Monday, June 30, 2008

On the Way Home

Apologies for the long absence. Since leaving Africa two weeks ago I`ve become a little lazy about blogging ($8/hr internet doesn`t help matters).

We`re in Switzerland now, which is sort of bizzaro/opposite-world from Africa. Before that we were in Istanbul, a place that convinced me to be sure to visit the area again as soon as possible. Istanbul is a very interesting place filled with great people. It`s also the site of probably the worst, most criminal dining experience I`ve ever had. Inspiration to write about it escapes me at the moment, but those of you who know me ask me about it the next time you see me.

In a few days we are headed to Berlin, where I will be staying with an uncle, before a few short skips to London, New York, and finally home!

Monday, June 9, 2008

Visited Robben Island just the other day, and was blown away in several different ways. Its really amazing how similar the prison seems to our current disaster called Guantanamo. Political prisoners at Robben Island fought for years for merely the "privledge" to be called such, and in the end they had to settle with the branding of "security prisoners". I would expect more from my own government, seeing how different our ideologies are from the former Apartheid South African government.

Obama's presumptive primary victory reminds me that I have some pretty sweet pictures of pro-Obama graffiti from Zanzibar. Hopefully I'll find a time and place to post these. Support for Obama runs pretty high all over eastern and southern Africa.