Georgia, I'm coming home!

my life is about to drastically change. as much as i love my life in pemba and the work that i do, the thoughts of coming home have been dancing in my head for weeks. but as i woke up friday morning and went to my last day of class, and scooted for my last day right past the Indian Ocean, and hugged my friends necks and said goodbye to the kids, i wondered how i could ever leave all of this. i am happy to see all of you and eat desserts and raw vegetables (in that order) but the jolt from the little world i have been living in back into the only one i have ever known is a bit shocking. i am excited to see my parents faces at the airport, dad's sweet brown head so easy to spot. mom's silver gray, that i have apparently inherited, also easy to find. i am excited to reunite with friends and family i have missed so bad that it hurts. but it is all temporary. six weeks temporary. i left the school in good hands with Rodrigo and i pray the rats and mold don't take over my wardrobe.
i am in johannesburg now. i left pemba yesterday afternoon. the flight is fairly uneventful. you stop in maputo and everyone gets off. i went in the duty free as i always do and sniffed perfumes, picked one and doused myself. i know i smell. it is a mixture of body odor, sweat, dirt, Omo, and the faint smell of smoke from burning rubbish. so i covered all that up with Chanel. i am staying with friends of Iris here in joburg until i leave later this afternoon. we went to the grocery store last night for me to pick out something to eat. it was like a dream. all this colorful, fresh, flavorful, clean food! peppers and salads and cheeses and breads and big bins of every fruit and vegetable you could ever dream of. a grocery store. a normal, real grocery store. with more than two aisles and they turn on the lights! and they had prices on the items and they were cheap! i went first for a ready made salad but it was made with iceberg blah. so i put it back and ran to the bags of spinach as if i were on a game show. i grabbed that and then made a mad dash for the cheese, grabbed a roll of goat cheese without even looking at the price just making sure it was plain. the flavored kinds can be good but i didn't want to chance it. then i went on the hunt for tomatoes and found small Roma tomatoes, so acidic and amazing they burned my tongue (no, i didn't try them there, i waiting until we got home). i also got a clear plastic parfait cup of yogurt with fruit on top. i really wanted plain Greek but for some reason i thought we might be in a hurry and i didn't want to make them wait.  plus i could have bought the place out. i didn't even go down the dessert aisles. i made one last look over my shoulder for raspberries but didn't see any. so those are on my list for when i get home. greek yogurt with fresh berries. so yes, i am excited to be coming home. it seems surreal. i asked carla what was going on and to give me the news from home and she replied with something along the lines of, "nothing, just waiting on you to get here so the fun can begin. it is just not the same.". i feel the same way. even though we never talk and we live so impossibly far apart, i feel like every day is kinda Groundhog Day until i see her. my news and my excitement and my milestones and my laughter involve her. yes, i have lived a very full active 6 months, but it also feels like i have lived in a time warp, back in 1950, in Africa, as someone else. it is so hard to explain but that is the best i can do.
this little respite in joburg is perfect. i got a hot shower, had Rusks and Rooibos tea for breakfast and the rest of my yogurt and am waiting on noon to come so that i can eat some more of those tomatoes and spinach. i will leave here around 4. i like the joburg airport. i like the Woolworth's and that pharmacy at the end of the food court. i can get berries and fruit there. i love this about South Africa, they have great grocery stores and even their gas stations have salads and fresh fruit cups. nothing like the sweaty hot dogs you find at the QT. the Woolworth's counter has yummy sandwiches with watercress and sprouts and the like. after perusing all of that i will promptly show up to the Delta counter in plenty of time and follow my fellow passengers to our aircraft and 17.5 hour flight to today's greatest city in the world- the ATL. i've missed her. if you are there, please don't take her for granted. if you live near there, go explore her! or go to Cloudland Canyon or Saint Simons or Serenbe or go eat peach ice cream at Lane Packing Co. or better yet, the flavor of the day at Mayfield Dairy. go have lunch at 211 main every chance you get. go to the Tiger Drive In if it is still open. go to Piedmont Park and take a frisbee. go to at least one concert at Chastain. go have tea at Dr. Bombay's. sweet potato cakes at Ria's. go to Ballard's Backroom. picnic on Cumberland. and then there's always Target.
so i will be arriving at 6:30 in the morning on Sunday and looking forward to driving cars with stereos and power windows and paved roads and seeing all of you!