Where in the World are the Marpins?

View Where in the World are the Marpins in a larger map

John and I are both traveling this week, so posting may be a bit light. John is in Malakal, where mud goes to retire, and Stephanie is going to Yei, known as “Little London” due to its well-stocked market, full of goods from the DRC and Uganda. Since you probably have no idea where those places are, I made a handy little Google map, made somewhat less handy by the fact that Google has yet to draw South Sudan as a separate country. Seriously Google, when you’re slower than the UN, you might want to rethink your operating model.

But isn’t the map cute? John is the blue pin and I’m the pink one. Adorable.

Before I sign off for the week, one quick traveling story. As you all know, John is a committed Texan. What you may not know if you have not had the pleasure of traveling with him is that he thinks all beautiful places “look like Central Texas.” From the United States to Central America to Africa to Southeast Asia to Europe, whenever John sees a pretty landscape he will take a deep breath, turn to me and say, “This looks just like Central Texas!” I think it’s the highest compliment he can think of.

Of course, as a non-Texan, I have to tease him about this mercilessly. It’s my job to keep that Texan ego in check and really, not every place looks like Texas. Nor would want to, I might add. So you can imagine his reaction when we were in Greece last month, looking out over a verdant valley with a little Roman aqueduct snaking its way through the low hills with the blue-green Mediterranean in the distance and an American we were traveling with called over, “Hey John, doesn’t this remind you of Texas!?!” With a smirk in my direction, he replied, "Yup. Just like Central Texas."

So yesterday I had to laugh when I got a text message from John that read, “malakal is small… not at all like central tx.”

I’m sure we’ll have plenty more to say about Malakal and Yei next week!

-Stephanie