Sadia

And since I'm posting pictures of friends, I'd be remiss to not include a picture of my friend Sadia Mahmoud.  She came to Champlain a year ago as our latest Fulbright Scholar and (the poor thing) was given the unenviable task of being office mates with Patricia and me.  It's hard to believe that her time is up and she'll be returning to Pakistan.  Some of my favorite Sadia memories: discussing the merits of Indian chai at Dobra Tea, shopping for mops, changing light bulbs for her (I'm much like the Bumble from Rudolph the Red-Nosed Reindeer on that front) and walking her threw the basics of who to call when the heat stopped working in her campus housing on the coldest day of the year.  Much more importantly, however, I'll remember her intelligence (great discussions about Islamic mysticism), her sense of humor, and her kindness.  She's been trying to talk me into spending a year teaching in Pakistan, and, well, nothing is impossible.

One of Sadia's biggest challenges was adjusting to the bitter cold of Vermont, which she did admirably.  She assures me that Pakistanis are tellers of tall tales, so they'll just assume that she's wildly exaggerating the cold.