to come home

I am, I understand, one of the few people in this world to have a home. I don't just mean a place to go to at the end of the day, or a familiar place, but a true home that owns me.

a tourist in my town

today i took myself on an excursion as a tourist in oklahoma city. parked my car at a meter, entered four quarters and checked my watch so that I would not recieve a second parking ticket in down town okc this month. I received a free cup of coffee from Simon at the Sheridan hotel. This kind fellow greeted me at the door. I asked if they had a coffee shop in the place and he hooked me up with a hot, free, cup of joe. as a tourist, i found his oklahoma generosity incredibly admirable. i wondered around streets and buildings i was unfamiliar with. i watched young and old business people cross the street and wondered what they possibly did all day long, and how they afforded the clothes they were wearing. i found a building that was being demolished. i landed at the public library and asked directions to the gardening and GRE study guide section. i found what i was looking for. make it back to my car within the hour, no green parking ticket to be found on my windshield, success. i hope to visit down town okc again in my travels.

I must admit im going to start updating this blog primarily so i can keep track of myself and maybe you'd like to keep track of me too.

I find myself in a great divide these days torn between the love to two continents- Africa and North America. A Peace Corps application in the process and a beloved family and life in Oklahoma in the process. Its all still up in the air and my heart feels up in the air as well.

all i know? be thankful for each day, all that it brings you, even when you don't feel thankful for it (but most the time i do).

Inauguration Day

I just met Pretty, a local laundry mat worker in my town. She congratulated me on Obama's inauguration and I held back my tears. We can only have a very small idea of what it means to this country, our country and the rest of the world for America to have a black President. 

South Africa Welcomes Me

Well I've made it here. The travel wasn't so bad, except for the sick bug I probably caught on a plane. It didn't hit me till the morning after I got in, but I spent my first day here in bed or in the bathroom. Welcome to Africa! It wasn't so bad and I'm already feeling better. 

I can already feel the tension of this country's inequalities. I arrived in a nice airport, got into a nice rental car, drove down nice highways to my nicely gated house. What I primarily knew and read about South Africa before leaving was its high HIV/AIDS prevalence, unemployment and political scandals. I have yet to be introduced to the side of South Africa I feel ready and more comfortable to greet, the side I've been reading about. When you arrive in a country that boasts such development and poverty you cant help question what people are and are not doing to make this situation. And I cant help but question the inequality in my own society and what we do and don't do. 

Im sure I will be asked while I'm here, "why didn't you just stay in the states to help people?". Well this trip is about more than just helping disadvantaged people. Yes, it is very much about helping people, but its also about learning from a different environment in which most disadvantaged people are more disadvantaged than in the states. Its about learning from a traditional people about their needs and desires and how western people, if possible, can help undo some of the wrongs that have been done to the number of disadvantage traditional people surviving today. I am positive what I will discover will twirl my head around and I hope so. 

Love to you. I miss you Oklahoma.