Adios, Amigas

Trip Start Jun 14, 2010

Trip End Aug 15, 2010

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Flag of Zimbabwe Hwange National Park, Zimbabwe
Monday, July 12, 2010

Inger and Anne-aymone both left this week. On one hand, I'm sad; on the other hand, OMG MY ROOM IS SO MUCH BETTER!! When we moved in Inger took the nicer room, which didn't bother me too much, since she worked in her room much more than I did. But I always felt a pang of depression walking by her light, spacious, sunny room on the way to my cold, dark cave. It feels silly writing it after writing about Charlotte - I'm lucky to worry about such things as light and space. But waking up in a sunny room starts my day off happy.

All the same, I'm sorry to see them go. I loved the goofy cultural differences. My favorite was when Anne-aymone yelled from the backseat of the car, "There are centimeters everywhere!" To her credit, it was true. Centimeters as far as the eye can see. It turns out she wasn't smoking dope in the backseat - we had left a bunch of rulers in the car, and that's what they're called in Holland. Inger and Anne-aymone also bonded over a word that's shared between Swedish and Dutch - one that sounds like something extremely vulgar in English. So one night I heard them exclaiming it back and forth in the kitchen, so enthusiastic about their linguistic commonality. I finally had to ask them to please stop yelling c*** all over the house. I've grown particularly close with Anne-aymone, because many of our activities were the same. She's one of those people who is just good-hearted through and through. I envied her "secret language" (Dutch) with Esther, so when we discovered we both speak Spanish, that became our secret language. Kind of funny to be speaking Spanish with a Dutch girl in Zimbabwe. We became good supporters for each other in handling some of the more challenging aspects of being here.

I'm about halfway through now, and it looks like I'll have more computer work in the coming weeks. I hope I can still get out a bit. The office is brilliantly designed to be naturally air-conditioned, which is no doubt a blessing during the other nine months of the year. As it is, sitting at the computer is only bearable thanks to my Magic Coat. But I've gotten to know the PDC departments pretty well, and I know where I'd like to spend more time. It's just a matter of scheduling the logistics - which, as we all know, is oh-so-easy in Africa.

So I'm down two friends, up one awesome room, and entering Month 2. I'm excited to see what the second half will bring!