Still there....????

Jaden and Rowan enjoying a perk of the "first world".

Rye Playland Amusement Park

Hi out there.

I can't believe it has been two whole months since I last posted. I'm a bad girl. Bad Hally. Bad.

It seems that once it has been awhile since I last wrote it is almost impossible to sit down and write again.

It isn't like I've forgotten you!

Many times I've had a partially formulated blog in my head that I swore I was going to commit to type the second I got home. And then once you don't do it for awhile you think you need to write about everything that's happened - and that can be a block too.

I was going to write you a fabulous blog called Home Sweet Home - Sort Of about my month long trip to the US with the kids and challenges of being back home (e.g. no nanny, no cook, no housekeeper, too many choices) and how I went totally nuts shopping - coming home with 5 huge bags when I left Tanzania with just 2 small bags. But that's old news now. I've been back in TZ for nearly three weeks.

Then I was going to write a funny blog called Tsunami New Year - telling you about how in the middle of hosting a lovely apples and honey-filled Rosh Hashana dinner for 12 Jews and one honorary Jew my phone started ringing off the hook with friends warning me that the Tanzanian government was evacuating the coastline because a huge tsunami was headed our way after the giant Indonesia earthquake. (This is just last week.) The government was going up and down the streets of my neighborhood with bullhorns telling folks to move away from the beach. So there I was with a house full of people in a celebratory mood with a decision to make. (I only live one block from the ocean.) Panic or not to panic. We turned on CNN and BBC and it was clear that no tsunami had hit Sri Lanka (which would be a natural intermediate point for a tsunami on its way to us) and so we continued to party. Of course nothing happened. But interestingly the next morning I had an official "Warden Message" from the US Embassy telling all US citizens to beware of a possible tsunami and "nature's warning signs" such as a rapid retreat of water. Amusing because they sent it out at 10 PM when absolutely no American would have been online (the tsunami was supposedly expected between 11 PM and 1 AM).

I guess they were just covering their asses... just in case we were wiped away - the Embassy could have said, "Well, we warned them."

I also planned to write a blog called The Amazing Adventures of Matt and Ben because the day after the tsunami debacle I found myself at lunch at my favorite Indian restaurant with my friend, Tom, and Matt Damon and Ben Affleck. Evidently they were in town visiting HIV care and support projects and some malaria projects for Bono's NGO, DATA. Thanks to a series of events which I won't bother you with they ended up talking to me after lunch. Matt turned and said, "Hey, what's your name and what are you doing in Tanzania?" Since I wasn't expecting to speak to them, all I could say was:

"Hally. Condoms. Sex Workers!"

"Ok," they said - as they looked at each other out of the corner of their eyes.

I don't think I made much of an impression.

And finally the last blog I was going to write was called Lazy Lagoon. That would have just been a bit of a travel log about the divine weekend Jaden, Rowan and I spent on an island off the coast of TZ in a small resort - by that name. Our hut was so close to the ocean that the sea woke me up at high tide in the middle of the night. (Not very tsunami-proof!) And we had dinner on the beach by candlelight with the stars of the Southern sky twinkling above us. It was heaven. I love Tanzania. (And not just for the divine R&R spots, but for the nannies, and the housekeepers, and the cooks, etc.)

OK. Great. We are finally caught up. Now I can just go ahead and start writing blogs again without feeling like I have too many things in the pipeline I have to write about before I can get to the topic at hand.

And you better stay tuned. I have a great blog coming for tomorrow!