Brussels, Belgium

is where I am right now.  Sleep feels like a distant memory these past few days (weeks and months actually) with the flurry of training, preparations, and seeing friends.  Today has especially been a series of hurrying up and waiting, standing and sitting.  With an early rise at 6am, we waited to get our final vaccinations done, sat 2 hours in the bus to get us from Philly to JFK, waited 4 more hours for our flight to Brussels, sat for 7 hours to get here, and are now waiting another 2 hours now for hour 7 hour flight down to the Gambia.  I've considered myself a patient person, but I know that it is nothing compared to patience I will need for the next 2 years.   

It was good to be back in Philadelphia again.  Thanks to my dogged determination to stay in touch with friends, my fears of feeling like a stranger coming back to the city that I worked in 5 years ago (I can scarcely believe it has been that long ago) immediately vaporized as soon as I saw some familiar faces and neighborhoods once again.  I saw the porch that I sat on every Saturday morning armed with my toast, newspaper, and mug of tea.  Unfortunately, I missed my favorite lightening bugs this year (it was more shocking to me than seeing snow for the first time!). 

I figure I have clogged enough of all of your mailboxes with my mass emails for awhile now and hence, a journal update rather than a mass email update this time.