Hands-down, best Google search to arrive at my blog thus far: “keeping bear in bear garden.”  I laughed myself silly on that one.  “Honey, I haven’t made any headway on that rabid-bear-containment issue, but look at this funny girl writing about her high school reunion  and restaurants in Paris!  Honey?  HONEY!?!?”

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A leaves tomorrow and I’m going to spare you a long description of my mopey, snotty, teary, bleary-eyed sadness.  He is about to begin a dead-serious post in a place that has gotten seriously little attention as far as humanitarian crises go.  If you’ve been following the crises in Haiti and Chile, you certainly know that MSF is always at the front-line of these kinds of emergencies.  What you may not know (I certainly didn’t) is that they currently have operations in forty countries, many of which do not receive much in the way of media attention, especially in the West. I can’t speak to the work of other NGOs or humanitarian aid organizations, but I can say that if the rest of MSF is staffed by people with one-tenth of A’s dedication, integrity, and intelligence, then it is a worthy organization for any dinero you would like to give.  I’ve put up a link on the sidebar to the donation section of the MSF site. If you are curious, also check out the informational site called the International Crisis Group.  A directed my attention there and I’ve been using their reports to learn a bit more about the places in crisis that don’t receive a lot of mainstream coverage.  It is smart, no-frills, and acutely detailed site.

To A:  Vaya con Dios, brah. Few people will appreciate that Point Break / Fast and the Furious reference as much as you. Who will I joke around about la technologie française with when you are gone? More importantly, who will I eat it with? Thanks for an amazing visit. You are going to be seriously missed.