72 hours at home

NB: Written in June, but the events are from the end of May.

After over 20 hours of travel, I made it back to O'Hare airport in Chicago where I started this journey on November 13, 2008. I got to see my parents and my sister (only one was in town, but she was especially generous in giving me things to taunt her about). We spent a lot of time catching up. After that, I got to spend some time with friends at home.

Grace is one of my oldest and closest friends, and she's one of the few people I know who can form stronger bonds with a puppy than I can. It was nice seeing her and her puppies. Her brother also showed me his tattoos, which are pretty impressive. The most memorable part was definitely when she let me play with one of her new pets. I can't seem to remember the name of the pet, but she crawled up my arm and climbed onto my head. I think I prefer puppies to snakes.

Amy is one of my good friends from college and she works downtown, so I went and spent an afternoon with her. We visited the Art Institute of Chicago and walked around Millenium Park and Navy Pier. I have to say that in 3.5 years of going to school together, I doubt I saw her in a skirt even five times. And then, on her off-day from work she was wearing a skirt. It's amazing how life post-college changes us. Anyway, we had a fantastic day and caught up on tons (a lot has happened to both of us) and spending a day in downtown Chicago was really revitalizing for me.

I also took the opportunity to stop by my old high school and say hi to some teachers. It was great to talk to a lot of people and see how things have changed in such a short time. (Well, I graduated six years ago, but still...) I walked past the chemistry classrooms and thought fondly of how much I learned there (Mr. Hunt who taught me for two years has since retired) and how useful it had been during my time in Kenya. I gave a short talk to a class and realized that it's hard to sum up the previous 199 posts on this blog. Even to give a quick synopsis and some lessons learned. I could barely string together a few words to convey much of anything.

We also had family over on Friday night. It was nice to see my cousins and catch up with them (more people on the list of people who I should send updates to but never manage to). My dad threw a fantastic barbecue. I finally met my sister's fiancé and learned a good deal about him (I think he already knew a lot more about me). After that, I snuck out for a quick poker game. I had a string of rough hands, but ultimately won 25 cents on the night. I also got to catch up more with high school friends, including one who is about to go serve with the Peace Corps. I also gave him a bunch of files and packing tips for his imminent service.

And then it was time to fly away. Not back to Africa, but on to Colorado. More to come on that soon.

P.S. 200th post :)