Full Circle

We returned to Perth about a week ago. I only had about 4 hours of sleep on the plane before we landed. Before I came to Perth I caught a bug in Indonesia. I had a mild fever for a couple of days which turned into this cough that I've had until now. I think that coming back from such a different climate has made my throat and lungs worse and a quarter of our school seems to have caught the same thing.

All of us have come back to the Base. We've spent our last remaining days hanging out, going to places we've never been before here in Perth, and reporting back to the Base and the current schools of what God did while we were away. Everyday now friends of ours are leaving. It's sad to watch everyone slowly leave and head out on in a van for the airport and go home. I, myself, am leaving in a couple of days. It hits everyone different. I feel the lost but I'm not inclined to get really emotional. But some people, mainly the girls, cry as their friends leave them one by one. Today I had to say Goodbye to Paul, Mariana, and Laura. Yesterday Melissa left. By the time I leave in a couple of days most of my team will have left.

It seems odd that only in a few day I'll be coming back home. It only seems like yesterday that I was sitting next to my friend Jay, drinking Frappachinos, the day I left on my trip. Yet, when I think about my classes here in Perth only three months ago, it seems like it happened an eternity ago.

I know is that I'm ready to go back home. Six-months has been a long time being away. I've missed most of the major holidays and many birthdays being gone and as I sat in our last class on Thursday, I wrote down the things I'll be looking forward to when I come back: good food, my own bed, being close to my family, working out, line dancing, and just having more time to myself. I don't know what it'll be like waking up and not living with fifteen or for that matter fifty people anymore. I suppose it will be easier but at the same time, I won't hear those same familiar voices anymore. I won't go shopping in the city anymore with Stefan. I won't be playing board games with Paul. And I won't be having long chats with Campy anymore.

For those of who have been keeping up with my blogs, I have one more to write to sum up what this experience has been for me.