Howzit!

Hi all! and yes, thats how everyone greets each other around here - like 'how's it going" but way cooler.

Capetown is incredible so far. It's the most beautiful place I've ever been on - this basin surrounded by mountains and ocean - incredible. And its such a crazy party town - I've been going out with all these random international students I've met every night, and they party hard here. Maybe not drunken twister hard, but everything absolutely goes until 4 in the morning - and they start at like 7 PM too.

My job is way cool too - I'm volunteering at two children's hospitals, so I play with sick kids all day. The one in the morning is a really legit hospital - so its really depressing there because everyone is hooked up to IVs and really frail, etc. - but the one in the afternoon is like a pre and post-operation home, so I can actually take the babies out of their cribs and play with them. It's just so sad to know that they all have HIV or AIDS, but there's also something so wonderful about how innocently happy they still can be when they receive a little attention - which makes what I'm doing with them so worthwhile.

But seriously, I'm having the craziest time here. The thing about this city is it's like a mecca for everyone around the world to visit, so there are so many kids from all over. And people here are so friendly - you meet a friend of a friend at a bar one night, and immediately you hear their life story and decide to meet them for dinner the next night. I met these two guys from the Naval Academy my first night at a bar, and wound up riding around with them all weekend on the back of their motorcycles that they rented - we just rode all around the winelands that surround Capetown. It was so fricking awesome!! I thought I'd never do anything like that in my life, but it was so exhilarating and completely unbelievable. I'm so converted now - and they promised they'd teach me how when I meet up with them again in August haha.

I miss you all so much though - the kids here are all really cool, but there is nothing quite like you guys...

hit me up on skype if you can - I'm 6 hours ahead of EST...

love
Dee Dee

Where could this come from?

I'm surprised it took as long as it did for them to make this, but better late than never, ne?

http://www.nzherald.co.nz/feature/story.cfm?c_id=1501834&objectid=10516992

In other news, I'm interning for two months in Montreal--drawing maps. The perfect internship for me. Of course, studying Japanese intensively for two years is useless in a city where everyone except me speaks French, but this is an awesome city--great food (the best bagels in the world, no question), lots of street life and festivals, way cheaper than New York, and only 400 miles from the Have, so if you haven't been yet, make sure to check it out.

Have great summers, everyone, and see you before too long!

first post of the summer

hello hellooooo,

so. our very first post of the summer and it's bound to be a boring one, at least in comparison with the tales of exciting african adventures that are (hopefully) soon to come from anna, dee dee, and jesi, not to mention the rest of you.

i'm writing from the new york public library PR offices, where i've been interning for the past few weeks. today is a slow day, but i've been keeping busy mostly. i'm working on a few projects right now: publicizing the library's summer reading program, writing the library's monthly press release, and updating the press database. the work can get a little tedious, but i don't have much (okayyyy, any) experience in the PR world, so i'm learning a lot. hopefully my experiences will be helpful in the future--i don't know if i'll end up working in PR, but i'm checking out the marketing and advertising divisions while i'm here, too. and if all else fails, i've now got the contact info for everyone at the new york times, the new yorker, the wall street journal, and a billion other big time papers, so i'm bound to be able to squeeze myself in somewhere. (don't worry. i'm kidding. i haven't taken down their contact info yet.)

i passed the beginning of the summer at home in buffalo, spending some quality time with kyrill (my russian brother adopted last summer) and my sister julie. went on a quick trip to the lake of the ozarks in missouri with my dad before heading to new hampshire for my cousin's wedding--the first of the season before my older sister megan's marriage at the end of july and my step-sister erica's this fall. it's a deep-rooted family tradition to start off the wedding weekend with a square dance at the rehearsal dinner. and yes, i said square dance. no cowboy boots or hats, but, you know, the virginia reel and do-si-dos a plenty. it's a good time for all.

what else? i have yet to see many redhotties in the city though kate, emma, annie, chris, and keiji all claim to be somewhere nearby (for all i know, they're lying). i did spend some time with deeds before she abandoned me for african safaris and such. i'm looking forward to seeing some redhotties this weekend maybe? we'll see.

love to all of you off continent-hopping--

brady

p.s. am i the only one still tempted to see love guru? i never wanted to before all i read all these awful reviews, but now i kind of want to see what all the hubbub is about. someone please save me from myself.