In one day, one hour, fifteen minutes, and forty-eight seconds -- after a lifetime of dreaming, several years of begging, and at least a few months of planning -- I'll be on a plane bound for East Africa. The first two decades of my life have been centered in the same ten-mile radius, but soon I'll be spending nine weeks learning, loving, and growing in a place I've dreamed about since childhood. Specifically, Tanzania. Specifically, a place that's about 8,379 miles away.
For anyone who knows me at all, one thing is obvious: this is the most exciting thing, maybe ever. For real, this is on the same excitement level as the day I got a kitten for Christmas. And that’s saying something. I mean, I love kittens. I wept like a child that Christmas. Admittedly, I was also like, eight years old at the time, so weeping was not outside the realm of acceptable activities. Plus my dog had just died a couple months before. Look, it was just a very cathartic experience, okay? IT’S HEALTHY TO CRY SOMETIMES.
The point is, I’ve wanted to go to Africa for a really long time. And I may or may not cry on a regular basis. But I digress.
these kittens : level of improbable adorableness :: Jaime : level of excitement about going to Tanzania
I’ve heard that you can’t be certain that something has happened unless it’s been documented on the internet, so from this day onward, I declare this blog to be my proof. Who knows — maybe one day, I'll show it to my grandchildren. Indeed, instead of inviting them over to my cat-infested house to sit through hours of looking at photo albums of those nine weeks I spent in Arusha, I’ll just send them a link to my blog.
Which they’ll be able to view via iPhone.
Which will actually just be a microchip implanted in their bodies upon birth.
And they'll all be born half-robot.
I really do hate technology.
But at the same time, I can't shake the feeling that this experience is going to be transformative -- that these nine weeks in Africa are going to profoundly affect the trajectory of my life. There are going to be scary moments, probably; homesick moments, definitely; embarrassing moments, undoubtedly. But I'm also bound to have experiences that are powerful and rich, experiences that not only strike at the heart of Tanzanian culture, but that help me view the human condition through a wider, more sensitive lens. Plus I'll probably have some interesting experiences with bathrooms. And I can't help but think that all of that is worth documenting.
But no, seriously you guys, I’m not a crybaby.
