Kudos to You...

I’m about to move to Africa. I’M about to move to Africa. I’m ABOUT to move to Africa. I’m about TO MOVE to Africa. I’m about to move TO AFRICA. All emphasizing different points, yet all lacking that comfort that I wish I had. That comfort of knowing what’s around the corner. Okay, so that IS why I did it, because it’s not part of my reality, it’s not one of my norms, but I’m sitting here with 3 days and a few hours left, and it feels a little depressing. I feel like I’ve really connected with a lot of great people in the last few months… maybe this is just my natural masochistic side coming out, making me search for these bonds while saying, “The more it hurts to leave, the better”, but that’s really almost sick and twisted. Still though, I really have met/reconnected with some awesome people. Kudos to you guys.
In fact, you guys deserve such big kudos that I should give you each your own. Kudos, first and foremost, to my beloved Tulsa chica friends… aka, the old roommies (and they’re Tulsa neighbors). I’m really going to miss you guys. Kudos to my Student Store/Bookstore friends, Kristen and Dot. You guys probably don’t know it, but you were a huge part of my support system when we were in the same town. Truly, Kudos. Kudos to the OKC Rocks clan. Tracy and Venessa, I really wish I could have had a lot more time to hang out with you guys. Keep crankin’ like the badasses you are. Darshan, I had a great time chatting up politics, religion, and life with you that day. Sorry we never got to climb outside together, you guys. God, I would kill to get outside again. Oh yeah, and a definite kudos to Freddy for giving me a job at the gym. Kudos to the Vet Med student climber guy in good ol’ Stilly who made Stillwater amazingly fun to visit again. Kudos to Andy, my cousin, for always being there. I once ruined your New Years Eve by giving you a huge headache (with the help of a couple of pots that a banged in your ear all night) when we were 8, and you still love me. That's devotion. Kudos to Vineet for going to Switzerland with me on a whim. Kudos to you, Petey and friends… you guys make me wish I had majored in physics or botony. Kudos to Stillwater Tracy. I'll have to come visit you after you move to France. Kudos to Prof. Urich and Prof. Sukhdial. Urich, I owe you a lot. If anyone can make people question things, it would definitely be you. And Professor Sukhdial, you are a wonderful mentor and educator. I'm going to miss our discussions on cultures and the world. And, of course, an amazingly huge kudos to my parents. They are handling this ‘moving to Africa’ stuff amazingly well.
Wow. All of this sounds like I'm lying on my deathbed, never to return, telling my loved ones how much I appreciate them. It's really not like I'm dying. Actually, it really is just 27 months... I keep telling myself this, but I'm not a very good listener. I can’t even begin to imagine the life I’m about to surrender myself to though. I know I have plenty to be excited about.... I'm trying to stay focused on those.
And there are many things to really look forward to, even if they are short term things. For instance, I want to have my hair braided by a lady at the market. I want to bond with my host family, and feel what it’s like to really live in their world. I want to tear myself away from my electronics (I secretly hope something goes terribly wrong with them, or that maybe they get stolen. There’s that masochism again.). I want to hear the ideas of people completely different than me. As for my ideas, they can take them or leave them. I want to eat goats head… not for the taste, but just because it is a true delicacy in some places in Africa, and I want to experience it. I want to speak to a voodoo magic man/woman. I want to learn a local dance. I want to have a local song stuck in my head. I want to help people understand AIDS. I want to dream in french or fon. I want to survive without fast food, refrigerators and ovens. Oh, the things I want to do. I could go on and on.
I refuse to say "I want to help them." though. The reason I refuse to say this is because it is a truly vague statement. What is ‘helping them’ anyway? Personally, I think my ideas and oppinions will be naturally apparent, and obviously very different from their traditions and beliefs, and so I think that just existing in their lives might at least broaden their reality, just as they will be broadening mine, and maybe that will allow the possibility for new ideas for both of us. This is all I can really hope for: A broadening of the minds. And of course, I will do my job and all that it entails, but I am trying to enter everything with the acknowledgement that my work may be futile.
This is a long one, isn’t it? I should rap it up. Only 3 more full days. I leave OKC at 6am on Tuesday morning. 6 days left in the US total. …. I should be packing. Well, it should be amazing. These last days will disappear before they’re even born. …Much like us all, I figure…

Till Philadelphia,
Sarah