Wednesday, August 4, 2010

one week before departure!

13 days before I arrive in Tanzania, but I'm leaving in a week for Madrid! It takes two days to fly to Dar es Salaam, so I thought I might as well stop along the way to see the sights of Spain. I'm planning on spending three days touring the city, along with my friend Mat. I hope to see beautiful buildings, art, and experience Spanish culture - salsa club, maybe?

I just got home from working as a counselor and lifeguard at Skogfjorden Norwegian language village in Bemidji, MN. The transition back to "reality" was actually a little difficult - I kept having trouble using English in conversation. I'm better now, though I still cringe when I use slang like "totally" and "awesome", being made more self-conscious of my word choice after trying to speak grammatically correct Norsk at camp all summer. I'm spending my few days at home making sure I have everything I need for the next four months. That means that the first part of the week I was ferrying from one doctor's visit to the next. I expected that my life wouldn't be like this for at least another 50 years.

I was so overconfident when getting my shots, because I couldn't even feel the needle in my arm . . . but the truth is I was in much, much pain about an hour later. The plus side is that now I am armed with defense against nature stronger than bug spray or soap! It is a little hectic trying to order books, organize everything I need to bring with me, and work on research proposals in just a couple weeks, but I feel like now I'm finally reaching a point where I am ready to depart and now am just waiting in anticipation.

Now that I'm not as busy I have time to worry - I hope there is plenty of water in Tanzania, because I drink LOTS of water. Like a horse. And I hope that it is feasible to go running in Dar, at least if I could find a group that I could run with.

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