Two weeks left

Happy belated Thanksgiving to everybody. Hope everyone had their great sufficiency and didn't go to far into a tryptophan overdose. Thanksgiving day did not mean turkey and family here in Tanzania, instead it meant final tests in Swahili. I have this feeling that I got bulldozed by the test. I am not saying that I failed, but merely that I was quasi-defeated. Languages aren't exactly my strong point and that was accentuated on T-day. Oh well, such is life.

Tim became sick Thursday night with what appeared to be a nice heavy-duty case of the flu. The next morning I woke up not feeling the greatest myself. I am not sure if I was actually sick or merely feeling ill in sympathy. So Tim and I got to spend the day in bed while Sara and Steve went to a village with Luka and PH. I was able to catch up on the news and send out a few emails. It felt good to read about global events all day.

Speaking about global events, the events in Mumbai have been a humbling reminder to those of us abroad to keep a low profile, but yet to not live in fear. Before deciding to come to Africa I was seriously considering studying abroad in India, which has made me think about how different I would feel if I was there instead of here.

My mind has been shifted lately from being here to preparing myself for going back home. Even though there is still two weeks left here, that is not much time. I have gone through two week periods six times now. Wow, I have been here twelve weeks...it just kinda sunk in how long I have been here. I have begun to really think about things I want to change in my life or at least try to incorporate into my life when I get home. It is completely a mental game, and my thoughts are more than likely ambitious, but I am thinking none the less. I won't be able to know what is feasible and realistic until I get home, but I know that things must change when I get home. I owe it to myself to change, since I have discovered so much about myself here. I am going to go out on a cliched limb and say that Africa has changed me, through the hospitality of the people that I have met and the solitude that places like Tanzania can give. Through deep times of reflection, I have been able to listen. To listen to the voice that has been trying to speak to me for quite a while now, telling me that these times they are a changin'.

I am preparing myself for re-entry just as I tried to prepare myself for the initial culture shock of coming here... Therefore that means I have no idea what to expect when I get home, except that I will be rather cold getting off the plane.

We head to Zanzibar on Monday for the week. It is going to be a nice vacation, a nice time to really feel like a tourist again... not that we aren't tourists now, but we will definitely feel it in Zanzibar. Yay for snorkeling and spice tours and mass consumerism... I am looking forward to it.

Peace,
Peter