Without a Traceroute

So today has the potential to be the best day ever. I rode a camel, I made a useful contact for my project, I met some kids from the international students’ organization here who invited me to come to some of their events, and I just got an email from the Watson Foundation that they’re granting an additional $3,000 in response to the plummeting value of the US dollar.

I’ll post more details later, but right now I have to go eat pancakes with a Dutch guy and an American girl who’s working here as an au pair.
In the meantime, here is me on a camel:

All we did was go in a circle

I think the Olympics are a really cool thing. Notwithstanding China’s miserable human rights record, athlete-choking smog, and digitally-manipulated opening ceremony, it’s nice that there’s a peaceful event the entire world can share in.

I’ve heard from multiple Dutch people about the 2-2 tie in the USA-Netherlands soccer game, which was apparently almost an embarrassing loss for the Dutch until a last minute goal. I also heard a lot about the Dutch gold in 4×100 swimming, beating out the US and Australia who were considered favorites in the event.

Last night, on Belgian TV (the Belgian stations apparently have better Olympics coverage than the Dutch ones), we watched Angola’s lopsided defeat in basketball by the USA ‘Redeem Team’. I’m not usually that into sports, but it’s great that almost every nation participates in the Olympics and people from all over the world can follow their team.