I’m here! I’m here!

After a drive to the Dusseldorf airport from Cologne, a three hour layover at the Dubai airport, and a two hour nap on the plane parked in Addis Ababa, I stepped off the plane and onto the Entebbe runway. I breathed in the thick air, tried to ignore the thick swarm of bugs, and looked around at the palm trees blowing gently in the wind, the lapping waters of Lake Victoria just feet from the runway, and people walking slowly with jerry cans along the road leading to the familiar rich green rolling hills in the distance. Alright, I was back. Walking into the vaguely familiar airport I was trying to decipher how I felt. I noted a bit of relief, after traveling around essentially for the last three months, most particularly the last two weeks, I was finally at the final destination I had been working towards. It didn’t feel weird. Rather, it felt pretty…normal.
Feeling comfortable and normal has pretty much been the prevailing emotion since I’ve been here. I was slightly concerned about feeling like the rest of the group was missing, since it’s just Caleb and I that are back this year and I’m staying in the same house, same room, as I did with a bunch of other girls last year. While little random things do bring up memories of last year, I’m glad that they do feel like two very separate, distinct experiences and thus I’m able to be here without feeling like something is missing. Absolutely no insult intended to the girls who aren’t here right now, heaven knows they are great and amazing and I definitely miss them, I think it’s more that I’m (fortunately) able to focus on the here and now. Because of that, life here sort of feels just like life as usual. Back to the cold showers, shaving my legs with my Dad’s old electric razor, a diet almost solely of carbs and fat, etc. etc. It doesn’t feel rough, it doesn’t feel strange or unusual…it just is. But without a sense of complacency or apathy. It almost odd to consider as I’m standing around the back of the house brushing my teeth that this is the exact spot a year ago where I brushed my teeth everyday for two months. Or as I’m walking along the roads in town to think about the number of times I’ve walked these roads before, last year. It feels interesting and distant, maybe because I’ve changed so much in the last year that it’s almost like looking back on a different person, different life.
Regardless, I’m here, safe and sound, readjusted, and loving it.