The Holidays and the End of 2008

Here are some wishes for the end of 2008 and the beginning of 2009:

From Robyn:

Attainable Goals

A decent public defense system in every state;
A sitcom that glorifies public defense as a profession with a young, sexy, hilarious cast;
A shift away from vindictiveness toward mercy and rehabilitation of damaged individuals
A recognition that our worst criminals are products of poverty and abusive, neglected childhoods, and that this is society's responsibility and that we are criminals for allowing this to happen;
Abolition of the death penalty;
Abolition of drug possession crimes;
For the country's jails to NOT be a substitute for decent mental health care;
Decent mental health and bodily health care for all;
Polar bear survival;
A nationwide prioritization of recycling and environmental stewardship;
A decent place to call home for everyone in the world;
Access to abundant good food and education for every human child;
A cure for malaria;
An end to diarrhea as a leading cause of death for kids under 5 in the developing world;
A 30-hour work week and an end to all unemployment;
A living minimum wage;
More public transportation;
Less SUVs;
More condoms and sex-ed in the schools;
Free marriage for all;
The demise of FOX news and the like because of a lack of interest in hate-mongering;
A better sense of humor and less puritanism for the US as a nation, generally
A return to dancing as a legitimate and widely-pursued social activity
The demise of Wal-Mart, also because of a lack of interest in the junk they sell.
Monsanto's bankruptcy due to a breakthrough Supreme Court decision that you can't patent plants because they are their own beings.

Unattainable Wishes:

For trees to pass on their wisdom to people;
An end to national borders and the current, totally unjustifiable rich/poor dichotomy between nations and peoples;
For Betsy to return;
For all of my loved ones, friends and family, to live in the same town;
To shrink our country so that any part is accessible through a 2-3 hour train ride;
For no one to die in a DUI accident this New Year.

From Peter:

Attainable Goals:

An end to ICE raids
A half way sane immigration bill
Some real progress for gay and lesbian human rights
Some real progress toward an economy that respects and values families and workers, women, children and men
more companies like Campbell's soup (see links below), and fewer groups like AFA

http://gayrights.change.org/blog/view/campbells_soup_rebuffs_anti-gay_organization

http://www.advocate.com/news_detail_ektid69429.asp

Unattainable Wishes:

the return of all sorts of cool extinct species
the return of my mother
the return of all the folks killed in war this last year

Whatever you may be wishing for the coming year, we hope that it is a good year for you and that you had a wonderful holiday season!!!!

xoxo, us:)

Birthday Blog--What a year!

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33!

I sit to write this blog on the eve of my 33^rd birthday. For my birthday last year, I was going out to dinner in Seattle with Peter and our good friends Steven, Emily and Jules. Afterwards, we went to see the Pogues. This year, I am feeling a little homesick for my friends in Seattle—we are so new in Atlanta that we don’t yet have a gang with whom to celebrate our occasions like birthdays, so it will mostly be a family affair this year. (And, unfortunately, I will also be working some this weekend.) Now, don’t get me wrong—we have had an amazing year and I wanted to move to Atlanta to be closer to family, to be in a place where we could afford to buy a house and to be out of the cloudy, drizzly weather of Seattle. And, I have all of that. Still, I can’t help but miss all of our dear, fun friends there, especially at a time like a birthday.

Since I last wrote, a lot has happened in Peter’s and my lives. First, we bought a house and we moved in last weekend! We are delighted to be homeowners and the house is adorable! We even have some pictures up on the wall and have started to make it feel like ours. Plus, we are in a wonderful, neighborhoody part of the city of Decatur called Oakhurst, where we are able to walk to cafes, bars, restaurants, and the subway into the city. Neither of us has to have a car to get to work at this point, which is such a relief after our 1.5 hour commute each way for the last month from PTC.

Our journey to getting the house was a little fraught, however, in the week leading up to closing. Because of the crappy, ridiculous, totally unnecessary and preventable (if only we had had competent leadership these last 8 years!) state of our economy, Peter and I learned that the Federal Reserve had put a freeze on all federally-backed cash accounts, about two days before we needed to access ours to get our money for the downpayment! After a frantic appeals process, our financial advisor was able to free 90% of the amount we had requested—still leaving us short by about $5000. We ended up having to take out an additional, last minute loan from the bank to cover that shortfall. Crazy! We had the money and weren’t allowed to use it b/c the government was afraid that there would be a run on the banks! So strange that it was easier for us to get a loan than it was to access our own money. . . we did close on time, but not without a lot of stress—we were literally sitting at the closing table, 20 minutes after the closing was supposed to start, not knowing if the money would arrive in the closing attorney’s escrow account or not. Suffice it to say, I do not want to move again for a VERY long time. An amusing side note to this whole fracas is that I got to talk personally to GA’s republican Senator Saxby Chambliss on the phone because I had called our legislators to see if they could help us and he was nice enough to return my call. He couldn’t do anything, but it was fun to actually talk to a Senator.

