Almost a Month

I've been home for almost a month. It does not seem that long, and in some ways it feels like Tanzania was just a dream that I had. A very long, beautiful dream.

There are definitely good things about being home. I had a wonderful time over the holidays with my family, New Year's Eve was great, I got to visit Galena with Carissa, Sumner and I rocked out at my house for a day. It's nice not breaking a sweat in between the shower and your room. Hooded sweatshirts, jeans. All good things.

But on the other hand, I miss Tanzania. I miss my floor and the wonderful women that lived there. I actually miss the food, all earlier complaints aside. (Which is not to say that I don't enjoy some of the food here) I miss swahili, the smells, the ocean. I miss that going downtown was always an adventure. I miss hearing bongo flava on the daladalas. The University was beautiful, I miss that. I miss waking up and feeling the breeze in my face in my room.

I have a lot of stuff. A car full of stuff in fact, some of which I will use once this semester and that's it. What the heck?

This next part may sound weird. It is weird. Every once in a while, I'm still jolted by the abundance of white people. I live in communities where white is the majority, where people of color are firmly the minority. It's strange to not be stared at, to stand out in the crowd, to be noticed. It is odd to me that after only 5 months I adjusted to people noticing me, and here I blend.

I'm taking recording original music this jterm. I know that it seems like a waste of time because it doesn't apply at all to my degree and sounds like a slacker course. But its helpful for me I think. I have time to think about this past semester, to process and digest and try to incorporate everything I've learned, everything I'm still learning into my life.

My parents got me a great book for christmas, it's called the Fate of Africa and is a historical overview of the past 50 years in Africa. Basically it's an overview of the transition from colonial government to independence. It's been very informative so far.

I want to go back to Tanzania at some point in my life. I would love to work there, live there, if only for a year.

Some of the African women at Luther told me that any time I want to go back to East Africa, I just let them know and they will call their aunts and uncles and help set me up with places to stay, people to visit. So who knows, I keep in touch with them and I could visit East Africa on a shoestring, as long as I can get over there. In a few years maybe.

Anyways. I'm not sure if anyone will continue reading here, but I'll keep posting occasionally, either memories from Tanzania, frustrations, reverse culture shock, all that kind of stuff.