Sunday, August 14, 2011

All good things come to an end...

Sunday was the best day. I got up early to head to the market with Anna, Stephanie, and Haley.  We had planned a party for that evening to say thank you to all of our friends at the lodge and to spend a fun night together before we left.  We went with Anna to buy all of the ingredients for dinner. Unfortunately that included fish from the fish market. I almost made it out of The Gambia without having to go there, but I was one day short.  It was awful!

That afternoon we hung out with Anna and learned how to cook some of her specialties, including cous cous pancakes! I can't wait to try them out at home. Haley and I decided to give our little goodies to the 3 girls from next door- Anna, Ndey, and Juwana. They were so excited! It was wonderful to see how such simple toys like stickers and silly bands could brighten their day so much.
Jambos organized a relay race type of game for us that included carrying water on our heads.  We had so much fun competing with each other and goofing off together!
The lodge staff and pretty much all of our best friends in The Gambia, got together and decided to have dresses/shirts made for all of us to wear at the party.  It was so sweet! They had them all made out of the same fabric and even had them made for them as well, so that night we were all decked out.  We were constantly amazed at how loved they always made us feel. The party was perfect. We took tons of pictures, hugged each other to death, cried a little too much, and laughed the night away.  I couldn't think of a better way to spend our last night together!
Monday was our last day but we didn't leave until 1:50 Tuesday morning, so thankfully we had the entire day to spend saying goodbye. We headed over to the Sowe compound to give them gifts to say thank you for letting us cook with them everyday for 6 weeks.  They were so sweet- they draped us in Gambian flags! It was awesome! Many of us had been saying we wished we could buy one while there but couldn't find one, so it was so exciting that they had made us 2 each! They all wanted our contact information and to take pictures together before we left. It was extremely hard to say goodbye and leave such a welcoming family that has done so much for us.
That evening was rough. I have never felt so bittersweet about going home before. I hung out at Anna's house pretty much the whole night and said my goodbyes to my 3 favorite little ones- Anna, Ndey, and Juwana.  Jambos told me that the whole gang wanted to go to the airport with us to say goodbye.  We figured that wouldn't happen since we only had one car and there wasn't room.  Little did we know they had arranged cars and we ended up having a 4 car entourage follow us to the airport.  It was unbelievably humbling to feel so loved and missed.  Saying goodbye was a thousand times harder than I had prepared myself for and I was a mess.
Going into the trip I don't think I realized how long 7 weeks really is: long enough to form a family.  To me, it felt like I was leaving behind people I had made lifelong bonds with.  I can't bear the thought of never seeing them again.  I had no idea I would become so attached to a little hardly known country on the western coast of Africa, but it will forever hold a huge piece of my heart.  What a beautiful life this is to travel halfway across the world and be embraced and loved by so many.

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