Time marches on...

With Winston and Ruvimbo

Erin and David's beautiful baby girl, Christina James Bratsky was born on April 7!!! Her mother says she is the best baby ever. I would expect nothing less. I am hoping to be able to meet CJ in August.

March was a great month! I went to visit Ronald in Botswana for spring break and meet some of his family and friends. I met his aunts (who are his mothers in his cultural tradition) Lily and Pamela, and his cousins Winston and Ruvimbo. The last night I was there Aunt Lily made a wonderful traditional dinner and I got a cooking lesson. One week was not enough, but it was so nice to see Ronald, be back in Gaborone, and have a bit of a break.

As soon as I returned to Philadelphia, I submitted our fiance visa application! It has now been a month, so hopefully things will get resolved in the next five or six months. We will have a small civil ceremony when he gets here, then our wedding will be in Bozeman on August 14, 2010! That is two weeks after the bar exam, so it will be a busy summer.

I've been busy with events and class since the break. We held the third annual Penn Law Idol and raised $200 to benefit the Black Law Student Association (BLSA)'s spring break service trip to South Africa and People Against Suffering, Suppression, Oppression, and Poverty (PASSOP) a South African non-profit that helps refugees from Zimbabwe in South Africa. We picked new board members for IHRA and EJF for next year, and I've been working with my fellow Symposium Editor on possible topics for next year's Journal of International Law Symposium.

I've been sick for the last three weeks, starting with a sore throat, headaches, bodyaches, fever, and congestion. Then I developed pink eye and a nagging cough. I feel mostly well, but I am still coughing and my throat is still sore, so I am going back to the doctor again today, just in case. Today is the last day of class; finals are looming. I can't believe I am almost done with my second year of law school--crazy!

Mom is coming to visit after finals and we are going to go to New York to look for fabric for my wedding dress! We are going to Mood, the store they shop at on Project Runway! Then I am off to Seattle for the summer. I am looking forward to being back in the Pacific Northwest.

Sorry for the silence

Wow, it's been a while since I've posted! Sorry about that. Here is what has been happening since the last post:

December: Ronald was told by immigration in Botswana that the committee that decides on work visas would not be meeting again until the new year and everyone who had a pending application would have to wait outside the country. This meant he was being sent back to Zimbabwe for an undetermined time. Because of the cholera outbreak and dire financial situation in Zimbabwe, he decided it was too dangerous for me to visit him there. So, my trip was canceled and I spent Christmas in Bozeman, instead. It was nice to be home, but I was very worried about Ronald. Thankfully, he was back in Botswana after a few days, safe and sound.

January: Back in Philadelphia, back at school. I am taking Antitrust, Refugee Law, and Conflicts of Law. These have all been great classes so far. The first draft of my comment on human rights and the power sharing agreement in Zimbabwe was due, so I did a lot of research into the history and current conditions in my future home country as Ronald used to call it.

February: I was chosen to be one of two Symposium Editors for the Journal of International Law for next year. I performed in the Vagina Monologues and we raised over $1,000 for an organization that helps victims of domestic violence in Philadelphia. The annual Equal Justice Foundation auction was a great success, raising money to support students doing unpaid public interest work over the summer. We also hosted "the father of human rights study in China" for a wonderful talk on criminal justice. I finished out the month with a visit to York County Prison to interview a detainee who is seeking asylum for my Refugee Law class.

My time is up for now, I promise to write about March soon.