I have been back now for almost a week, and I have to be honest, besides getting to see those of you that I have (and those I still hope to), I'm not terribly excited to be home. It's nothing personal, but I believe that my time here is about up; for good.
Some reasoning behind this: I spent my second day back in the States shopping for ties for my upcoming wedding. And although I'm truly thrilled about the prospects of a fantastic party in my (and I suppose my fiances of course--whew, that was close) name, I couldn't help but get pissed off at the ridiculousness of what we were doing and where we were (i.e. Large shopping mall attempting to buy stuff Vs. say helping people to improve their lives). I felt out of place.
Long story short, I believe that I've become even more liberal (I know, I didn't think it was possible either) and conscious of how much S#*t we Americans consume/take for granted on a regular basis, and how pointless so much of it is (yes, yes English teachers. I know that I shouldn't end a sentence with a preposition). And I don't think that it's guilt I'm feeling, but instead the sense that I'm wasting time being here and not somewhere in Africa helping the family of the kids who don't have shoes, or water, or enough money to go to school, etc. (this is much more common than you'd think--and yes, I might be taking donations in all these areas in the future). There was just so much I was exposed to in Rwanda that needs attention, and that is present in many other African countries.
Needless to say, Jen and I are extremely excited about leaving for Malawi at the end of September. It seems to be calling both of our names in our dreams, and even while we're awake. I also believe that we are going to be gone for longer than just 2 1/2 years for the Peace Corps. There are so many NGOs and other organizations in Africa, that it would be foolish not to try and connect with them so we can stay longer. Obviously, I'll update when this gets figured out, but I won't be shocked if we're in country for a couple of extra years at the least.
But what do I know, I'm homesick for Africa. I'll update sporadically for the rest of my summer, unless amazing things start happening in the place I currently call home (this will very likely not occur). I'm not jaded, just sick of sitting still already. Peace.
