Time for Farewells

Wednesday - August 18, 2004

This will be my last journal entry before returning home to the United States. I leave on Friday, so I won't be in the office to post anything for Thursday. It promises to be quiet. Casey is taking me to lunch, we're going to have a final meeting to wrap up any questions on what I did with the various finance records, and I will try to find a bottle of Amarula before going back to the cottage to finish packing. I'll likely spend time with Pet and her family, hopefully getting some pictures. I imagine I'll pay my final bill too. Then it will be off to bed and having a leisurely morning before I head to the airport at 10:30am.

Today was rather slow. The internet died midmorning, and I thought I was doomed in my quest to upload and post my pictures from Victoria Falls. Luckily, the connection came back after lunch, so I was able to finish my project, a link to which was provided in this journal yesterday. I had about 150 pictures to upload from my weekend away, and although the computer didn't post them in order, I had enough captions that people seem to be able to follow. The comments I've received have been good. Richard even said that I looked like I had lost weight! I think that may be true, but I still want to lose more.

The measles partnership call was rather bland. I got to sit in on it, but they argued a lot about the distribution of treated bed nets to help fight malaria. Some places are experimenting with combining the distribution of bed nets with measles campaigns. I kind of zoned out most of the time. I answered emails, read newspapers online, and generally waited for quitting time.

I went to Yinka's at 6pm for my farewell dinner. It was kind of a farewell/welcome back dinner in honor of Casey and me. It was nice. They had different sorts of dishes. I especially enjoyed the peanut butter noodles that Amy made! We finished dinner with a dessert of brownies. We also watched some of the Olympics, shared pictures from our various travels this summer (or winter, here), and took pictures. I did get pictures of me with Trent, Amy, and Anne Marie which I will post when I get home. I also have pictures of Yinka and Everard. I will get pictures of my WHO offices as well, and hopefully Pet, Morris, and Kirk. I got a sweet picture of Sasha, the big Mastiff that reminded me so much of my boxer babies at home. I finally got a good picture of Smiley too!

I went to sleep after the dinner, and woke up to Richard's phone call. He called pretty late, but I knew he would. I'm so glad that I will get to see him in a few days. It's been a long time, but we've kept in touch so well that it hasn't been as bad as I feared. It will still be good to finally get home to him.

With that, my round of good-byes has completed. I will miss the friends I've made here, but I plan to keep in touch. These guys are globe trotters, so I imagine they will be good at emailing. Hopefully we will run into one another again.