About Me

These sorts of "about me" pages always make me nervous because I am afraid of two things:

A) I am going to discover that I am really quite dull and nothing like the "me" that I like to to entertain in my head sometimes; or...

B) It is as I always have suspected: I am weird beyond comprehension and by publicizing that, I am going to appear weird AND arrogant. And I never, ever wanted to be an arrogant weirdo.

But, since I put the page here to begin with, here we go.

Since this blog is really about traveling, food (soon to be added) and cultural observations, I figured I'd do a list of things about me that I wish some of my favorite bloggers would post about themselves instead of some boring "I am this age, have this many children, like butterflies, French accents, and once went to a Grateful Dead concert when I was fourteen and got a marijuana contact high so strong that I hid in my bedroom for the entire next day because I swore my Poodle had learned to speak to me and I'd just discovered my toes..."

Wait a minute! That last part was about me! Nevermind...I AM an arrogant weirdo.

Proven.

So here are some bizarre facts about me. Twenty of them.

1. As of this writing, I have been to 90 countries in my lifetime and 2/3rds of them have been in the past ten years for my job(s).

2. I do not, nor have I ever, worked for the CIA or assassinated a ruler of a small country...at least not knowingly.

3. I have met five presidents in my life: Bill Clinton of the USA in Philadelphia in 1991 at a rally where he shook my hand, winked at me, and signed a t-shirt; Olusegen Obasanjo of Nigeria, he talked about himself in the third person the entire time; Mihail Shaakashvili of Georgia, I ended up in public mourning ceremony for his PM and was mistaken as a American journalist and briefly ended up in his personal car riding with him to the funeral; Yoweri Museveni of Uganda, his sister was my neighbor in Kampala and he was visiting; and Salva Kir of South Sudan, who showed up at the hotel I was staying at in northern Uganda for peace talks and whose bodyguard accosted me for sitting outside with a friend and drinking a beer and smoking a cigarette when a diplomat was in residence. Kir came up to me and apologized for his bodyguard saying, "They don't know about how Western women act." Which I am not sure made it worse or better....

4. I have only had food poisoning once. In Ethiopia. In a one and a half room hotel "suite" that I was sharing with my MALE boss because we had no other option. Takeaway: You do not want severe food poisoning in front of anyone, ever.

5. The one country that was not at the top of my ultimate travel destinations and I ended up falling completely and totally in love with and would move there in a heartbeat: Australia.

6. Another country I didn't expect to love that I absolutely do love: Georgia

7. Oh, and one more: The Philippines.

8. The worst thing I ever ate---TWICE---so it wouldn't offend my hosts: Balut in Cambodia and Malaysia (look it up and horrify yourselves unless you're from SE Asia---in which case I apologize but it is sort of gross).

9. The scariest place I have ever been and would never go again: Mogadishu, Somalia. Duh.

10. I was a veterinary technician for almost ten years before ever getting into the foreign policy game and I can neuter your cat for you or sand your bird's beak, should you need those services.

11. My personal hero is Nelson Mandela.

12.  Cooking and gardening are my favorite ways to relax. Oh, and wine...wine is good too.

13. I am afraid of earthworms and will literally go running and screaming down the street if there is one in my path.

(On that note, the scariest earthworm I ever saw was in South Africa, it was blue and hairy)

14. I will not eat bananas or carrots. Ever. I hate them. But I love anchovies and will eat them straight out of the tin.

15.  My two best friends are a psychologist and a Republican. Disclaimer: The first was a psychologist BEFORE she met me. The second became a Republican AFTER she met me. And I am not a Republican.

16. I cannot do even basic math to save my life. Which is why I am NOT a veterinarian (see 10), but a foreign policy "professional."

17. I have never wanted children, not even a little bit. I love kids, but I have never wanted to have one. I thought for years that made me deficient as a female human being. I don't feel that way anymore.

18. My favorite color is purple.

19. I love hugging people and often have a hard time navigating cultures where this is seen as a strange thing.

20. One of the proudest moments of my life was when my concocted version of Italian Wedding Soup ended up on the menu of a friend's popular restaurant.

Oh, and I love cilantro and it doesn't taste like soap to me.

That's 21 but, hey, I can't add, remember?