Enough about finances and politics! After we got all of that squared away, Peter left for California to see our young nephew Ben, who had to have brain surgery to remove a tumor. He came through the surgery beautifully, thank goodness and we are all very much relieved. While in Cali., Peter also got to celebrate his sister Victoria’s fortieth birthday with her. Yay, Victoria!

After a week in the west, Peter then flew to Roanoke, VA, where he met me and my parents and the whole rest of my extended family on my mom’s side for my cousin Brian’s marriage to Olivia. We also got to meet Kyle and Annika, my cousin Vonnie's two twins who are just so fun and beautiful! My mom, dad, Peter and I then rode all the way back to GA smooshed into my mom’s tiny Saab, which was funny until it became almost unbearable.

Finally, when we moved into our house, we welcomed Pico the kitten into our family. Isabelle is still working on truly welcoming him, but Peter and I love him. I have never had a kitten and it is amazing how much energy and how little fear he has! At the same time, he is equal parts cuddly and clumsy and SO tiny. He has perfected the art of scaling my bluejeans and then climbing onto whatever piece of furniture or counter I happen to be standing next to. He does this to compensate for his almost-total lack of leaping ability at his age. I can’t wait to see him grow!

As for the rest of it, we are still settling into jobs and trying to find friends—let us know if you see any! So far, my job is fun and I even got to go interview witnesses in South GA by myself, which was a hoot. Who knew that there was a town called Santa Claus, GA (with streets named “Reindeer Way,” “Elf Drive”, for example), or that Waynesboro, GA is the bird-dog capital of the world?!? Now I do. Peter is still evaluating his. So far, it’s been frustratingly slow, coming from the public defender pace that he was used to. Hopefully, it wil pick up when the legislature is in session.

So, that’s pretty much it! I’m 33 today and am excited to see what shape our lives take during this next year in our new home. As always, please be in touch, visit, call, or email if you can! And, go vote November 4!

Xoxo, robyn:)

Pictures, top to bottom: Pico asleep in a packing box; Me, cooking in our new kitchen; Peter in the dining room; Peter and Ben, post-surgery; Happy 40th, Victoria, in Santa Cruz!; Me and my cousins Vonnie and Lauren; Our new dining room; Our new living room; Brian and Olivia--Just Married!; My mom and her two sisters Aunt Tata and Aunt Jan; We meet Kyle and Annika!; Pico perched.

The End of Vacation and Back to Work!

Since I last posted, we have been really busy, even if we haven't been working! Shortly after landing in GA, we made our residence official by swearing into the GA bar, applying for jobs and getting drivers' licenses. The local bar in Fayette County GA was so wowed by a husband and wife lawyer team, that they even ran an article in the local paper about us! We both applied for several jobs, but ended up hitting the GA market at a weird time for both of us. For me, the criminal defense options were few, as the GA public defender system is currently imploding. For Peter, immigration gigs were scarce because Congress has not authorized any new visas for immigrants recently. Fortunately, though, we both found good options and will start work tomorrow! I will be working at the GA Resource Center, where I will be working on habeas corpus petitions for people on death row here in GA--possibly my dream job. . .we'll see! I am very excited to be able to focus more on individual clients and researching their cases inside and out, rather than appearing in court every single day. I will still be in court sometimes, but only for select arguments--this frees me from wearing a suit on a daily basis--yay!

As for Peter, he will be working at MALDEF (the Mexican American Legal Defense and Education Fund--kinda like the Latino NAACP), where he will be doing civil rights class litigation on behalf of Latinos in GA and lobbying the GA state legislature for better laws for Latinos. I don't think GA state law makers have yet realized what they are in for. . .:) Serendipitously, Peter is also starting work tomorrow and we will be able to commute together in the mornings on the train, which should be amusing.

