I'm bummed to be back. Sad to have 4 months ahead of us. Frustrated to be back to this town that I hate. Sad to sleep alone again.
But I also feel hopeful. I feel rejuvenated. We made it over the hump, the majority of the distance is behind us now and we just have 4 months left. The last 5 months of distance came as a surprise to me. I was surprised because it went more smoothly than I had expected it to. It was hard but it didn't kill us. My SO and I both made an incredible effort and we stayed positive through it all. So I have confidence that the next 4 months will go similarly.
Difficult, but not devastating.
Like I said in my last blog entry, my trip there was wonderful. It was not perfect and we did not spend the entire 18 days happy. We fought a few times but that's life, right? Part of the reason we fought was because I had expectations that the 18 days should be perfect. But duh! This is life and life isn't perfect. So let that be a warning to you all: Don't expect your visit to be all cupcakes and roses
And wouldn't it be boring if it was? When you love someone you have to love all of them. So we spent the 18 days living our normal Bamako life. We played cards and watched movies. We visited various family members. We cooked meals together. We took pictures. I beat him at pool for the first time ever. We took his daughter to the amusement park (which totally freaked her out haha). We decorated the apartment. We talked about life. We talked about the future. We talked about God. We cleaned the apartment. We went out for a special Christmas dinner. We lit fireworks. We had a lot of special times in the bed (and on the roof)
. We cruised around on his moto, rapping along with our favorite songs on the ipod. We laughed and cried and loved.And here are the pictures to prove it:
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