As I prepare to leave Tansen on Wednesday, I'm starting to look forward to a lot of things back home. Don't get me wrong...I love it here, and am really glad that I'm not leaving for good. But there are things from home that I really miss and am going to enjoy immensely when I get home. Things like:
- Electricity that stays on
- Tap water that you can drink and brush your teeth with
- Showering in a tub instead of in a bucket in which you collect water for flushing the toilet
- A toilet that flushes
- Fresh fruits and vegetables that I don't have to soak in iodine first
- A house that is (mostly) free of critters, instead of shared with big spiders, cockroaches, geckoes, ants, termites, rats, and other pleasant things
- A lack of venomous snakes (not that I've seen any yet, but they're definitely around, and I'm constantly on the alert, both in my house and out of it)
- Truly high speed internet
- Good chocolate
- Going out for coffee
- Sleeping without being awakened at 5:30 am by loud "throat clearing" and spitting (also known, in my mind, as horking)
- A house where people aren't constantly looking in the window at me
- A language that I easily speak and understand
- Crossing the street without fearing for my life
- Driving a car
- Streetlights (even with a flashlight it's really dark if you have to go anywhere at night off the hospital compound)
- Fall colours
And of course, the most obvious...seeing Paul again after 6 months! Getting married! Seeing friends and family that I haven't seen in almost a year. And many more things.
I'm not really complaining. Life here is actually pretty comfortable, and I enjoy the community here quite a bit. And you can't top the scenery! But I am looking forward to this time back home. I leave Wednesday from Tansen. That'll be a 10-hour busride to Kathmandu. Pray that there are no landslides or troubles on the road, as there often are during the monsoon. I'm spending a week or so in Kathmandu getting final alterations done on my wedding dress. Then on Sept 4 I fly from Kathmandu, and am back home Sept 5. Paul leaves Mozambique on Sept 2 and gets home Sept 3. Then we have a month to get ready for the wedding. At this point we're planning to come back to Nepal sometime in January. That will give enough time to get my documents with my new name on it, and for us both to get our visas for Nepal (mine will have to be reissued, because my name is different). We're looking forward to spending our first Christmas together at home with our families, as well.