In other news, we have filled our time while we were waiting for job interviews and acceptances with lots of fun stuff! We took a road trip in our Neon in July to Chicago for Randal and Megan's wedding, which was great, and then we continued north to Madison, Wisconsin, where we visited Peter's Grandma Betty. In the middle of July, we got a call saying that the Obama campaign was actually working in Peachtee City(!) and would we like to help? We were very excited and are now in our fourth week of registering voters here in my hometown and the surrounding counties, which I never would have thought would have a chance of going Blue. I have been really pleasantly surprised with how many closet Dems. there are around here! The beginning of August had us watching a lot of Olympics and starting the house hunt in earnest. We focused on Decatur, GA, which is 6 miles from downtown Atlanta and on the train line. Decatur is also the home to both Agnes Scott College and Emory University, which both contribute to an artsy, progressive vibe in the town. About a week ago, we found our house (see pictures above)! It is 3 bedrooms, 2 baths on top, which front and back porches and a gorgeous kitchen. It also has a 2 bedroom, one bath rental unit on the bottom with kitchenette and living room. We just think it's adorable and will give us a lot of flexibility to add to our income, if need be, while we are paying off our student loans. When we no longer need that income, it will potentially give us room to grow. It has big old oak trees in the back yard and is 2 blocks from the local park and about 4 blocks from a shopping area. We are very excited!

Finally, at the end of August, my brother Matt and his boyfriend Woody visited, bringing our cat Isabelle with them from Seattle. It was a momentous time because it was the first time Matt has brought a significant other home and all went well. Also, my dad turned 60 and they were both able to be here for the party--yay! We just took them back to the airport yesterday and the house seems empty without them, even though there are still four people a dog and a cat here.

So, thanks for reading! That's about it for now. ..my plan is to post about every month to keep people updated on what we're up to. We'd love to hear from you, too! Drop us a line at robynp88@yahoo.com or pisbister27@yahoo.com. Our phone numbers are still the same, too!

Have a happy September!

R & P

The Last Month--Back in the States

Pictures: Peter at Wesleyan; Peter and Leah; the New Mexico landscape; Peter at the PTC golf cart Parade on July 4th; Getting sworn in to the GA bar with Judge Edwards, Daddy and Mama.

More Pictures: Peter and Steven at the Seattle sculpture park; Debby, Joanie, Debbie, and Hermione in Amherst; Peter and Erin in Brooklyn; Peter with twin nephews Ben and Owen; Robyn drives a U-Haul.

Well, it has been a while since I wrote and updated things. Last I wrote, we were in NYC at our friends Erin and Jeremy's apartment--fresh off the plane from Africa. Tomorrow marks our one month anniversary of being back in the U.S. It seems like we've been here a lot longer! Maybe it's just that one can do an incredible amount of stuff very efficiently here in a short amount of time, in contrast to many of the places where we have recently been. . . .
In any case, after leaving NYC, we traveled to Philadelphia to see Katie Davis and then to Amherst to see Peter's aunts Debby and Joanne and to celebrate his cousin Robbie's bday--happy 30th, again, Robbie! We took the train up to Amherst, which was really relaxing. While there, we took a day trip to Middletown, CT and I finally saw Wesleyan University, where Peter went to undergrad. After our sojourn in New England, we flew to Seattle to say goodbye to so many of our good friends there and to relieve our friends Emily and Jules and Peter's cousins Chris and Maylynn of our stuff, which they had been graciously storing for us since February (Thanks again, guys!) We stayed with my brother and his boyfriend Woody, who welcomed us in style and we were so happy to see that our cat Isabelle was thriving in their care. We also visited with Sonja and Brandon and met their son Cole. Sonja and Brandon were nice enough to also have Rachel and Gabe over, so we got to see them, too, which was great! And, Sonja let us do our laundry in their new washer and dryer--we REALLY appreciated that! We got to visit with Judge Pechman and everyone in chambers in the middle of the Sonics trial; we drove up to B.C. to see my old friend from Geneva Dagmar and got to meet her husband Andrew and adorable son Theo; we lunched with our friend Kristen; we saw Courtney and Andy; we saw Nick and Elizabeth and Andrew and Thomas and many other very dear friends, though there were also many that we did not have time to see. . .too soon, we were on the road with our U-Haul.

For the first leg of the trip, we drove down through Washington, Oregon and Northern California, stopping off briefly for lunch with Peter's friend Leah and staying overnight somewhere on I-5 close to Crater Lake. Once we entered California, we realized how bad the wildfire situation is--there was smoke everywhere and our visibility, even on the interstate, was limited. After 2 days, we made it to Santa Cruz where Nadja, Peter's godmother, hosted us in her yurt. It was very cozy! As with Seattle, we had lots of people to visit in Santa Cruz and did not get to all of them. However, it was VERY nice to see Amanda, Casey, Jesse, Nadja and Ginger, Victoria, David, David, Tracy and the twin boys, Ben and Owen, as well as old friends Herb and Ellie. Soon, we were back on the road again, traveling ever south until we hit I-40 right outside of Barstow California.

