It truly is crazy how quickly one can jump from continent to continent, time zone after time zone, life and experience all falling away at each turn. I feel as if Kenya was all a dream. I just woke up. I'm in America. I'm at home in my apartment. In the bathroom trying not to wake up my BFFs who are sleeping all around this joint. Just using MY LAPTOP AND IPHONE (at the same damn time). Yesterday I awoke and was in the Amsterdam airport, the day before that I woke up in Maai Maihu. Time really did sink into itself on the way home and I'm still not so sure how or when that's going to right itself. It's 5am here, 3 in the afternoon in Kenya, and I basically gave up trying to sleep anymore, fuck it. I was Castaway-ing out earlier, laying there in the darkness thinking about how insane it is to be home, and flashing my headlamp on a faded picture of Helen Hunt. haha but seriously, It's astounding how much I have and how little I really need in my life to get by, and how all of the things I have at home seem so luxurious and decadent. Like a fridge full of hot sauce and cold beer and string cheese, all at my disposal. Obviously my first shower at home was THA BIZNESS. After that long eh 40 hours of travel I feel like I needed a team of experts to detangle my hair, a la the makeover scene in Ms. Congeniality. My hair is so soft right now it probably does rival Sandra Bullocks. Other stuff just like drinking tap water, wearing a tank top and shorts, feeling free to do anything. I could right now in the middle of the night, get in my car and drive somewhere. At home I have so much freedom and independence that just seemed so normal before but that now really makes me appreciate how lucky I am to have come from here. If that seemed really patriotic, that's because it was shitheads.
I feel so conflicted and so insanely lucky about my life. This month has brought so much joy into my life and taught me so much about myself. Oh September. I feel so sad to have to part with some of the most amazing people I've ever met, with people I feel are my family. There is always a big void to fill shaped like each of those people who touched my life. Corny shit I know, but I feels it, for real. At first a month seemed like a long time to spend every waking moment with these people, complete strangers to me at first. I find it truly interesting how quickly people adapt to their surroundings and gravitate towards those with who they truly connect. The experience I had in Kenya would have been something completely different had each and every one of those people been a part of it. I truly would have had a horrible time without you. And now all I wanna do is play some cards, drink some tea (okay let's get real, Bond 7) and be around them. Wake up and eat breakfast with everyone, watch Ryan accidentally fill his whole cup with hot milk instead of hot water for his tea and pile up some insane Wedding Crashers style breakfast plate. I want to watch Marsha eat something tan colored. I want to communicate with Oakley about something funny with just a look. I want to listen to Citizen Soul Father talk about the office of the President (are you listening to me?). I wanna put bomb sauce on something. I want to do painting projects with Chris, watch the boys play soccer, lay in a hammock and hear about everyone's lives. I miss them, they made that trip what it was, and what it was, was incredible.
On our last couple of days in Kenya there was actually some much needed free and reflection time and I sucked it up. The day after our big opening a few of us walked over nice and early to hang out at the Cafe during the day. I was nice and hungover from the birthday celebration the night before( more on that later) and the walk was a nice way to get some fresh air, exercise, and back sweat going on. Katy and Rocky and I walked that walk one last time; out the Transit and across the street, through the field, around the neighborhoods, past the donkey water haulers, over wash your clothes river, up HOW ARE YOU? hill, around the school, down the quarry, through the cornfield, past the fence, into the cafe. It was a refreshing and peaceful moment to approach that Cafe after all had been said and done. It was a living thing now, no longer a project or a job, it was now a space to be enjoyed, to relax around, to drink coffee at- it was real. Cafe Ubuntu. I am because we are. (we call it that for a reason, are you listening to me?) haha. I had a morning and an afternoon there. I had a cup of tea in a Cafe Ubuntu ceramic cup, I lay down on the terrace and chilled. All day long. Left for lunch, came back- same spot. I stared at the clouds all day. I made warthogs and monkeys and faces out of them. I listened to Lana del Rey and the men working on the library, I listened to the boys playing soccer and the rest playing cards, I listened to Lisa finishing up her training on the newbies, I listened to espresso being made. And I felt content. All of us were there in perfect harmony, each person doing what they wished in their last Kenyan hours. I felt happy to be in the space with everyone and not even need to interact, just to be close by and in their presence. I felt like we did something there, we touched that land and built things. We made lasting pathways and dirt mounds, we helped create jobs and hire new baristas, we fixed roads (well not me, per say, but the royal 'we' did) we painted signs and borders and menus, we contributed a small bit to that place's greatness. And it felt fucking perfect. It felt completed, and I felt ready. Then I got to play a little soccer due to two injuries: Devon fell into an enormous hole that was just hidden in the field and Hunter got a piece of rebar just straight through his shoe and out the other end. We all piled into the van one last time, drove down that country ass, potholed-out road, belted out some Celine Dion, and went home.
