Diary of an International Transition: Countdown 4 Days

I told Grace, “Guess what?  Zawadi is going to stay with us for a couple days next week while Ben and Lauren go away!”  

“YES!”  she yelled.  And then she gave me a funny look.  “Next week?”  

“Yep, Sweetie.  Next week we’ll be in Tanzania.”  

She knew this, of course.  It just sounds really strange when you say next week.  

Honestly, it’s one of the strangest thing to get through my brain.  I sit here in California, in the house where I grew up, with pavement outside and organized drivers and English speakers and wealth everywhere.  And this time next week, I’ll be on the other side of the world.  

Everything is different there.  It feels like a different planet.  I feel like a different person there.  It’s hard to wrap my head my head that I will be there next week, even though it’s the only thing I’ve thought about for days…weeks.  

Anyway.  

Today we went to the outlets to get Grace and Lily school shoes.  Because, of course, we apparently didn’t have enough to pack yet.  

Cousin Emma came to visit.  

Gil spent 5 hours detailing our car to get it ready to sell.  Anyone want to buy an Odyssey?

The living room now looks like this.  And I despaired as our “maximum” number of pieces crawled up from 10…to 11…to 12…to 13.

I went to Target to buy bigger tubs to replace some of the smaller tubs and prayed that the airline will have mercy on us.  

Next week, I’ll be unpacking them all, in my living room on the other side of the world.