Saturday, March 24, 2007

Coconuts

So, I haven't posted a blog in more than a month… Sorry about that. I wrote a blog four weeks ago but every time I tried to post it the internet crashed or didn't work or my myspace profile was under repair. Gotta love the internet in Guinea-Bissau...

Things are going good. In my unposted blog I was sitting in my chair with a fan pointed on me eating a little munch of the first coconut out of the tree in the front yard, and I thinking about the fact that we are leaving soon. We are leaving in less than three weeks! It hasn't really sunk in. Sure, there have been times when I have wanted nothing more than to go home now! But most of the time I really like it here. I love the people I work with, I love my students, and I have gotten used to enjoying a big bowl of rice!

My teammate loves change. She likes to go buy new clothes and give her old ones away. She likes starting a new class, a new semester, or a new program. She likes to travel to different places. I certainly admire her, but that is not the way I am wired. I like familiar. I have clothes from high school. (don't hate) I like to see the same people everyday and get to know them really well. I like to teach the same students. Right now, here is familiar. When we came we had the mindset that we had moved here. We wanted to involve ourselves totally and not just be guests. We got our "moto" and we go all over Bissau on it. Our apartment feels like our home and the people we work with feel like close friends.

Saying good bye is always bittersweet, and even though I have done it so many times, I will never get used to it. I have taken some time lately to think about what's next. Do you ever get to a point when you just don't know? I really haven't. Before I graduated high school I had decided on a college. When I finished college I got married. When Jason finished college we moved to Africa. Now we are coming home for a few short months, headed back here for an even shorter amount of time, and then off into the unknown.

To tell you the truth I am starting to get a little nervous about this summer. It's just that it is hard to plan things from here. Every time Jase and I think we might have it figured out, something changes. At this point, we have a few job ideas and a few places that we might be able to stay but who knows? There is a job I would like to have but if I can't then I think I might waitress or even work at a bookstore. I have always wanted to work at a bookstore. Not exactly a career move, but we are only going to be available to work for basically three months. All that to say please be praying for us that we would be able to get settled into a place to stay and jobs fairly quickly this summer.

There are a few things we do know. Jason wants to be a photographer, we want to have kids… eventually. We want to learn Spanish and do some mission trips to South America. We want to stay involved at Simpson Park Camp. When we get home we want to eat a lot of cheddar cheese and tortillas :) (you don't know what you've got 'till it's gone)

There are a lot of things worse than the unknown and I know that there is a plan for my life that will be revealed to me as I go. For now I will just eat a little more coconut and grade some homework.