Measles

okay. . .so. . .its time for an update.
i traveled to washington dc monday evening. it was a nice trip because i was able to get on an earlier flight out of austin connecting in chicago to washington. even though both of my flights left very late due to fog in the chicago area, i still arrived in washington 2 whole hours earlier than i was supposed to. my flights were empty. . .i guess nobody travels on mondays or something. i made a mental note to self to travel more on mondays. on both of my flights i snagged an entire row of bulkhead seats all for myself, thanks to a most kind aa gate agent in austin. on my first flight, my overpacked carryon just didnt want to go in the overhead bin. with a fellow passenger bending a plastic panel to accomodate my bag, i finally got it in. when we were landing in chicago, i thought we were going to die. the plane touched down, but i guess a crosswind came through and we were lifted back up and blown sideways. it was scary. in chicago, i bought a most delicious grilled chicken caesar salad from McD's. after our flight took off, i busted that thing out and ate it while my fellow empty-handed passengers drooled over the aroma of the chicken as it wafted through the cabin.
the measles partner meeting was hugely inspiring. there arent words in our language to describe it. i can remember only four months ago, i was doubting the initiative for, among other reasons, i believed that it was ending in june. however, i was wrong. there i was, in a room with some of the biggest players of public global health. unicef, the un foundation, the world health organization, the centers for disease control, and if that isnt enough, the man who created the measles vaccine! i thought that i had traveled far for this meeting, but i was wrong again. there were people there from zimbabwe, thailand, norway, sweden and many other places. the 2 representatives from togo arrived a day late because of a government conflict in their country. it was amazing be sitting in a room with so many people that were truly committed to the initiative. one presenter, from the democratic republic of the congo did his entire presentation in french. this truly made me realize how global this entire movement is.
there is a good chance that i will be able to travel to africa sometime this year to observe a campaign. this would truly be an honor and even more inspiring than the meeting.
i am still at a loss of words. . .