There and back again

I'm back in Toronto.  One more flight until I'm home, and it's a short one to boot.  After being on a plane or in airports for the last 2 days I am ready to be home again.  I already miss the African people and culture and I know that I will have many things to sort through in the coming weeks, but it is nice to be home again too. I thought I would be finding it cold here, but this terminal is a freaking sauna.  I suppose I will find out for real when I actually go outside after I arrive in Winnipeg.

I wanted to post a photo of the last day I was in Uganda which was Tuesday, which was technically yesterday, but really 2 days ago since they are 9 hours ahead of us. All the eMi staff, interns and volunteers were eating lunch outside when all of a sudden a monkey started running along the compound wall, right through the razor wire.  I have a photo that I will post.

And so, this may very well be my last blog post.  Thank you to everyone who has so faithfully been reading and leaving comments.  Writing posts helped me to verbalize and sort through to some extent what I was seeing and experiencing, but it was nice to know that there were people that loved and cared about me following along in my adventures.

I will keep my blog account open for my next adventure.  I'm leaving for Alaska on March 3 to volunteer for 1 week at the Iditarod Sled Dog Race.  I hadn't told many people yet, because I didn't want it to distract from what I was doing in Africa, however I think my Mom told half the universe anyway so it won't be a surprise to everyone.  I'm not sure if I will blog for that or not.  It is only for a week, and won't I don't think be as life changing as Africa was.

While Alaska is in the near future for me, it is Africa and not Alaska that is on my mind.  I'm sure it will be for a long time.  Everyone I met there was asking me when I will return.  I'm not sure what the answer to that question is, but I hope it will be someday in the not too distant future.  I love my job and going to work, however, development work is really where my heart is at.  For those of you that are worried, I don't have any plans to pack up and move overseas anytime soon, but I know that work like this will continue to be part of my life in some capacity, and for now that includes keeping my job and serving overseas with whatever vacation time and resources I have off from work. What the future holds no one knows, even though I love being overseas as much as I love being at home, I'm happy where I am at right now.

So thank-you again to both my faithful followers and also to those who checked in only occasionally.  Continue to think and pray for me as I process my experiences and begin to integrate back into Western society.

Until the next adventure,

Jaimee

 The monkey that came to visit us at lunch.  He just scooted right through all that razor wire.  I will miss experiences like that.

Having lunch at the Amsterdam airport.  I had a 5 hour layover, so I was able to have a nice sit down lunch complete with apple pie, as well as look around in all the stores. It was sure different from being in a remote African village!