At Barstow, we turned East, our trajectory for the next three days. That first night, we stayed in Williams AZ. The second day took us through the beautiful red rocks of Tucson and on into and out of New Mexico. We stayed that night in Amarillo, Texas. The third day was mostly spent crossing the long state of Oklahoma (a new one for both of us) and we slept in Lonoke, Arkansas (just east of Little Rock). The fourth day, we arrrived at 6 p.m. in Peachtree City after crossing through Memphis, TN, Mississippi, and Alabama. It was so good to finally be somewhere that we knew we would be for a long time!

My dad helped us unload the U-Haul the next morning and we returned it to the store, which was extremely satisfying. We were so happy to have everything done in time for the holiday weekend! Peter celebrated his first 4th of July in Peachtree City this year, which must have been very different for him from Santa Cruz Independence Day celebrations. In the morning we went to the "golf cart parade," in the afternoon we went to our friends Danny and Susie Lucsko's home for swimming and grilling, and in the evening, we gathered on the golf course with so many other families for fireworks. Peter kept remarking on how everyone was dressed in red, white, and blue and how the whole scene was so "All American" and wholesome. The next day, we were lucky enough to get to visit with our friends Dave and Shannon, who were visiting from Nashville. The four of us, along with Shannon's mom Ingrid, went to a Braves game. The Braves lost, but it didn't matter in such good company.

That brings us to the beginning of this week. This week we have been applying for jobs like crazy. Yesterday, we went up to Athens to meet with a friend who gave us some guidance on the criminal defense and immigration fields in GA. Today, we were sworn into the GA bar! Phew! It is hard to believe how much we've done this month.

I plan to continue writing this blog as our lives unfold in GA. We have too many good friends in too many places, scattered all over the world. It is my hope that writing a little something now and then will help some stay close for a long, long time.

Weekend in Zanzibar!

Pictures:  Me and Peter in front of a famous Zanzibari Door;   With Massoud, the head of the Zanzibar4Obama campaign; Me modeling my new hair; Stone town architecture; goodbye Dila!; and Peter and Dila at dinner.





We returned to Dar Es Salaam to the news that Barack Obama had won the Democratic nomination!  We were elated and so was most of Africa, it seemed! We spent most of Thursday morning watching the news and taking in the new historical era that we found ourselves.  Then, we ventured out to Air Qatar to confirm our flight home and then to a Tingatinga artists' cooperative to buy some souvenirs.  After all of that we both decided to remove significant amounts of hair--I was sick of being a blonde (something, I am now convinced, that I was never meant to be) and Peter had grown quite a beard.  After our haircuts, we walked back to Dila's and Peter spent the night in with mac 'n cheese, the internet and the news, while Dila and I went out for some girl time and Ethiopian food (which Peter dislikes).

The next morning, we boarded a ferry for Zanzibar!  The ferry took about 2 hours, during which I mostly slept.  When we got to the island, we found that Dila had made arrangements for us to stay in an ancient harem (which is now quite a nice hotel). . .it was very Arabian nights!  We also found out that the entire island of Zanzibar (which is an autonomous state within Tanzania--we even had to go through immigration again!), had not paid its electric bill in quite some time and so the entire island was now in the middle of a 90 day penalty period, during which there would be no power!  Just our luck!  We were fortunate, though, that we were staying in hotels that had their own generators. . . 

We spent most of the first day wandering through the maze-like streets of Stone Town, touring the old slave market (decidedly creepy), and browsing in curio shops.  We ended the day with a nice meal and then drinks and dessert by the Indian Ocean.  The following day, we headed north after breakfast to a beach resort, where we lazed on the beach, read, and dipped in the pool.  In the afternoon, we took a complimentary sail on a Zanzibari dhow (a type of fishing canoe with a sail).  Mostly, it was just wonderful to relax and get to spend time with Dila.  The next day, we headed back to Stone Town and caught a rough ferry ride back to Dar, where Peter and I packed our bags one last time before heading home to the states. . .it was unbelievable that our trip was finally ending!

Tanzanian Safari Details

We had a terrific time on Safari, which was my (Robyn's) favorite part of the entire three month trip.  We got into Dar Es Salaam on May 30th after almost 24 hours of travel (and a night spent in the Johannesbourg airport) and quickly discovered that my bag did not make it from Antananarivo (not that big of a surprise, actually).  After making our report, we met Amisi, a taxi driver friend who Dila had sent to meet us at the airport.  He took us to Dila's home, where we were able to shower, nap, and peruse gossip magazines until she got home from work.  It was so good to see her!  The next day, Amisi swung by and took us back to the airport (where I picked up my bag--yay!) and we left for Arusha.  Our flight out of Dar was 2 hours delayed, so we had time to do a preliminary perusal of the Dar airport gift offerings.  Finally, we got into Arusha around 9 p.m. and checked into the Jacaranda hotel, anticipating the safari the next day.

