Looking back & looking forward..

With a little over 3 weeks to go before I board a plane (well 4 planes..) bound for home, and as I'm watching a lot of my American friends here leave ahead of me to go back to the states, I'm starting to get a little more excited to come home. I am also starting to realize all the things I am going to miss here. With that in mind, I have compiled my top 10 lists of things I am excited for back at home and things I will miss in Rwanda. Enjoy.

Top 10 things I'll miss about Rwanda:

1. Being constantly surrounded by natural beauty - hills, volcanoes, blue skies, flowers, the list goes on and on..
2. Being a part of and learning about a new culture and its history
3. Lots of downtime - my internship is my only real responsibility here and I don't remember the last time I had so few things to fill my day
4. Mornings out on the front porch - spending time with God in the mornings while looking out over the beauty of Rwanda has become one of my favorite things here
5. Weather - Rwanda's climate is about as close to perfect as it gets - a few hot days here and there, but most of the time it's mid 70's and rains for a couple hours everyday. Perfect.
6. Conversations - having the tough conversations about poverty, development, western involvement in Africa and other similar issues with Americans who are passionate about the same things I am but who have been here longer and know so much more than me. So much to think about.
7. The wonderful Rwandese and Ugandan people I have met - they are so warm despite all they have been through. .They are more than willing to share the best parts of their country with me as I explore and spend time here.
8. Traveling - I have gotten to see so much of Rwanda and even Uganda in the time I've been here
9. Walking everywhere - the built in exercise of living in Africa is great. Unfortunately the midwest winter weather will prevent me from carrying on this practice when I get home.
10. Being in Africa - I don't know exactly what role Africa will play in my future..but I know that I've loved my time here and that this place will always be a part of my life in some way...

Top 10 things I'm excited to return to:

1. My family & friends - I can't wait to be back with all the people who mean the most to me and to share life with them again!
2. Sunday mornings at my church
3. Ease of communication - being able to speak the same language as everyone around me
4. Spurs & Vikings games - and just the sporting world in general
5. Diet Pepsi
6. Whole grain bread - this stuff is hard to come by here
7. Christmas! I'm excited to get to celebrate the holiday without having to be around for most of the commercialized season
8. My cell phone - not having to rely on skype or facebook to talk to the people I love
9. My car - walking here is great, but it will be nice to be able to go where I want, even after dark.
10 More conversations - being able to process the last few months of my life with the wonderful people in my life who share my passion for Africa & social justice - I can't wait for their insight!