Goodbyes Suck.

I've never been good at saying goodbyes, and yet I constantly find myself in situations where I am required to.

In about a half an hour I'll get in my mom's van and drive off to Dulles International Airport to begin the just over 24 hours of travel that will land me in my new life in Nairobi. An overnight flight lasting just over 12 hours will get me to Doha, Qatar, where I'll hole up for about 7 hours before a 5 hour and 15 minute flight to Nairobi. I'll be on the ground around 6:40am local time...ready to meet my immediate supervisor Jared, see the offices, stop by the Embassy to get my key from D, and get to my new apartment.

How do I measure two years? Three checked bags, and and two carry-ons.

In the end, I have three bags, totaling about 69 kg (or 152 lbs). They are full of clothes and mementos, sheets and my scratch off world map. Unfortunately, they're not equipped to hold the things I wish I had most to get me through the next year: my mom, my dogs, my amazing friends, and my wonderful family. For those I'll need the help of the emails, packages, video chats, and letters. Please stay in touch! Modern technology shrinks our huge world into a much more manageable size, and in the words of Renee Gately, who video chatted for the first time the other day "Video chatting is not as horrifying as I suspected." So do it.

Its time for me to get moving now, so I'll leave you with this card and caption, as posted on Facebook.

Just before embarking on Semester at Sea in January 2005, I stumbled upon this card in a small Vancouver shop. It came with me around the world, spent two years in my Korean apartment, and will join me [today] as I head off to Kenya. It has always resonated with me, and I really do feel that each new adventure I set off on makes room for more within me. And I always come back.

I always come back.