I started the Baltimore Block Blog with the intention that neighbors would keep in touch by blogging from the road. Working/studying in the international health field, we collectively accumulate a lot of air miles, exotic knick-knacks (elephant god statues, Malian necklaces, Senegalese sex beads) and premature gray hairs.
I intended to take Baltimore Block Blog on the road with me. But the day I traveled somewhere more exotic than Towson, I abandoned the BBB for my old e-diary, Golap Golightly. I’ll try to make up for it here, posting proxy dispatches for my friends and neighbors.
Just in from…
Hanoi: Adventuress Adrijana tells of carbon gas masks that are totally de rigeur when riding on motorbikes in Vietnam’s densely polluted capital city. Nearby sunset cruises are popular with Australians.
Bihar: Patna, the capital city of India’s poorest state, should not be confused with a vacation getaway, according to the most jet-lagged (honorary) resident of the block, newly minted Torontonian Jess [The Jess who lived in Dakar until moving to Canada before visiting Baltimore via Atlanta and then (whew) flying back to India… Before returning to Baltimore. But only for 5 days.]
What’s happening in Patna? Well, last time I visited, they were lynching extortonists and killing people on a holiday called Holi. There must be some wholesome entertainment to be found in this city of 1.8 million. Per Jess, there’s not much. When not working until 11, Jess reports that she unwinds at the local ladies club, where you can get your hair done or “run” on 30 year-old treadmills. Breaking a sweat is taboo, so she dones jeans to stride in place.
Cape Town: Brian Skypes in that he has been keeping busy in the South African summer playing soccer in the shadow of 2000-foot Lion’s Head, beach combing and hiking Table Mountain–when not drinking cheap local sauvignon blanc. But each day under the celebrated wide cerulean sky and filmic sunshine, racial tensions and South Africa’s desperately unequal economic playing field become more apparent. Being Caucasian, he’s noticed passersby uttering what can only be slurs in Afrikaan. A theft has left him broke, until Bank of America can get a new card in… Possibly weeks.
Closer to home, Anna spent Valentine’s Day in the Midwest.
What’s up in Michigan? It’s really cold. Our resident future-farmer, Anna reports that her boyfriend’s horseback riding concept is on ice (so to speak) until the mercury cracks 32. For now, she ventures into the negative 20-degree weather to groom the horses and exchanging bonding snorts.
And me? Glad my stomach has finally settled, I am holding down the fort in Charm City, getting caught up on movies, museums, and eying, from a healthy distance, the latest guy waving down cars on our Cathedral street corner. I don’t think he’s selling necklaces.
A Baltimore Block 
