A little update, which may explain where I have been. Since the last post, I've graduated from nursing school, moved to Washington, D.C. and started a new job with the international disaster relief organization I previously worked for in Amman, Jordan and Baghdad. I'm the monitoring and evaluation officer for the organization, which I previously did at the country level. The best I can describe this position is that I work with the field offices to turn disaster, refugee and other health situations into numbers so we can better understand health needs, what's going on, how our programs are improving them, and what we can do to better address the problems. Then we take this information and give it to our donors (to justify the money they gave us) and use it ourselves to make that and other programs better. The programs themselves range from improving primary care and access to reproductive health services to child malnutrition programs to mental health programs and more. We have offices in 28 countries, so there's a lot of programs to monitor and evaluate! First assignment: I'm off to South Sudan next week.
In addition to the new job, there's been lots going on.
I went back to Baltimore and Hopkins for the first time since I finished my coursework in June of 2008. I got invited back by my advisor to talk about how nursing and public health go really well together as part of a career day-type thing for the current students in program, and it was great to see lots of old friends and professors. Howard was kind enough to let me stay in his apartment for a few days and enjoy his spectacular views of Baltimore.
I got a visit from my mom in New York for my graduation. My aunt joined us for a couple days in the city and all its Christmas splendor.
I couldn't talk my mom and Beth into ice skating with me, but they humored me for a while so I could skate once more at Bryant Park. At least until the bitter cold got too much for them.
Saw the Rockefeller Christmas tree. I saw the National Christmas Tree in DC a few weeks later and I gotta say...it doesn't stack up.
And then to my graduation ceremony, where Beth, my nursing inspiration and who made my year and a half in New York infinitely better, pinned me according to nursing tradition.
I'll miss my nursing friends, but they're on to awesome things. Congrats especially to Allie (second from right), who got married a couple weeks ago. Way to celebrate graduating!
Beth is also keeping Eskimo during my transition to D.C. and trip to Sudan.
Went home to Alabama for Christmas, where it snowed on Christmas for the first time since the late 19th century.
Had our annual Christmas brunch party, possibly my favorite meal of the year.
Went on my (semi?) annual ride in Lochapoka with Sandra, the person who taught me how to ride a horse a long time ago. Thanks :)
Now, as I write this, I'm sitting on my sofa in my new apartment in Washington watching the State of the Union and occasionally glancing out the window at the lit-up capitol building where its taking place. From the roof deck (!!!!) I can also see the Washington Monument and the National Cathedral, among other things. Not too bad, I guess.
Umm, the capitol is the lit up blob on the horizon out the window. I promise, it's more impressive in person...
