CIB (Cait in Botswana)

With 14 days left in Botswana I feel like I should have something poignant to say.  I don't.  I am still in a numb sort of shock that I am sure will wear off at any moment and panic will hit me full force.  I have begun to acknowledge that time is rapidly winding down - my bedroom is a disaster zone of things being sorted, packed and/or given away.

Emotionally, I'm a little overwhelmed.  I thought preparing to leave the United States to BEGIN my Peace Corps Service was tough...but this is a whole different kind of tough.  It is realizing that despite the ups and the downs THIS has been my life for the past two years.  Hard as it may be to envision, I have lived a very real life here.  I have learned more here in the last two years than I have learned in a long time.

I am ready to be back in America, I am ready to be home.  I am ready to be in a country where I generally understand the cultural norms, where a phone call to my family is not a huge ordeal.

On the flip side, I'm not ready to say good-bye, to not be able to look at the wide Botswana sky, to not have this quiet house to myself.  I am not ready for my last Teen Club which is this Saturday or my goodbye party where I will officially say goodbye to all those I have worked with these last two years. 

Ready or not, however, it is time to go home. It is time for the next steps in my journey.   Today is my last "official" day in my office.  Tomorrow is my goodbye party and my last Teen Club.  Next week I will just be at home packing and preparing to leave.  Will try to give one last update or two before I go.

Until then I leave you with the words that have been the most inspirational to me lately, "Never compromise on a dream. Compromise on how it will come true."

Tsala Sentle.