Goodbye, San Francisco!

Here we go! The physical part of my journey to Africa begins now. It still hasn’t hit me though.

I’ve spent the past three days selling my bedroom furniture, donating all but two bags of clothing, and cleaning the apartment. Daytime was a flurry of activity with people coming over to buy crap and me rushing out to the garbage bins every half hour or so. Monday was garbage day , but I managed to completely fill all three garbage bins alone yesterday, including one recycling bin. It’s amazing how much crap can accumulate when you don’t downsize for six years. It was very refreshing to throw/donate it all (eight garbage bags, four blankets, and one large Tupper Ware to Goodwill).

Evenings and nights were fairly typical. Monday Alec brought strawberry shortcake over. Amy, Alec, Selina and I made a Goodwill trip, had Papa Lote, and ate Nancy’s shortcake. Mexican food and sweets: probably won’t have a lot of either in Burkina. Tuesday was a fantastic ultimate Frisbee win; down 9-4, we managed to come back and win by one on the last point. We had a great time celebrating at the Shamrock after the game. I hung out with the Dead Bananas (my SFUL team) and Kill my Landlord (the team I played with a bit this spring). I feel like I’m just beginning to make friends in the City- people I know and have hung out with more than a couple of times- and it’s tough to leave them.

And tonight was my farewell dinner. Except for a bit at the end, it seemed like a regular night with the gang. Just about everyone was there. It makes me so happy to think of how much my friendships have grown in the past six years. I had no friends in the state when I first fame here, and now I feel like I’m leaving my second family in the Bay Area. But just like my real family, I know they’ll be here when I get back. As a going away present, they gave me a beautiful photo album, complete with notes and input from each friend. I love it. So many memories; I will definitely take it to Burkina and use it to show people what life is like in America…though they may get a skewed perspective with people dressed up in costumes in about half of my pictures.

After a slight mix-up with the airlines, I’m now on a plane headed home. With all the activity of the past week, I had neglected to check my plane reservations…at all. I knew I had a late night flight and assumed it was on Northwest. Luckily Dad was able to point me to Sun Country and give me my confirmation number over the phone. Lesson One: double-check all flights.

Exit row. Too bad Alec and John aren’t here.

Time for some shut-eye.