Home Away From Home

Yes, I crossed the ocean there and back one more time. And one of the last times, at least having a home in the "wrong" side of the ocean. I did a lot the last couple of days, especially given the jet lag that hit me for the entire duration of my stay... Took care of all the godmother specific shopping, saw some friends, spent time with the family and off course, baptized Francesco! Francesco was super well behaved and barely cried when the actual water came over him unannounced. He did not look like a girl in the dress and me and my sister were proud of him to death. Frei Bento was nice enough to try some words in italian and frequently asked my Sister to translate it for the family. With Christ's resurrection we celebrated Francesco's "entry" into church. He was always in God's heart, but we thought it was important to acknowledge that blessing. Auguri Francesco!

It has been a while and you can clearly tell December was insane. I started it off sick after the amazing India trip, in a fever for a great Fundraising event in Suite where we collected over $2300 for the Technical Center. But December went on… I re-equated all I thought about working in the social sector and about how much of myself I wanted and should give to it. I still do not have an answer but I am clearly far away from where I started off. And then London, Lisbon, home. Children and Christmas, family and friends, the usual crazy rush of seeing everyone trying to make them know what I still care and being really bad at it. Leaving earlier than I wanted but with the one I wanted and having a dream and exhausting trip in Egypt. And ending the year hoping the next will be less uncertain and will let me enjoy more of life. My life is great, and I fail to feel it as such some times. I want to change that. Happy 2009!

I know, it has been a long time… The truth is life went insane just after I came back from holiday. First, the internet was not really in the mood for working in my last two days in Maputo, probably telling me that I better keep away from the computer and say goodbye to the city properly. And so I did, we had our leaving dinner, our leaving meeting and I guess our leaving moment, the one the tears let out the rage in me “I hate leaving this country”… The 11 hours flight took us to a crazy week in Lisbon. With the appearance on live national TV on Tuesday, the NGO phone, email and any contact method went totally insane. More than 150 people tried to reach us in the meantime. Yes, it is a good thing, but it is totally a killing as well. In the middle of trying to visit family and friends, buying flights in and out of home, figuring out what subjects to get in Harvard (once I get a loan) and worse than all saying goodbye to Bernardo, the week flew by with a feeling of being totally o...