It's hard being landlocked again

It's been a rather long time since I've posted...but at least I have a good excuse. I spent the last three weeks in the United States (on shore leave, as it were) for a bit of work and a bit of vacation. One of the granting agencies that is funding my research--the Institute for Money, Technology and Financial Inclusion--had their first annual conference, with the 17 research teams funded by IMTFI as special invited presenters. So, courtesy of the deep pockets of the Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation (the funders of my funder, as it were), IMTFI flew in over 20 researchers from all over the world: Russia, Sri Lanka, Brazil, Cuba, Mexico, Kenya, Indonesia, Botswana, India, and Paraguay [me!]. Which meant a free ride home (yes!)...and a week of intense conference activity from Nov. 4-7 at University of California Irvine. But after an exhausting week of academic debate about poverty alleviation and new financial technologies, on Friday the 7th I hopped on a Southwest commuter flight and arrived home (yyyyaaaayyy!!!!!) in Davis, California. For the first time in recent memory, I didn't contract any terrible diseases in transit and made it back ready for a real vacation. Finally made it to Sunday dinner with the family, caught up with my old college friends as well as some University of Chicago friends that have re-located to Santa Cruz, and got some good mom and sister time in Davis. Tim flew out to Cali on Tuesday (the 10th, maybe?) and we (Time, mom, Kristen and me) packed up the five corgis in the two station wagons and headed out to the northern California coast for a long weekend at Dillon Beach. I spent the weekend playing around with my new digital SLR camera (courtesy of another research funding agency for fieldwork photos...but I figured no harm in testing it out before getting back!)...and have put up a few photos in a web album: (see below)

After a delightful weekend of walking on the beach, sitting by the fire, and relaxing in the hot tub, Tim and I put away the swim trunks and bikini (respectively), and packed our bags to head out to Chicago. I figured that while I was back in the USA I might as well take the opportunity to present a working paper at one of the research workshops at University of Chicago. So vacation was briefly interrupted...and my work was on the chopping-block at the workshop for Law, Culture and Society. At least it was a fun paper--on "irregular" used cars in Paraguay. And it was great to get feedback partway through the research. The rest of the week was occupied by a wonderful trip to the Chicago Symphony Orchestra (the Mozart piano concerto was heavenly!), several trips to brewpubs to get my fill of craft beers, some time communing with my favorite coffee spots in Edgewater. A whirlwind trip to Lockport to visit Tim's family, dinner and brewing with Peter and the anthropologists...and suddenly it was time to get back on the dreadful 23hr plane flight with 4 connections and two airlines, to arrive home in Ciudad del Este. Tired...happy...and glad to see my cat.