Home Sweet Home

After 3 beautiful, intense months in Tanzania I am finally home! I landed in DC after my 15 hour flight from Qatar and I was relieved to finish that flight - longest one I've been on, so far. It took 2 hours to get off the plane, get through customs, and get my darn painting from baggage claim before I was able to give my mom a BIG HUGE HUG!

We drove to North Carolina that night so I wasn't in DC more than that. I did okay staying awake until the last 30 minutes of the car ride - at that point I think I was half asleep and my mom said I wasn't really speaking coherently. We got back to my little apartment in Durham and I crashed!

My first meal of choice was Shiki Sushi Saturday night with one of my closest lifelong friends Erica, and my mom of course! I forgot how much I LOVE sushi! That was really enjoyable! The next day we drove back to Florida and I got to see my Dad and Grandma!!!

To my surprise, Wednesday my little sister flew down from New York to surprise me. My dad claimed to get a phone call from my car insurance company and was all kinds of mad so I was supposed to go out to my car and get my registration... and out jumped my sister! I was shocked and my whole family was in on it - including my dad, the actor of the moment!

Thursday and Friday my mom, Jenni and I went to Treasure Island which is pretty close to St. Petersberg/Tampa. It was beautiful and relaxing. I am really enjoying spending time with my friends and family - Ashley came into town so I saw her, and Jessica and I had a 3 hour dinner date to catch up on everything!!! Tonight Courtney is coming to town to see me, and she'll be also saying hi to my family. I'm writing a "final" blog post with some thoughts on my overall experience - that will be up later this week.

Overnight in Qatar

I owe a big thank you to my parents for my awesome experience in Qatar! So for all you travelers out there, sometimes you get crappy luck with layovers – and I managed a 15 hour layover in Qatar (overnight, no less) on my return flight. Originally I was supposed to fly from Johannesburg but as that was cancelled due to my being sick, I ended up with a somewhat random flight out of Dar es Salaam. My parents got me a hotel room in Qatar – and at a 5 star Marriott, no less!

Arriving in Doha, Qatar was much like arriving save one detail: we arrived in the middle of a sandstorm! Qatar borders Oman and Saudi Arabia so you can imagine it is smack dab in the middle of the desert! The sandstorm didn’t bother me in the since that there was sand all about, it looked more like a permanent tan haze. I got off the plane and headed through immigration – but I had to buy an impromptu Visa! The bad news is I had to drop 30 bucks just to leave the airport, the silver lining was that I got a Qatar Visa stamp in my passport – both arriving and departing!

Leaving the airport was strange. It is one thing to read about things like burkas and turbans, even to see the occasional one in the United States. As I walked out of baggage claim and into the lobby in a fairly crowded room I felt all eyes stare at me. I stuck out like a sore thumb no doubt – jeans, faded tee shirt, and my WFP feed the world bag – and I was the only Westerner in sight. Seeing the women was conflicting – all I could see were pairs of eyes staring back at me through a slit in the top of the burka. Were they sad? Confused? Angry at my imposition? I don’t know – most just stared back blankly. The men I couldn’t read either, they didn’t laugh or point or appear angry, but they stared just the same. I felt more like a foreigner in that moment than I ever felt in Tanzania, but I also wasn’t prepared to acclimate!

Marriott arranged for me to get to the hotel via a taxi. The drive was short but I still got out of the airport and got to see Doha. It’s somewhat cosmopolitan, surprisingly. I felt tired and the haze made me feel like am I even seeing this clearly? Figures disappeared beneath clouds of sand thanks to the sandstorm. Buildings lit up, signs posted in both Arabic and English. Bright lights and shiny windows.

The hotel was lovely – one of the nicest I’ve ever been in. It was amazing to take a hot long shower with water pressure after 3 months of cold drip-drop showers! I enjoyed some Italian thanks to room service and free high speed internet too! I felt something like a princess strolling around my hotel room in a spa robe (provided by the hotel). It was a total treat – I never travel this way – and truthfully I think coincidence complemented me, as my parents only trust the Marriott hotels! Thanks Doha, for having a 5-star one!

Picture: the view from my balcony – no it’s not blurry, it’s the sand in the air!

Goodbye Bagamoyo!

My last day (rather, morning) in Bagamoyo was really nice. I went to the house with the triplets with Charles and other UKUN volunteers for about an hour. We just played and I cuddled with Kennedy – the triplet that has warmed up to me the most! They are all just adorable though. Saying goodbye is never easy for me – I teared up saying goodbye to the staff.

Really one of the most amazing things about the program was the staff. I know so many of the volunteers felt that way. They really are a family and you become part of that family when you are there. Especially staying for 12 weeks I really got to know them and spend time with them. Some days if I had my afternoons free I’d hang out with the kitchen staff – Chiku, Robert, and Edda and help cook (I was the resident chapatti expert haha). Every day Edna and Paulina, the housekeepers, are so cheery and sweet they make you smile. And Mama C is just everyone’s second mom over here, she is so calm and relaxed despite how stressed she must get managing the houses and all the volunteers! Didase is so silly and always makes you laugh with his unique perspective on everything. And Mama Thea is an inspiration – her story of focusing on education and working her way up and now the work she is doing to bring volunteers into the community, she is a great leader by example.

It wasn’t easy to say goodbye. I already miss them and my life there – waking up and biking to school, teaching, running errands, having lunch, spending my afternoons making home visits to HIV/AIDS patients, dinner then a drink with friends. It was wonderful – and I have a renewed conviction in what I want to do in life to work directly with and for people who seem to have so little but are truthfully some of the happiest people in the world.

Picture: Me and Elias, one of our drivers, saying goodbye before I left!

Farewell Party

I had a great last night in Bagamoyo! I had a farewell party at Hillside, the bar close to CCS. I was so surprised when the entire staff of the Anglican Daycare came! Julius, Agnes, Upenda, and Babu (the cook) surprised me with another beautiful gift – a shawl, to be draped around my shoulders. It’s gorgeous!

I was in the company of great friends I made over the trip – Eva, Matiga, Rasti, Kristina, Carlee, Adam, Dane, Kelly, Devon and Anna – but I was definitely missing a few people. Especially the other half of the fab four – Nick and John – as well as the rest of the original crew. Still we enjoyed an extended curfew and traditional African hip-hop music (hello baybeee)!

I feel like I got most of my tears out in the morning which was good, I was really able to enjoy my farewell party. Everyone asked what I’ll miss the most and it’s no contest – my kids. Each and every one of my 36 kids. I hope they remember me and how much I love them!

Picture: Agnes and Upenda surprising me with the shawl