interesting evening

Tonight Rachael came for dinner and brought Frank, who is the elementary school teacher in the village she was in when in the Peace Corp in Tanzania. He's the only one who spoke english, so was a huge help to her in their village. She arranged for him to come to the US and observe classes in several schools, and is giving him a tour of our little corner of the world. This is the first time he has traveled out of Tanzania, and he is quite wide-eyed with the whole experience. He flew into Seattle, Rach met him there and they took Amtrak to Portland, and they've been shopping at a mall, to Powell's Books, to a grocery store, walking in the snow and all kinds of new adventures for Frank. On Sunday they'll to up the gorge to Goldendale, where Rach and Matt live and he'll spend time in the schools there. I just can't imagine what this whole experience is like for Frank.... he lives in a village where they don't have running water, no stoves in their houses or refrigeration, any travel is on foot or on a run-down bus on dirt roads ... you get the picture.... He was interesting to talk to and was very willing to try the food we served... I had tried to keep it to a pretty simple menu. He didn't quite "get it" why I like pink flamingoes and why the guest bathroom looks like homage to the pink flamingo... and I knew he would'nt understand that i love 'em just because they're so damn tacky!! so i just smiled sweetly and said i think they're pretty! Here's a photo of Frank, Jim and Rachael looking at the world atlas: