- I had my first cup of coffee today. Ever. I know this is extremely weird, that by 33, someone would have never had a cup of coffee. Especially someone who has traveled so much and been in many situations in which someone might offer you coffee and it would be rude to refuse it. But it’s true; I’d never had coffee, at least on purpose, and never more than a taste, until today. But when the most imposing woman you’ve ever seen in your life tells you (disdain clearly dripping from every word of a language I heard for the first time a week ago and know maybe about ten words of) how she’s used to international organizations coming in and taking surveys and then disappearing and it’s apparent she thinks you’ll do the same, but then she somehow changes her mind when you tell her you’re not actually promising anything more than information and that you’re interested in a wide range of experiences, and she smiles at you, but you still know she’s powerful; she’s formidable. When she insists you drink the super strong Arabic coffee made for just for you and says she’ll cook for you when you come back to the school to do focus groups and interviews, well, you drink the coffee.
- I sang a few lines of “You’re Gonna Miss Me” for the Education staff at the office today, into a recorder. I have no idea what possessed me to do this.
ERIN K. FLETCHER 
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