The day after tomorrow, I will be on my way to Africa. The emotions that statement evokes are difficult to describe. Most accurately; anxiety, fear, excitement, sadness, and elation all mixed together. I feel a bit in a daze, the reality of it all hitting me hard this morning. I know, it’s only three months, many students have done study abroad for the same amount of time (if not longer), and I’m not going into the peace corps (27 months!), but it’s still Africa, and it still scares me. Part of me just wants to be on that plane already! the anticipation is almost too much to handle, and at the same time I don’t want to leave the comfort of the US.

Africa has already had an effect on me, with the impending departure I’ve lived more in the “now” than ever before, for those that know me well, I have generally had the inability to not think about the future. I can never shut off my mind, but with Africa being a sort of end, I’ve been able to silence these thoughts a bit.
My bags are packed, sitting in my room. I have everything I could ever think to bring (I think?). Now I get to spend one last day with Natalie and My Dad, until November.

Here’s a little Swahili lesson!
How to use verbs
Unlike in the English, Spanish, and most other languages, verbs are not conjugated in the traditional sense, instead various prefixes are added to the verb root to describe the situation.

Here’s the general pattern:
subject prefix+tense marker+object infix+verb stem+suffix

Example; He is cooking for us
Subject prefix: A (for He, ni=I, u=you, tu=we)
Tense marker: na (for present tense, li=past, ta=future)
Object infix: tu (because he game the book to us (or we))
Verb stem: -pik(a)
Suffix: ia (for)

Put all together: Anatupikia.