28 mai 2012
Notes from a small island
I’m on vacation this week in the United Kingdom, so blogs have been less frequent. So far, things are absolutely amazing, and it’s going to be very hard to go back to Burkina in a few days. I’m actually trying to spend as much time as I can away from the computer and the internet, but here are some things I’ve noted so far:
- cheese is a wonderful substance
- so is bacon
- I love being able to wake up and go straight to the bathroom
- I love being able to go to the bathroom without small children watching me
- I love not sweating
- Life is much better with certain people than without them
- Having a car is lovely
- Eating the world’s biggest bacon cheeseburger was surprisingly easy. I even had room to stuff away some of my companion’s burger as well.
- Wearing long-sleeved clothes in climates that call for it is much more enjoyable than wearing them in places where the climate calls for nothing but social mores demand long-sleeved everything. Boo for colonialism
- I love grass. I love walking barefoot on grass. I miss grass
- Not having a cellphone (I didn’t buy a SIM card, so I have no signal here) is far more wonderful than I ever dreamed it could be
- I do miss having constant internet access though; it’s ironic that I have more internet access in Burkina than in the UK (although the UK is faaaar) faster
- The Queen’s Diamond Jubilee was fun
- So was Edinburgh
- The thought of getting back on the plane though…not so much
That’s it for now. I’m having a lot of fun, and I’m finding that I really needed this break from Burkina. However, I’m also increasingly of the opinion that I’ll get back more rested, recharged, and ready to go than I would have thought. I can’t say that I’m actively looking forward to sweating 24/7 again, but at the same time I’m quite certain that I’m not quite ready to be done yet.
And so I will, as the British say, keep calm and carry on.


Jun 07, 2012 @ 02:13:38
i miss you, buddy. I’m glad you got to have a good vacation–i know you deserved it. after you get back to the states (and you have a few weeks of “posh living”…showers every day, fast food, air conditioning), let’s go camping. i’ll take a week or so off and we’ll hit the grassy trail.
also, be watching your mailbox. Charlie and Steph sent something. i’ve been wanting to send you a proper care package, and hopefully with my impending promotion i’ll escape the living-paycheck-to-paycheck cycle briefly so i can do that. let me know what would be something great to receive in the next month.
cheese?
Cheesy cheese,
tom