraffe exhibits. (They are not in an exhibit together, obviously. That would be crazy!) Hanging out in the Animal Kingdom (or a zoo facsimile) helps me clear my head, and these East Coast animals seem sympathetic. The penguins were clearly in a state of grief, their little flippers (wings?) and heads hanging dejectedly. I was certain the giraffes were telepathically trying to tell me to chill out. Later I drove to Silver Springs to meet Peace Corps friends at an African restaurant for fish and plaintains. It was great to eat piment again after all these years. That night, Carly and I saw The Constant Gardener, which was a real downer of a movie, but beautiful nonetheless.

These past days at school have been very challenging. I have trouble concentrating, difficulty articulating myself, I misplace things, and I miss appointments. I have frequent headaches and feel tired all the time. I’m supposed to be on the nice steady treadmill of life, with handy speed and incline controls at my fingertips. Instead I find myself each day in a rapid dryer cycle, tumbling around in confusion without knowing which side is up and no chance of reaching the OFF button.

On the brighter side, a new food has made it to Crystal’s Top 10 Favorite Foods:
the mouth-watering $4.00 gyros from the Greek man with the rolling food cart at the corner of Wolfe and Monument.

If you want to help with the relief efforts in Louisiana, Michael Moore (of all people) has a refreshingly good idea how. Read his article here.

Thank you in advance.

It is amazing how much the last couple of weeks has changed my perspectives on things and made me realize how rich I am in friends and how much we depend on them in times of need. I feel overwhelmed with gratitude toward my fellow (wo)man. I am so thankful for the 76 e-mail messages in my inbox from people all over the world who are worried about me and have offered to help in whatever way they can. I am extremely grateful to the people of Baltimore who have made me feel so welcome in their city and have offered me discounts and devoted extra attention to my needs — like the manager at Cingular who I almost hugged yesterday after nearly breaking down in his store. (I had that squeezy feeling in my throat, and tears wanted to spring out, you know?) He changed my cel phone number for me and even helped credit some money back to my account. Or the stylist who made me a cup of hot tea and gave me a major discount on my haircut. Everyone I’ve met here so far is so kind and extraordinarily generous.

After I posted to the local craigslist about my winter clothing needs, I received a barrage of e-mails from Baltimoreans who want to give me tables and chairs, dishes, blankets, toiletries and everything else under the sun. Two of them have even invited me over to their house for a home-cooked meal, though they’ve never met me. I had to remove the posting, just so the e-mails would stop!

Today Carly and I drove over to her friends’ house to pick up a dresser and some clothes they wanted to give me. I felt so strange for taking their things, but I realize that by doing so I’m also helping them, in a way. Almost everyone wants to help us ‘displaced persons’, but they have no idea how. If you can give them a way to help, they’re also grateful to you. It works both ways.

This weekend is devoted to getting exercise (the best and cheapest way I know how to clear my mind and relieve the incapacitating tension that builds up in my shoulders) and resting. I’ll even try to do some homework if I can.

Thank you to everyone. Enjoy your weekend.

Today was quite a day! I made my way to JHU and got a visitor’s badge. Then I spoke with an MPH advisor, Tara, and a really terrific professor named Dr. Marie Diener-West, who both helped me decide which courses to take. I then filled out forms for the nice people in the registrar’s office and financial aid office. Can you believe I attended two lab classs and one lecture already today?? Everyone here at JHU has been extraordinarily warm and has made us Tulane students feel so welcome. All of the usual hoops and red tape have been eliminated for us, so I was able to get enrolled, get an ID badge and e-mail address and attend classes already on the first day. They even had a special welcome meeting for us and fed us lunch. I am very impressed with JHU’s organization, as well as the competence and friendliness of its staff. The School of Public Health building and its classrooms and equipment are state of the art, comfortable and designed with students in mind. All in all, I am very happy with things so far.

I arrived in beautiful Baltimore today around 2:00 PM EST. Would have gotten here sooner if it were not for the dying car battery issue I had this morning, which landed me at a Walmart near Richmond, VA. I looked pretty funny in the Walmart parking lot with my little flowered outfit and bright pink dish gloves, cursing at the battery mountings with my crescent wrench. I successfully changed the battery all by myself!

Once I arrived, I got to tour the school where Carly teaches Spanish — St. Paul’s School for Girls. Then we ate dinner and she showed me where to take the bus to JHU tomorrow. I talked to the Director of Admissions at the Bloomberg School on the phone today and she says I can come in tomorrow morning and fill out the paperwork. So far, looks like everything will work out.

The drive across four states today was beautiful. I made it to Durham, North Carolina this evening at 8:30 PM EST and am staying with my friend Carol from the Peace Corps and her son Josiah, age 4.

I’ll leave after breakfast tomorrow and head for Baltimore, which is another 6 hours’ drive or so. My old buddy Carly has graciously reserved a sofa for me in her livingroom in Baltimore, only 6 miles from Johns Hopkins’ campus. On Wednesday I’ll take the bus to JHU to see about enrolling as an ‘emergency transient student’ at the Bloomberg School of Public Health.