I can't believe it! How have I already been here for 3 weeks? It is strange how the time here works. Three weeks seems like a lot because it is half of my whole trip. And though I feel like it has flown by so far, I also in a way feel like I've been here forever (comfort-wise I guess). I talked to Molly last night (a 21st birthday most definitely deserves a phone call home) and she asked me if I am sad at the idea of going home or if I'm ready or what, and I really didn't know how to answer. Obviously I will be incredibly sad to leave, this is shaping up to be the most incredible experience of my life. But I guess that since I have always known that it's only for 6 weeks and because I have no possible way to extend my trip (spring semester starts Feb 9) I will be okay with leaving- I don't have any other choice. Six weeks here definitely is not enough though; the large majority of people are here for a minimum of I'd say 2 months, most for 4-6. Plus, a lot of people have extended their stays to do more traveling after leaving AVIVA. So when I tell someone I am only here for 6 weeks the reaction is always "Wow, so short!".
I have also found that 6 weeks is a strange kind of "borderline" amount of time between calling this a vacation and saying that I am living here. I FEEL like I live here, and yet I still bring my camera out everywhere and plan the touristy things to do because I don't have the luxury of knowing that I can wait to do something another time or that I will see these places again and again- I have to take advantage of every day because I know how limited my days are here. In fact, I only have 9 more free days here when I am not on shift, at Kruger for my safari, or have a tour scheduled. And I still have such a long To Do list!! The past three days have been very productive though and my time has been very well spent (I will update more about yesterday later). Unfortunately, I have been feeling myself getting sick but have ignored it because it is pretty much inevitable so I figured I should stay busy and party hard until it really hits me, and then hope to not be too incapacitated. So I guess today I will take it easy and hope to feel better for my last two days off before shift.
Apparently I picked a good shift to miss these past three days because about 80% of the kids have diarrhea. My shift came back this morning and said it was messy and horrible so... woohoo! So glad I wasn't there. Hopefully it will be better by the time we go back on shift.
Here's to the next 3 weeks- I can only hope they are as good as the first three!
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Hi Lauren! Wow, I can't believe you're halfway through your trip already. Time's a'flyin. But like you said, it is what it is... the only thing you can do is try your hardest to be fully present in every moment. That way you'll regret nothing when you're home and thinking back to SA! So you still have a few more days off before your next shift, right? The botanical garden sounds sooo neat-- I love that kind of thing and having a few hours to explore it on your own sounds like absolute bliss. Mom said you guys talked last yesterday and that you were heading back to Table Mountain, I think? Things are fine around here; we had some snow this weekend and I'm headed back to work tonight after being off for a bit. Good luck once you're back at the orphanage-- hopefully the diarrhea epidemic will have run its course by then! (haha, no pun intended... nursing humor :) ) Have fun and post more pictures on FB when you can!
xoxoxo
Kris
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