Makes it sound like we're partying, yeah?
Hah!
No, we're caught up in the bureaucratic maelstrom that is our close of service There are people to see, accounts to close, interviews to do, medicines to take and, lest we forget, paperwork to fill out. A number of satirists over the years have written incisive mockeries of large bureaucracies, and for the first time I have a very visceral understanding of what they're getting at. Deeply visceral; I'm on meds for amoebas, which aren't nearly as much fun as the meds for malaria, but there ya go. We're set to leave Africa this week, as long as we can weather the storm of departure prep.
I will miss some parts of Togo. I will greatly miss some of the people I've met here (I include my friend in gorgeous Cape Verde, even though I'm fah fah away from them parts:). I will miss the freedom of being able to set my own schedule and choose whom I want to work with. I will miss the inherent romanticism of being a volunteer in a country and culture so radically different from my own. I'll miss getting awesome care packages from my mother and being thrilled with things like cheese in a can (It's CHEESE! Who cares how it gets to you?).
I will not miss many, many other things, most of which I've complained about before and won't bore you with now. Just know that the city I'm going to be living in in America is, in its entirety, a wireless internet zone. I will never be without internet. Never. NEVER!!! Mwahahahaha!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
Slightly crazy here. Sorry. I anticipate my productivity will go up once I've gotten over the mental explosion I'm going to have when I get home, which shouldn't be more than a week. Thanks to everyone who read and commented, or just read and enjoyed, my blog over the last year. I hope to become a better communicator, a more interesting presenter and a supplier of all sorts of literary deliciousness.
So long, Togo. It's been more challenging and amazing than I ever would have guessed. May you prosper and thrive.
The Bush Taxi Experience (the cages are filled with live poultry)
Dance Party In Village
Hey, Nature!
Are you winging your way back to the states yet? If not, hope you have safe and happy travels! If you are already back, I hope your jet-lag is not severe. How cool that your city has free WiFi! When I was in college my campus had that and it was always nice to know that where ever I went, indoors or outside, all I had to do was open my laptop and BOOM...internet! Then I graduated, got married, moved to the 'burbs, and now I have to pay for my internet again :-( *sigh*
ReplyDeleteWhat's the first thing you will do once you are back home? Personally, I'd find the nearest ice cream shop and stuff my face. But that's only a suggestion ;-)