Arusha, Friday, March 10, 2017

It’s 4:00 p.m. here, which means it’s 5:00 a.m. back in Spokane. We need to begin flipping our clocks, as we have only three and a half more hours here in Arusha.  Ray will come at 6:30 to load up our luggage and drive us out to the airport.  Our plane isn’t scheduled to leave until 9:30, so we should have plenty of time to get to the airport, go through the check in process, and take a breath before boarding. Then we’ll have 20+ hours crammed into our unfriendly plane seats with a 2-hour break between flights in Amsterdam. By the time we get to Amsterdam, I am already questioning if it’s really worth all the misery to get here and back home each year. By next fall, the answer will be a huge YES.

Yesterday was a completely nondescript day. I still feel slightly sick, so I did little except sort and pack for our departure. Mama Kundayo must have noticed that I was not in and out of our apartment as usual, so she sent Beatrice over with a beer for me. I was touched, and though I’m not fond of beer except when accompanied by food, I drank it quite easily. Most of the afternoon, however, I spent lying down hoping that I feel better any minute.

By this morning, we had our suitcases 99% packed, with only last minute items to stick in as we exit. Mazo gave us a large cardboard box in which we have packed the kitchen and household items we brought to make life here easier for us. These are items such as a decent can opener, funnel, additional spoons, knives, and forks, a second serving bowl, silicone hot pads, a silicone spatula, vinyl clad hangers, and our treasured plunger. We also decided to leave some clothes we only use here as well as miscellaneous spices and toiletries. With all of that left here, our suitcases are far less crammed than usual in spite of the fabric and gifts we are carrying home. The heaviest items in our luggage are the six-yard pieces of fabric and the Masai sandals we bought. Today, John made one last trip to the workshop where sandals are made and bought one more pair he had special ordered yesterday. 

I was awakened by a phone call from Elizabeth, who is out caring for her watermelons. She reported that the melons are doing well, and she hopes to harvest them at the beginning of April.  Both she and I said how much we hope her crop will earn what she needs.  I’m glad that after the whole sad saga with her sister Ngaisi, Elizabeth is no longer worried about any repercussions from me. She promised to email me to let me know how the watermelon harvest turns out.

After breakfast, we went out to the garden terrace as we used to. It was all ours again because the Whitworth students had gone off on a field trip for the day. Being able just to sit and enjoy the morning breeze and lovely setting once again in relative silence was a perfect gift for our last morning here. 

John didn’t want to spend his day cooped up at Kundayo with me, so around 1:00, he walked toward town in order to have lunch at Ugunzungi City Park Restaurant. I had also wanted to try that place, but I knew I couldn’t handle it today, and now I’m just as glad I stayed behind. Of course, John ordered nayama choma (roasted meat), but while it was tasty, it was also so tough, John could hardly chew it. The prices didn’t seem all that reasonable either, so we aren’t sure why so many people eat there every day though it wasn’t packed today.

John was broiling hot by the time he returned to Kundayo and laid down for a rest. I had been lying down since soon after noon, so I got up to write this last blog and begin shoving the final items into my suitcase. I am always startled when it is time to return to the States. Time passes far too quickly here, and there is almost no one at home who can also see, smell, and taste the parts of Tanzanian life I love so well talk when I talk about my experiences here. The box we packed to leave behind is our promise to return in 2018.