Preparing to click my heels

So much is going on.

School is over in two weeks. I've got one week of class and one week of finals. Three papers, two finals, and one oral test (for Afrikaans).

I'm hardcore stressing because there is so much to do.

I'm starting to think about transitioning back into the US and I'm nervous. I've acclimatized to South Africa that I know there are some things that will be weird. I've gotten used to looking right for on-coming cars instead of left. I've gotten used to the value of Rand (roughly $1 = R7). Things are gonna look really cheap when I get home. I've started talking in metric values. I get excited about a 76% on an assignment. I don't look for eggs in refrigerated isles because they aren't refrigerated. I add the letter 'u' to words that have 'o' and 'r' next to each other (like favourite). I like that South Africans don't ask "is that legal?" when I tell them I'm getting married to a woman because this country recognizes that love is love.

I've learned more about how ridiculous the American school system is. I've learned more about racism and sexism and I KNOW little things are going to piss me off when I get back into the states. It's going to be weird and different, but I know I will learn a lot.

I went to the District Six museum yesterday and it kind of put some things in perspective for me. It was more focused on the people whose lives were ruined when they were forcibly removed from their homes and put in Langa, the first township in Cape Town. They were taken from beautiful land with gorgeous views and forced to live outside the city on terrible land.

This photo is of what is called the "Tree of Remembrance." The seed was planted in 1948 and when people were forced out of District Six and everything, homes and shops included, were bull-dozed, this tree is one of the few things that survived. It witnessed the horrors that racism made happen and is a living reminder of what once was. People are now moving back into the area and I hope that this tree reminds them of home and that they do belong.

I still have 39 days here. I've been here for 99 days.

My last final is on the 27th. I leave Africa on November 25th. That's 29 days of nothing to do. I have to figure out how I'm going to spend those days on a very limited budget, but no matter what I do, I know it will be awesome because I am in South Africa.