Today is my last Tuesday in Ethiopia. Yesterday was my last Monday. The day before was kind of my last Sunday...although my flight leaves at like 1:00am this Sunday, so I guess I still have one hour of Sunday in Ethiopia. Anyways, it's the last week. I can't even believe it. There have definitely been times during the past twelve weeks that I've thought, "I have how many weeks left until America?!" For instance, when I was up sick all night. Or when massive amounts of flies were trying to eat me. Or when I had gone an unbelievable amount of time without showering. At those moments, I felt like this trip might last forever. Now that we are down to the very last days, I can't believe how fast it has all gone. I feel like I just got here! And yet, I also feel so at home here in a lot of ways. While this last week is going to be a week full of relaxation, fun, and seeing friends, I think it's also going to end up being a really hard week.
Like I said, I feel really at home here in certain ways. Don't get me wrong, I am so incredibly excited to return to my actual home and use my own shower and sleep in my own bed and all that. I have literally had dreams about using running water in my bathroom at home. I'm not kidding - I dreamt about flushing my toilet at home. That was the entire dream...me flushing the toilet. And I was so happy. Really? So believe me, I'm looking forward to that. And when I say I feel at home here, I don't mean that I feel like I could live here forever (don't worry, Mom!). I just mean that I've gotten very comfortable here. I've met so many amazing people, and Kendra and I have really made this guest house ours...perhaps this annoys the new guests a bit, but you know what? We've been here three months...we have seniority. We've even been given our very own gate key, which totally throws Desta off. Every time we open the gate ourselves, he looks totally confused. I'm assuming he misses us standing outside knocking an absurd amount and yelling, "Desta, na!!! Desta, kafet!!" I mean, that's not obnoxious at all. How could he not miss it? So back to the point, we have our own key. No other guests have a key...it's legit. It's been our home for the past three months and it's going to be hard to say goodbye (well, Kendra's been counting down the days since like week five, so it might not be so hard for her...).
Last Friday was our last official day at the day care, and we took about a million pictures of the kids. We still see them on the streets though, and we're going to stop by this week because I have to get Kim's souvenir. Yeah Kim, your souvenir is coming from the day care. I hope you like it, cause I love it. In fact, I bought myself the same souvenir. So get pumped. So it hasn't really been goodbye to them, yet. Even when we do say our final goodbye to them, I don't think it will be as difficult as it will be to say goodbye to the school kids. I know I've told you before in my blog, but I have just gotten so close to some of the kids at the after school program. I've been with them every afternoon for weeks and weeks, and I'm going to miss them so very much. Before coming to Africa, I was the director of an after school program in Northbrook, Illinois. I can't tell you how different it has been to help at the after school program here. If you know anything about Northbrook and Africa, you can probably figure out that the two are very different. I really liked the kids I worked with in Northbrook, and I was definitely a little bummed to say goodbye to them. I do miss some of them, and I'm excited to stop by when I get back home...even if none of them have missed me ;) But being here has been a completely different experience. The kids I've gotten to work with out here are incredible, amazing, wonderful kids. I'm not saying the kids at home aren't (I hope I don't sound like a total jerk), but it's a whole different life the kids are here are living. It's a different kind of community, and you build a different kind of relationship working with kids who are literally living on the streets. They are so thankful for everything, and just have a different perspective on life than a lot of kids I know in America. Here's a conversation I had yesterday with one of the boys I've gotten really close to here (the "brother" I've told you about, Solomon):
Solomon: Friday, you go to America?
Me: No, Saturday I leave.
Solomon: Ok, so, Friday you come to our football game? (On Friday afternoons, our group plays soccer)
Me: Yes, we'll be there!
Solomon: Then you go to America, then you come back to Ethiopia?
Me: Yes, someday I will come back to Ethiopia (news flash everyone at home - I'm coming back here someday).
Solomon: Ok. When you come back from America, will you bring me a ball?
Me: A ball?
Solomon: Yes.
Me: You want a ball?
Solomon: Yes, when you come back from America someday.
Me: Ok, I'll get you a ball.
Solomon: Oh, thank you! (He then proceeded to yell across the room to his best friend about how excited he was that some day I was going to bring them a ball from America).
Alright, so, he doesn't even know when I'm coming back or what kind of ball I would get him or anything. He doesn't care. But he was beyond excited just about the fact that I was going to give him a ball, one day. Well, Kendra and I went out and bought them each a soccer ball today. They cost about $20 each, and I think it was a $20 very well spent. Part of me feels incredibly bad that I went out and bought a gift for one boy when there are 70+ other kids that we work with. Obviously I'm not going to walk into the school and be like, "Hey Solomon! I have a present for you!" in front of all the other kids. But still, I feel bad that I got something for him and not for everyone else. But honestly I just can't afford to do that for every kid. We are going to have a little celebration on Thursday with all the kids, and we're going to bring them all a little something that day. But yes, I spent more on this boy. While it makes me feel a little bad, I also feel like making one kid super happy is better than making zero kids super happy, right? Or I'm just telling myself that so that I don't feel guilty, I don't know. Either way I'm giving the kid the soccer ball, so too bad.
I feel like I've gotten super off topic here. Sorry. I sometimes just write like whatever pops into my brain when I do this blog. I might have writing ADD or something, because I think I'm often quite random. Like right now I don't even really remember what my goal was for this post...I'm just sitting here, listening to some Augustana and type-type-typing away about giving Solomon a soccer ball without really thinking about anything. No organization. So I apologize for the rambling and all......I think I apologize for that a lot. Therefore my point is made. Moving on...
As I was trying to say (I think), I'm really going to miss these school kids. After hanging out and working with them every afternoon, and even walking home with them every day, I just feel like I've gotten really close to them. The biggest bummer is that it's not like we can just say to the older kids, "oh, we'll keep in touch! No problem!" because they don't have street addresses, let alone an email or something. As a result, I think Friday is going to be a bit rough. I'm not looking forward to saying goodbye to all those kids, and I expect the first tears may come Friday night. Saturday won't be any better, I don't think. We've been telling everyone we know that they need to come over to our house any time on Saturday so that we can say goodbye to them before we leave for the airport. It's an all-day party. If anyone doesn't show up, I'll be totally bummed. A lot of these people I've seen nearly every day for the past three months, and I'm just going to miss them a lot!
To end the rambling, Friday and Saturday are going to be a bit sad I think. And I just can't believe that this Sunday, I'll be back in America. Time has absolutely flown by, and I know these last few days will as well. I'm looking forward to the rest of this week, though. Hopefully it'll be a fun ending to an amazing trip! And just think - whoever still reads this - you'll only have to read a couple more posts! ;)
Looking forward to the lasts posts.
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