Dinner in Georgetown

I dragged my new friend Eric all the way to Georgetown to hangout with one of my old friends, Brent. Eric is here with me at nerd camp in DC. He's an MD-PhD from Tufts who will soon depart for Bangladesh to study cholera for a year. Despite what you might think, he is not quite the geeky scientist you would expect. However, his toes are green and he kind of looks like an ewok. Brent is an old friend from college who I spent a year working and living with in South Africa, Tanzania, and Guatemala. Brent decided medical school wasnt hard enough, so he is now cramming in a law degree much the same way Eric is cramming in a PhD on Vibrio cholerae. Brent brough also brought along a friend from UVA law school.

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Here is a flashback dialogue that best describes the year spent with Brent:
Picture the two of us in our very plain missionary house in Mvumi, Tanzania. We are two of 6 people who speak English in a village of 10,000. We are eating rice and beans for the 83rd straight meal together. I have heard all of Brent's stories at this point, and he has heard all of mine.

Me: Good rice, huh?
Brent: Yeah, less rocks than usual.
Me: So, what story should I re-tell you?
Brent: How about the one where you fell of a roof in New York and almost died.
Me: Again? Ok, so I was wasted one evening in Manhattan when we got locked out of Ben's house...
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This time, there was a lot more to talk about. Brent had been back to our clinic in Guatemala several times (www.proyectosaludintegral.org) and I was headed back to the same city we first worked in over 4 years prior. But more than anything, I felt very humbled to be sitting at a table with a law student, an MD-PhD, and a wierd medical-law student hybrid. We had a great conversation that ranged from the war in Iraq to vigilante groups in Guatemala to crazy ex-girlfriends. I couldnt help but wonder what each of them would be doing in 10 years. Now that I mention it, I wouldnt mind knowing what I will be doing in 10 years either.