Home For the Holidays

For Christmas, I decided to surprise my entire family (except my mother who helped me to pay for the ticket) by coming home for Christmas. Although most people found out, my dad never did.

I arrived in Boston on December 13, after a 14-hour bus ride and 22-hour flight, in my favorite orange zebra dress and Masai sandals. The weather was way too cold to be wearing my Tanzania clothes. I have been in Massachusetts now for 16 days. In these last 16 days, I have visited friends from my old college town, I have visited friends in Boston, I have climbed walls with my brother, and I have watched a lot of terrible TV (most notable "Man vs. Food" on the food network. I am going to go off on a long spiel about this TV show, because it is disgusting and a huge demerit to American culture. On this TV show, a man travels around America trying different types of food. At the end of every show, he does a "food challenge" and tries to eat a massive amount of food, such as a 6-pound burrito or a super disgusting food like a roll of sushi that is so spicy it causes ulcers. It is a disgustingly wasteful endeavor. I could think of so many better uses of these resources than this already chunky man gorging himself for the sake of entertainment.) Anyway, to continue, I have drank good beer and eaten good cheese and good bread, and I have sat around doing a whole lot of nothing.

I have done a whole lot of nothing because, in the last year, people's lives have moved on. Sixteen months ago, when I left America, I was a kid fresh out of college. All my friends were kids that were fresh out of college. Nobody had real jobs, nobody had a life plan, we were all just kids and could be irresponsible on a Tuesday night and it wouldn't really matter. Now, a year and a half later, we're not kids anymore. Everybody has real jobs. They can't go out on a Tuesday night because they have to work on Wednesday.

In the scheme of things, this is good. At some point, people need to outgrow college. Acting like college kids is OK for college kids, but not for real adults. In the last year, my life and my friends lives have moved on. As I am sitting at home, I realize this. But I also realize that my life has moved on, not here, but in Tanzania. My life, right now, is not in America. When I am here, I can go out and act like a college kid on a Tuesday night, because I have NOTHING to do. I have no responsibilities here. No responsibilty, no job, free rent, free food. Sounds like I'm living the life, right? No! It's terrible. I am ready to get back to my life - in Tanzania. I'm ready to start working again. It's weird that in the last 15 months, my life has migrated from the USA and, in a way, Tanzania is my life...my home.

Not that it will always be. But for now, my life belongs in Africa.