Time Here

Time takes on a totally different meaning when I’m traveling. 

I like to draw out a mini calendar and keep track of what I’m doing or where I’m at to help make sense of it all, otherwise I’d have no concept of time. Already, I’m looking at this 12x7 grid trying to grasp that I’m really going to be away from home for 12 weeks, and how that really IS a long time to go without friends and family. But then I look at the day that says Depart Tanga and think; Only 3 weeks to settle everything with Saumu, track down my students and soak up every bit of this lovely laid back life in this dusty town - It’s not enough! I want more time with Saumu! And at the same time, I wonder how I will fill all of those days while Saumu and the kids are in school, when Saphia wants to go home to rest and see her family, when Vera goes to work at her new job. The time that has passed me by seems incomprehensible as well – I left Canada 2 weeks ago, but it feels at least a world away. (I used to drink Starbucks on a regular basis? Really? Chocolate was readily available? I used to watch Dexter?) So much has happened since my arrival in Tanga that I feel like I’ve been here for ages, and yet I can’t believe almost 12 days have slipped through my fingers already.

The locals here have been known to say, “Hakuna Haraka Africa.”

There’s no hurry in Africa... maybe that’s why time has passed, little has been accomplished and time is taking on this whole new meaning – or no meaning at all.