The Last Days

It's funny how cyclical our lives can be. My last days in Botswana mirrored my first almost perfectly. My last dinner in Botswana was the same as my first: Apache Spur (pronounced:Ah-Pock-Kay). The company was different, Onky, instead of Dylan but the meal was the same. I slept my last night in Botswana without sheets like my first. This time it was because I had to return them whereas the first days I hadn't picked them up yet. Campus was also empty, in the last days it was because protests had closed campus, and in the first days it was still winter break.
Then it seems the only differences between the first, and last days, is the intervening six months. Those six months though represent a veritable transition to adulthood. In those months I discarded my safety net by way of putting an ocean between it and myself, I learned to cook, I cleaned for myself and I soved my own problems, many of which were of my own creation. I guess the parallels are nothing less than superficial.
Questions of course have arisen in my last days in Botswana. Some are answered already, and some will take years to fully resolve.
How lasting will the lessons I learned in Botswana be? Some, I'm sure, will be fleeting. Others, I hope, will last a lifetime. But the majority, I guess, will gradually fade leaving only impression on my psyche that will continue to influence my life far into the future.
What of Botswana will I miss? There are those obvious things: People; like Onky, Puso and Biki; Iron Brew; Energade; and Jungle Bars; but beyond those it is hard to say. I doubt I'll miss the weather, I won't miss the campus or the academics, or even the atmosphere but who can say for sure.
And finally, the million dollar question. What of my experience? The answer now is only fractional,but the foundations have been laid. Was it everything I expected?No, but then again, who wants everything you expect. Is there anything I regret? Sure, I wish I would have gottenout more, made more friends, gotten to a family family dinner or a cattle post, and travelled more but these are all minor and don't discount all the wonderful things I did in Botswana. Would I do it all over again? I can't be sure. I might have tried another program, like Israel or India, but those might have been worse, instead of better. Overall, am I pleased, on my last days in Botswana? Overwhelmingly, the answer is yes. The experience taught me things I could have learned in no other way. Will I be back to Botswana? Probably not. After all, there are so many places I can barely be returning to places before I see everywhere else but maybe I'll bring my kids and family back when I'm older but that remains to be seen.
Right now I am just excited to be home, but as time continue to go forward I may gain insight and knowledge that will increase the value of my experience.
Love to all,
Tommy