The car ride from Cape Coast to Accra was by far the worst part. Well over three hot, dusty hours of tooth-jarring bumps and insane traffic of the third world variety. Once you get there, however, things get better. If waiting in the airport isn't your thing, you can get one last taste of Ghana at the swanky restaurants located on the edge of the airport parking lot (including an immaculate, air conditioned Chinese restaurant (very surreal) and a pleasant outdoor cafe). But inside the airport, in the departures area (the arrivals area was a different story), you find yourself in an immaculate relic of Ghana's old affluence. That is, the airport is clean, modern, ambitious, and deserted. Helpful signs pointing to the "Internet Cafe" and "Shopping" lead to blank, cavernous halls. The airport has been condensed into one area on the second level, where you'll find a small cafe proffering cold drinks and bagged snacks, a stately duty-free shop full of high-end Ghanaian trinkets, and a surprisingly posh seating area complete with two (count 'em! two!) wide-screen TV's. There's not much to do once you're there, but there's a lot of room to walk around. It's sad to see so much space gone to waste--one can only imagine what the airport was like when it was first built. The staff seem to be really happy to work in the airport, and like anyone Ghanaian they're friendly. They'll cheerfully call you "obruni" right up until you're packed into the plane. Oh, and the bathrooms, like the rest of the airport, are deserted and clean.

How long will you have the postdoctorate position? If it's only a few years, I'd try to make the relationship work out long-distance. Speaking as someone who a) lives in the general vicinity of Toronto who is b) dating a man who lives in the Pacific Northwest and who c) has been dating this man long-distance for well over a year, I think it could work. It's difficult, but it's not impossible.

Also: I just accepted a spot at an amazing grad program (my dream school, really) & I'm staring down two more years of maintaining this long-distance relationship. But it will be worth it--my degree will be more competitive than the one I could have gotten if I'd opted to live closer to my sweetie (yes, I was accepted to a school only an hour away from where he lives), thereby making my job search easier (insert cynical laugh) when the time comes for me to move out West. Did I mention that my boyfriend lives in Canada? How the hell am I going to move to Canada?! Like I said, it's all very difficult. But it can be worth it.

You should take the postdoc if it's temporary & if it's the best career decision you can make right now. As an academic couple, you're going to have to get used to living apart sometimes. Relationships do survive. You both have to want it, though.

Now we're cooking with gas! This is the Cary Tennis I know and love! Atta boy, Cary!

Or your television, or your CDs, or your books. These "friends" of yours are jerks, LW, and they'll take you for everything you've got if you let them. Protect yourself from further harm. Make an inventory of the things you own & keep an eye on your valuables. Maybe you should insure your stuff? All I'm saying is, make a paper trail. Because these jerks mean business. And soon there will be three of them.

And don't give up your apartment. Not if your name is on the lease. I know there's a lot of sticky legal stuff that could happen (maybe, possibly), but really. Come on. Talk with a lawyer, maybe talk with your landlord, and by all means don't tell your jerk friends what's going on. Stick up for yourself, LW. You can do it.

So I guess I really *can* live out my dreams of being Rudyard Kipling!

Journalism gig in India, here I come...

...is matched only by her mind-bogglingly uninteresting critique of Levine's article.