FEB 13 2005

Short update since it has been a couple months since I emailed. I’ve been real busy and just want to say hi. I hope all if well with you and that you have fun plans for Valentines Day. Nothing too incredibly insightful in this email, just some news and notes from abroad.

1. Eagles v Patriots & Dogs v Monkeys
2. Feb 12 Festivus
3. Apartment in Logan Circle
4. Feedback on Latin American Countries

EAGLES v PATRIOTS & DOGS v MONKEYS
I know the hype back in the states was over the Super Bowl, but it is not quite the same in India. A small number of die-hard football fans woke up early on Monday morning and watched the game at the Marine House and lamented that cricket commercials were not as interesting as the beer commercials in the states. In variably, we found ourselves talking about different types of matches.

For example, the other day when I was coming out of the office (this is a true story), and I saw four monkey and four dogs in a fight. Now, who do you think would win between four monkey and four dogs? Well, until I saw it with my own eyes, I would have assumed the monkeys would have won (we are related to monkeys, you know). But indeed, these four street dogs had the four monkeys on the run. It was quite a bizarre sight. These are things that I had never thought about until I moved to India.

FEBRUARY 12 FESTIVUS
As many of you noted with phone calls and emails, February 12th was my birthday. I rang in my last year of being twenty-something with a morning game of football against the marines and an afternoon match of tennis (it is very nice weather here right now) and then that night we went to a wine tasting hosted by the Ambassador of Chile followed by a dinner of non-Indian food. I’m a big believer of celebrating birthdays, and we had a fun day, but as with most holidays here in India, I missed being with my friends from home!

APARTMENT IN LOGAN CIRCLE
Courtney and I could use your help filling our apartment in Logan Circle. If you know someone who is looking to move into a great apartment in the city, please let me know. Details as follows:

Logan/East Dupont: 1 Bedroom Apt in newly renovated 6-unit building 1 block from Whole Foods, Studio Theater and tons of restaurants and bars. Building located on quiet street by 14th/P Sts & Logan Circle a short walk to Dupont and U Street Metros. Building shares large deck and washer/dryer. Apt has modern European appliances, dishwasher, large windows, walk-in closet and hardwood floors. Available in March or April, very reasonably priced. One small pet acceptable. Email Scott at scott@scottbeale.com for more information. Open House scheduled for Feb 19 from 2-4.

FEEDBACK ON LATIN AMERICAN COUNTRIES
So, even though we have not been in India very long, soon we need to bid on what country we are going to next. I am hoping to use the collective knowledge of this list to help us decide where to go next. Below is our list of the top sixteen places we are considering going, mostly in Latin America. Please take a look at this list and let me know what you think, specifically things like: (a) this is country is great or horrible because of x, y or z; (b) I know people in these countries that you could contact, (c) this is something that you may not have known of, but … Any detailed feedback would be awesome as we try to decide what to do with our lives next! If you have time, please email back with a ranked list with rational. Remember, this may be where you are visiting us next!

This list is roughly in our order of preference. Things like position and start date, which we don’t get into here, also shape our preference.
1. Buenos Aires, Argentina
2. Valletta, Malta
3. Bogota, Columbia
4. Manama, Bahrain
5. Santo Domingo, Dominican Republic
6. Quito, Ecuadar
7. Tegucigalpa, Hondorus
8. Managua, Nicaragua
9. Asuncion, Paraguay
10. San Jose, Costa Rica
11. La Paz, Bolivia
12. Maseru, Lesotho
13. Lima, Peru
14. Santiago, Chile
15. Harare, Zimbabwe
16. San Salvador, El Salvador

Thanks! Please let me know how you are doing. I am way behind on emails right now, but like hearing from home. Remember, now is a great time to planning your trip to India!

Take care,

Scott