Things I'm Starting to Realize I'll Miss

1. The People!! I have a stand in for pretty much every member of my family here. The dad/uncle who does literally everything for us. The grandmother who visits regularly and tells us the same stories over and over. The older brother who is always looking out for us. Tons of sisters who share inside jokes as well as earrings. Many little cousins who always look for the candy they know I brought them and are too cute for words.
2. Sleeping outside during hot season. So the hot season part isn't that fun, but an African sky is pretty much beyond an adequate description, and a shooting star is a nightly occurrence.
3. Throwing water on the floor. I know this one sounds weird but I've gotten used to throwing water on the floor while I'm inside. If something is in my cup or the last bit of water has gotten too hot to drink, we just dump the rest of the floor. It doesn't matter because everything will be dry in less than 2 minutes anyways.
4. Reading...a lot!! I've read more books in the past couple years than I can even remember. I know this is possible back in the states too, but I'm pretty sure the distractions that come with living there will keep me from reading like I do here.
5. Speaking Arabic. As much as I complain about it (and believe me....I complain a lot), it makes me feel cool to speak another language, and it feels really good when people tell you you're improving...that doesn't happen a lot, but when it does...fireworks.
6. Getting really excited over fruits and veggies. Seriously...it's a great day when I can eat a fresh salad, or we find mangos in the market.
I hope not, but I kinda think the joy will fade when I get around Moe's and Coldstone.
7. Having "Is this Really my Life" moments. Crazy things happen here almost daily. There are times when I think...am I really here living in Africa....and did I just help my guard kill a chicken...or did I really just see someone carrying their goat on a motorcycle?? This list can go on and on but you get the idea.
8. Being forced to continually evaluate the Reason I'm here. In an uncomfortable and frustrating place, you have to always keep in mind why you haven't bought a ticket home yet. It drives you to stand firm in the Truth though which is really cool.
9. Free movie rentals. The community here is like a blockbuster without the membership cards, deadlines, or the candy at checkout (the last one is pretty unfortunate)
10. Working with what you have. There have been so many times where I don't have what I need, but I have to figure out how to make it work without Target a few minutes away. It forces you to be really creative.

Just Another Day

This past week some of our teammates and friends were in town to pack up their house and move on to their next adventure. They left today which means we all went out to the airport (paved air strip) to see them off. This involves several trips back and forth to take people and stuff to the plane because we only have a couple of cars. My roommates and I hung out under the shadow of the plane's wing while everything got loaded.
The goodbyes were sad...no getting around that. After everyone was loaded on the plane I had to drive one of the cars back. This doesn't sound like a very big deal, but it's manual and I get a little stressed about it because I don't do it that often. Me and the roomies piled in the Land Cruiser and moved off the pavement so the plane could make it to the runway. I stalled out once during this process but made it safely to my spot to watch them take off.
We watched the plane go to one end of the air strip, turn around and go to the other end, and then turn around again and stop. This was really abnormal and we were trying to figure out what was going on. The plane was a pretty good distance away, but we see the pilot waving us on to the runway. Great....why in the world does he want me on the runway?
Well I pulled onto the pavement (after a local man jumped into our car too because he wanted to see what was going on) and in front of the plane and then I saw why. On the far end of the runway were 2 donkeys hanging out. I do my best to not grind the gears while I'm heading to the donkeys. As we were closer, the local guy instructs me to go behind them to get them to move. Thankfully the donkeys got the message and moved pretty quickly without much maneuvering on my part. I pulled off the runway with the donkeys. By this time the other car caught on as to what was happening and took over chasing the donkeys well into the bush. As the plane was taking off right behind us, and I was watching this car enthusiastically chase two donkeys through bushes and trees I had to laugh. This was just another day in the desert.