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After a long journey I am safely back in Minnesota. I'm still recovering from jet lag and adjusting to time, not to mention all of the cultural differences. I plan on posting a lot more in the next two weeks, but right now I am working on sorting through and evaluating everything. I will also have nearly all of my photos available online soon, so check back for the address.

Since I won't have a post up for a few days and didn't have the time (or, to be honest, money) to post for my last few days in Sierra Leone I thought I should put something up- so here is one of my last journal entries written while I was on the ferry on my way to the airport.

"Reading my journal entries from my first few days in Africa, I can't help but laugh. Things that surprised me (understandably) and I found so new are now so common place. Of course I can bribe an official for a visa, of course I need to take doxycycline on a full stomach if I don't want to be sick, of course there is no electricity after midnight, of course there are starving dogs all over the road, of course the speedometer on a car would never work. Of course, that is just Sierra Leone.
I can't believe how hard it is to leave this place. I am really looking forward to a warm pressurized shower, a raspberry smoothie from Inta Juice, my own bed, clean clothes, Saturdays on NPR, but none of that means anything in comparison to the wonderful people I've met here. T miss my family, Tyler (Sit), my church, my dogs, but I honestly feel like I have family here. Saying goodbye, people were telling their children to say goodbye to their "auntie," and saying I am their sister now. I am going to miss Mohamed, Joseph, Kaba, Mariama, Roseline, Madda, Assan, Beuresford, Charles, Morrison and many others so much. Tuesday mornign will be a sad day when I leave my house without Caddy, Miracle, Abou, Aminata, and all of our other neighbor children mobbing me. It was terrifying to come here, but it is heart breaking to leave. After all, love is greater than fear."