So onto my birthday. The big 2-8. First off, it was the longest birthday experienced because it jumped time zones and continents. Kenya, Amsterdam, Reno.
We left Kenya on September 27th and went out with a bang if I do say so myself. Shout out to my main steeziez, Citizen Soul Power Big Father Daddy Kevin and O A K LAAAAAYYYYY for hooking me up that day. They were both staying in Kenya a bit longer and got a room at Tribe. Tribe is fucking CUUUUUUSSSSSH. Supa Dupa nice, supa dupa pricey, but a really amazing treat. This place had mad hook ups- glass elevators, wifi off the heezey, classy wazungos everywhere, they even sold lifeline products in their gift shop which was rad. Anyways so they also have a badass pool outside which I immediately was all about. Just Brokedown Palacing that shit. Except no one really seemed to care that I wasn't staying at the hotel, I just blended in with all the other MUZUNGOS populatin' that place. Swam a bit, chilled with Marsha and Oak poolside, drank a mojito, pretty PRETTY GOOD. We all had one last family dinner- just more cocktails, why not right? and said our goodbyes to Rubie, Rocky, and Jeremiah. Goodbyes are tricky because if not done right they just keep making you feel worse and worse. I've met so many amazing people in my life and some I'm lucky enough to be surrounded by everyday, but a lot no. And it is easy to stay in touch in this modern age, so that does cushion the blow a little bit. But I've learned that you just have to make it quick, tell them you love them, and bounce. Some people are meant to come into your life and change it, teach you things about yourself, help you grow. The people I was surrounded by this past month were those people. I was lucky enough to get a whole month. Some of them I will see again, some probably not, but the beauty of life is in the unknown. And even if I never get to go back to Kenya, or never see some of them again, I know that we touched each other's lives and I know that I am a better human because of them. God, who am I Marsha? Sap fest 2013 over here. haha, jk Marsh. We get to the airport after mad traffic and had to get a bunch of weird inspections, bag weighs, document checks,etc. The woman inspecting my passport was kinda looking at me weird and smiling creepily. Then she just looks up grinning, HAEPPY BARTHDAY she says, haha. Good stuff.
So speaking of people I love, nowz the time for the shout outs for all my rad people back home. Also shout out to Ken and Chris for the birthday Qdoba and Massage at the airports- that was amazeballs. My gorgeous mum picked me up from the airport just looking fly as always and whisked me to my home sweet home. My apartment of course looked even more awesome than I remembered it and smelled FUCKING GREAT. Nick has just been all up in here fixing and building shit and changing all the weird things I had going on that have bugged him the whole time I've lived here. Nickybooboo built laundry shelves, a bike rack, secured max privacy settings on the windows and my railing, organized my silverware and closet, added artwork, and painted me a new outside table. It's amazing, I love everything and I am always astounded at the shit he makes. He's perfect. I missed him so. Nick and BritJobin hemaglobin and Misty came right over after work and showered me with gifts, fed me queso, and iced me with a 32. This is why I do it. Ryan and Michael were glad I'm home. Sort of. Except I'm pretty sure they wish Nick was their forever neighbor- sorry bitches, the wench is home! Turns out two more of our friends are moving into the building and I am so excited to be living where I'm living. We sat outside and stared at all the Reno weirdos, drank some, drank more, tried anything to keep me awake. I'd been up for something like 40-ish hours at that point. We went out to Chapel but I was just in blackout exhausted mode and missed seeing a few more peeps. Luckily my MAIN STEEZ Whitni didn't schedule me until Wednesday so there's time to hang out with some family and friends before I have to go back to work and deal with two thousand emails. I really missed my friends, in a way I didn't really have on my last trip. When I returned from my big year of travel some friends were still in Reno but most everyone was spread out all over the west coast, or heading somewhere else very soon. But this time I knew what I was coming back to, I knew that my bff gang crew would be here and I love them so much I can't even put it into works. Megalopolis Love, to quote Kevin. I've never felt so loved and never had such a good birthday and I can say that seriously and without exaggeration. I've had some shitty fucking birthdays and September has always been a month of great change my whole life. Summer is ending, fall beginning, school starting, trips starting and ending, relationships ending, people leaving, people dying- always September. Time flies, it really does. I'm so lucky to have been given this opportunity to slow my modern life down a bit and live a month in Kenya. I now know some things in my life I need to stop fighting and start embracing. I'm never going to be done traveling, it will never get out of my system. It's time I started trying to make my life work in cooperation with this instead of around it. I'm not sure what or how I will do it, but I need to start making moves, changes, embracing opportunity and taking risks. That's where the magic happens right? Outside the ol' comfort zone. I'll also try to keep writing, I really do love it and need to continue with this in my life. Even if no one is reading it, I think it's something I will work on keeping in my life.
The sun is finally up. I'm gonna pounce on my bestest friends who are cuddled up in my bed right now. It's good to be home.
No comments:
Post a Comment