Initial journey

As we descended on my 14+hour flight and I caught my first glimpse of Africa, I was overcome with a sense of excitement. The purple rays of sunrise highlighted the beautiful (from the air at least!) city of Addis Ababa in Ethiopia.

People watching in a foreign airport is one of my favorite pastimes.  Nothing is as much of a melting pot as the different cultures/people/and languages all converging to travel this wonderful world. Cheesy, I know but it's true. I was approached twice for information when I was at the Addis Ababa airport probably because I looked like I spoke their language--English  (right on both accounts).  Maybe I looked like I knew what I was doing?  Laugh.

  
The two day trip to get to Africa gave me some time to reflect on the last month and how crazy it had been.  I decided to leave a town I admittedly loved but was not in love with for the great unknown.  I set up some international jobs and packed up everything I owned to drop it off at my parent's places in Arizona.  The inevitable questions were asked of my friends/family and strangers on the street:

You are going where?

Where is that?

Is Malawi in Hawaii ? 

Why are you leaving your great job?

Answers--I'm going to three continents in one year.   Malawi is in Southeast Africa and definitely not in the state of Hawaii.   The last question is harder to answer.  I've always been somewhat of a wanderer.  I've wanted to leave the country and do work + travel for longer than the 2-3 weeks allotted to me at work since....I've started working ;)  The opportunity presented itself to do some volunteer work in a malnutrition research project and I jumped at the chance (thanks Casey!).

So that is how I ended up in the continent of Africa (a new one for me because I don’t count my rendezvous in Gibraltar even though I could see Morocco) getting ready to embark on a journey I never thought would be mine.  I was never planning on traveling to Africa.  My worldview was pretty much set on work in Europe but when the world comes knocking, I’ve learned to open the door.  We landed in Blantyre, Malawi—my home for the next two months—and I have to say…it reminded me of Hawaii!  Lush and green with some heat that was peppered with humidity upon  arrival. I stepped off the plane and my body (and possibly my mouth) said YES.  The heat.  I welcomed it after the fog and persistent 60s of San Francisco.  I couldn’t help myself and already started taking pictures once I landed.  More soon I promise!