What now?

Sooo after about 2 weeks hanging out with my parents (as AWESOME as its been) I am going to leave this upcoming week for...Nebraska!! Ok. Not as exciting as Kenya, but I am actually super psyched to go back to the 10,000 year old bison bone kill site of Hudson-Meng - located near Crawford, NE! It was the archaeological site I went to last summer, and I want to go back for like a month or so and just camp and dig and hike and have an awesome time. Sweet!

After that? Definitely moving BACK in with the parents...which is going to be all right. Need to get a job and make some money, plan to spend a couple months in Europe with Nadya (the sister) who will be moving to Florence at the end of August and with the way the dollar is going that will be EXPENSIVE. Also - I need to take the damn GRE. I was in such a rush to graduate early and get the hell out of college I opted not to take the GRE while my mind was still in school mode. Bad move. So, back to the books. Oh, standardized tests. Then? Applying to grad schools...for a masters in public health. In conjunction with Peace Corps (the program is called the Masters International program - combining Peace Corps with my graduate studies). We'll see how it goes. Plan to go to school from August of '09 - August of '10, and then 2 years in the field (hopefully somewhere back in East Africa) and then come back to defend my thesis.

On a side note, volunteering on this dig and then going back to grad school and then volunteering for ANOTHER 2 years is not really getting me any closer to getting a "real job". I keep telling my parents that I'm busy building my CV. They keep telling me they can't wait to see my 94-page resume. And then I counter with "Well, when I'm 47 and ready to get a REAL job, I will get an AWESOME one because of my sweet resume!" Its a little game we like to play.

What are the odds, that I have missed your smile

I've been back in Colorado for about a week now, and it finally hit me that I am actually home from what I was referring to as "Dunia's Big Adventure" in my head. Shit.

After everything that happened, after all the bad stuff that occurred - I really really miss being in Kenya. I've been searching my brain, trying to figure out exactly why, what I miss so much. The food? Not a chance. The transportation? Ha. No. Work? Yeah, in a way I really do miss it. But most of all its the people. And I loved the people I worked with, they inspired me and challenged me and some of my clients even pissed me off. But mostly, I miss my fellow trainees. The people that knew what I was going through, that faced mostly the same challenges. When I vented my frustrations at them they wouldn't be like "oh yeah I understand..." but they would counter with their OWN stories. Stories that I could commiserate with, as well as stories that made me laugh (ESPECIALLY if they came from Florent).

I love all of my fellow interns in Kenya - the YES house plus Pascale. Even with all the bickering and the competitions over who could talk louder (you two know who you are). It was like being around family, I was completely comfortable and I don't know how to properly thank each and every one of you for being in my life. But I think without one individual in particular I wouldn't have been able to come out of the experience nearly as emotionally and physically healthy as I am right now. I don't do regrets, but if this person hadn't been there for me - sharing his mother, giving me his shoulder to cry on, taking complete care of me when I needed, even sharing his room - I don't think I would have been able to appreciate the great things that happened in Kenya. Because of him, I can take the bad with the good and look back on the experience in a positive light. And the relationship that was created out of all of that is one that I will never stop being...well...grateful for. I really don't know if I can put into words how much he means to me.

Sean - this ones for you.