So it is. 6 days until I head to Rwanda. My second time to the African continent in 4 months. I left Tunisia on August 16th, and I will be back there on December 28th. Now, to say 'The African Continent' is like saying America, and meaning Canada, The USA, Mexico, Central, and South America. It is not fair. Lumps a very diverse continent together in ways that probably should not be lumped. Strike that previous line from the record. It definitely should not be lumped into one.
I will meet up with one colleague from my team and fly from Los Angeles to Newark. I will switch planes in Newark, and my colleague and I will meet up with two others from the team. The four of us will be on the same flight from Newark to Brussels, Belgium. We will spend a bref period of time in Belgium before flying all day for another eight and a half hours to Kigali, Rwanda. A total of 22 hours in airplanes and about 30 in transit. The other two members of our team will meet up with us in Kigali on the 30th of December.
This week our 6 person team had a great meeting via google hangout. We were spread around the country in New Jersey, New York, Michigan, Los Angeles, and me in Merced and we were simultaneously editing our documents for submission as well as video chatting and collaborating. Technology is very, very cool.
I have a few more days here in Merced with my family. It is nice to be back on the West Coast and nice to be in the company of my parents, brother, and soon sisters and nieces. It has been a long time since we have all done Christmas together. It is nice to see the tree up and the lights outside the house. I appreciate the decorations and the memories. I will head down to LA with my brother on the 26th and spend two days in Santa Monica with some very wonderful friends before heading out.
I am nervous, excited, interested, stressed, overwhelmed, all of those things all at once. It is making it hard to be fully here when my head is elsewhere. But I try, and I check back in from time to time.
More Later...
I will meet up with one colleague from my team and fly from Los Angeles to Newark. I will switch planes in Newark, and my colleague and I will meet up with two others from the team. The four of us will be on the same flight from Newark to Brussels, Belgium. We will spend a bref period of time in Belgium before flying all day for another eight and a half hours to Kigali, Rwanda. A total of 22 hours in airplanes and about 30 in transit. The other two members of our team will meet up with us in Kigali on the 30th of December.
This week our 6 person team had a great meeting via google hangout. We were spread around the country in New Jersey, New York, Michigan, Los Angeles, and me in Merced and we were simultaneously editing our documents for submission as well as video chatting and collaborating. Technology is very, very cool.
I have a few more days here in Merced with my family. It is nice to be back on the West Coast and nice to be in the company of my parents, brother, and soon sisters and nieces. It has been a long time since we have all done Christmas together. It is nice to see the tree up and the lights outside the house. I appreciate the decorations and the memories. I will head down to LA with my brother on the 26th and spend two days in Santa Monica with some very wonderful friends before heading out.
I am nervous, excited, interested, stressed, overwhelmed, all of those things all at once. It is making it hard to be fully here when my head is elsewhere. But I try, and I check back in from time to time.
More Later...
