Of all the things I miss the most...

While I promised that my next entry would be about Luthando and the kids, I only have few minutes right now so I thought I would just add a short entry before I sit down this week and really crank out a longer post.

Today my first bout of homesickness hit me. I had a long and busy weekend and today a mix of exhaustion, sad news, and rain really crept up on me. We found out today that another CCS volunteer in the Tanzania program, a 22-year old from Canada, was killed in a car accident on her way to a safari. It really hit me since she was my age. I can't believe that G-D would take away someone who traveled half way across the world to give up her time to take care of others in a third world country. It makes me sick to my stomach. So, I promise to wear my seatbelt every time I get in the car here.

So now I'm all sad about missing home and being without my family and the girls and Lawrence crew I started thinking about everything I missed the most. Here are a list of things you should expect to be lonely without while in Africa-

-fresh milk at my disposal all day long
-reliable outlets, internet connections, power connections
-the black hole (aka-my bed)
-CNN on my TV 24/7, or CNN at all for that matter
-baseball...and the Cubs of course
-doing my own laundry instead of using a pick up service
-no smoking law in bars
-a quiet house without 20 roommates
-Diet Coke that actually tastes like Diet Coke (Coca-Cola Light tastes like Coke here)
-driving on the road without fearing for my life
-going to the gym
-driving myself places and not relying on taxi services for everything
-trips to the grocery store and Target
-not being able to meet (yet) or hold my new baby cousin MAC
-deep dish pizza
-never worrying about the tap water I drink at restaurants

But there are quite a few things here that I love and I will miss desperately when I go home:
-the cappuccinos. There was a little cafe in Italy down the street from school and the woman who ran it made the most incredible cappuccinos. I got addicted to them there but was highly disappointed when the ones at Starbucks just weren't the same. But I swear, anywhere you go outside the US has the BEST cappuccino and that definitely includes South Africa
-the mountains
-two meals a day cooked for me
-abusing that Rand like I'm an angry wife beater (see previous post for explanation)
-the kindness of the African people and their desire to show us foreigners what a wonderful country they live in. They are so proud of their home.
-the ocean smell when we drive past the beaches

That's all for now, I am in desperate need of a nap but please keep on reading on looking out for a new post soon. Again, I would love addresses to send postcards so keep em coming. Adios amigos.

And by the way, I have very limited time on the Internet since there are 20 of us here and we have to buy our own Internet minutes which are not cheap so...I don't have time to research all of wonderful things going on back in the good 'ole US of A. So if any of you would be so kind as to send me links to what's going on in the election, the Cubs race to the World Series, and updates on all my favorite Nancy Grace cases I would absolutely love you. My e-mail is jstelz86@gmail.com