Time is flying...

Every now and then,
when the world sits just right,
a gentle breath of heaven
fills my soul with delight...
~Hazelmarie ‘Mattie’ Elliott, A Breath of Heaven

So it's a cold, blustery Monday afternoon, and I'm sitting shivering in my office chair, wishing there was power today so that I could turn on the heater and warm my poor little toes. Yes, you heard me correctly, there is NO power. Because of power shortages, the city takes turns cutting off power in different parts of the city every day. This means that Monday, Wednesday and Friday, I sit in my little office shivering in the dark. Luckily, the power outages haven't affected life at the hotel!

I'm feeling pretty ripped off today, to be honest. I was planning on working Monday and Tuesday this week, before we head to Mombasa for the rest of the week. Then I found out today that there is no work tomorrow! There is a census taking place (it's all we've heard about for weeks), but that means no work! I hope this gives some indication of how much I love my job, the fact that I'm horribly disappointed that I don't get to come in tomorrow. I am so unimpressed because that means today is my second last day here instead of the third last! I was NOT prepared for this emotionally...Ok...maybe I'm being a tad overdramtic! Luckily, I've got all my work done, so this gives Nat and I one last day of fun in Nairobi, which I'm totally grateful for! We are going to head downtown to the Kenya Conference Center in the morning, where you can go to an observatory on the top floor and get 360' views of the city.

When we get back into town Sunday morning, we are going to rush home to prepare for the party!!! That's right, we're throwing a party! We figured we could spend Sunday afternoon sulking and packing, or invite all of my work friends over for a pool party, and cook them a nice dinner. Obviously the pool party is the greatest choice!! I can't wait! Good friends, bathing suits, food, its an unbeatable combination! It will be such a nice way to be able to say goodbye and thank you to these people who've welcomed me (and now Nat) so warmly into their lives.

I am starting to get really excited about coming home. I can't wait to eat cheddar cheese, and see my family, and drink tap water, and go to the lake, and just ... be home. I get butterflies in my tummy just thinking about it. When I moved home from Mexico, I think I adjusted pretty well, I can't really remember any sort of "culture shock", but I feel like that will probably be quite different this time around. The main advice you hear from others is that you can't always expect people to really understand your experiences the way you want them to. You can show pictures, and tell stories, but without being here, no one will ever really understand your experience the way you wish they could.

I've tried my hardest to share, through this blog and my constant photo updates, the way my life has changed this summer. It does frusterate me though, how it's impossible to fully explain this experience to someone. For instance, I could never really be able to explain the smell of Kibera, which kind of grossed me out at first, but now fills my heart with this unexplicable longing. Or how much it fills me with happiness when I see this one random motorcycle police officer all around town. I've truly only seen him directing traffic, and he obviously has no clue who I am, but every time I notice him on a random corner, I feel like I've just seen an old friend. No one will ever be able to fully appreciate the way the drive home from work, when we see the sun starting to set over these beautiful green, picket-fence surrounded fields, is the best part of my day.

I'm scared I'll forget these little, ordinary moments as time goes by. Like the way I hear the roosters outside my window most mornings, and laugh to myself about how they woke me at 4am my first day here. Or the way I love my few minutes on the bench outside the hotel with the security guard lady every morning while I wait for Elly to pick me up. We never say more then "Hi! How are you this morning", but we sit in the happiest, most comfortable silence every day. Or my morning drives to work with Elly. For the first 10 minutes of the drive, we laugh and joke so much that my stomach often hurts from laughing by the time we pick up the next person on the route. He's become such a dear friend, I can't imagine not starting my day with our chitchats once I'm home.

As sad as I am to think about leaving, I can't believe how amazingly this whole trip came together. I couldn't have asked for a better experience if I'd tried. I can't wait to be home with the people I love. One more week! That is just mindblowing! I can still remember the day I left as clearly as if it were yesterday. I remember how terrified I was about coming here, wondering if it would be a huge mistake. How marvellously wrong I was. I am truly the luckiest girl in the world.