Our driver Gebby picked us up at our hotel the following morning at 8:30 and we set out for an all day drive to the Serengeti!  We passed through Arusha and several small towns
nearby, as well as the Ngorongoro Conservation Area.  We had a picnic on the edge of the Ngorongoro crater and then continued on to the Serengeti.  On the way, we had our first glimpses of giraffes, zebras, gazelles, lions, cape buffalo, ostriches and several other species--just driving through the park to camp we saw 22 separate species!  At around 5:30 we got to the Seronera campsite, where Gebby and Semini (our cook) set up our tent and made dinner while we relaxed. 

That night, we had a three course meal and retired early.  We were both exhausted after all of our traveling, so we fell immediately asleep.  Nonetheless, I was wide awake around 3 am when I heard a rustling and saw an ominous shadow outside of our tent.  My heart was pounding!  Could it be a lion???  We had been instructed by Gebby NOT to leave our tent if we could help it between 10 p.m. and sunup.  I lay awake, trying to calm my heart and to move as little as possible for another hour until I could stand it no longer and had to wake up Peter.  I pointed out the shadow and the noises to him and he agreed that it sounded like an animal was outside our tent!   What could it be???  By this time, I had become somewhat calmer, telling myself that it must be a grazer rather than a carnivore because it had not yet burst through the tent and gobbled us up.  Still, it was ominous and I was not about to leave the tent, even though we both really had to use the bathroom.

Around 5, we started to hear the movements of other people breaking camp, so Peter decided to brave going outdoors.  He gingerly poked his head around the side of the tent and came back with the report of NOTHING!  At first, we were in denial then we came to admit that we had just spent three hours being scared silly by the wind and night sounds of Africa.  So much for our credibility as intrepid adventurers!

We set off early the next morning for a game drive, hoping to catch up with the great migration, which was rumored to be 85 km away on the other side of the park.  On the way, we saw hyenas, jackals, hartebeast, impala, a male and female lion couple ("honeymooners" said our guide Gebby), hippos, warthogs, hyrax, about 20 Nile crocodiles, lunching elephants, and tons of exotic birds!  Finally, we made it to the migration and saw a herd of wildebeast, which our guide estimated to be about 100,000 animals strong and which comprised a mere fraction of the migration (the bulk of which proceeded us by about a week).  Still, it was amazing to see this huge movement of animals, which can even be seen from space!  On the way back to camp, we got even luckier and saw a pair of brother cheetahs lazing on the road after a successful hunt.  That evening, we had a nice dinner and retired early again, as we'd barely slept the night before.  Ironically, the next morning, we learned that there had been both a female lion and a herd of wildebeast in camp, but we slept like seasoned safari veterans through this excitement.

On our final day in the Serengeti, we saw tons of beautiful birds and then, to my delight, came upon a family group of about sixteen elephants grazing.  I could have stayed and watched them all day, but we had to get to our lodge in the Ngorongoro crater that night and Gebby was eager to find us a leopard before we left, which he did--way off in a tree, lazing in the sun.  It was amazing that he saw the leopard at all and we felt very, very lucky to see this shy animal, even at a distance.  Gebby also spotted two dead antelopes in trees (evidence of recent leopard activity).  

After breaking camp, we drove back to Ngorongoro, stopping at the way at the Olduvai gorge, where the Leakeys made their breakthrough discoveries of early hominid fossils.  While there, we had a lecture on the site by a Maasai tour guide, which was fascinating.  The Maasai have lived in this area for centuries and still have rights to graze their animals in Ngorongoro conservation area, so we saw quite a bit of them from a distance.  Just as the sun was setting, we reached our lodge.  By this time, Peter was quite a bit worn down with congestion and a bit of a fever, so we were happy to be indoors in a very luxurious hotel on the rim of the crater.  The next day, we woke up early and toured the crater floor.  We saw many of the same species that we had seen in the Serengeti, with the addition of the rhinoceros and hundreds of flamingo.  We felt extremely lucky to have seen the three rhinoceroses, especially since there are rumored to be only 18 left inhabiting this area of the world.  We picnicked near a pond with three hippos in it, then drove back to Arusha, stopping for some souvenirs on the way.  As Gebby drove us to the airport, Mount Kilimanjaro stepped out of the clouds to say goodbye.  I don't think the safari could have been better!

Tanzanian Safari Pictures!

Tsarabaria!

Here are some photos from the day we spent in my old village: