And Just Like That....

And just like that … training is over. In the end, like many transitions in life, it went out with a fizzle rather than a bang. Since we’ve returned from the holidays, the 11 members of the August 2009 Africa team have been tying up loose ends – finishing fundraising, getting vaccinations, buying bits and pieces, making travel arrangements. Then last Wednesday we had our Goodbye Party - a mountain tradition – on Saturday the first two team members left the mountain, on Monday five more went their separate ways, and now all that remains is myself and Brian, and Zach and Orlando who will be flying with us as far as Johannesburg on 23rd February before traveling on to Mozambique. Already the new February team is moving in, taking over old rooms that once belonged to us. The last six months have felt like forever, and yet they have flown.

The Goodbye Party was lovely. In keeping with the constant stream of new faces that flow in and out of the mountain in the last six months I have hosted/attended two Welcome Parties and three Goodbye Parties and finally it was our turn. The November Team did a wonderful job hosting – dress code was fancy (a bit of a mixed bag based on what was in closets), the menu was Japanese cooked by our very own. Jenny made a slideshow and Jytte’s speech – another tradition – was longer than usual and, if I may say so, a bit more sentimental. I know that our team has not been an easy one. We have a select number of strong personalities and we have not been afraid to rock the boat or to point out the weaknesses that exist on the mountain. However, every time we have spoken out we have done so constructively, in an attempt to improve the quality of education and the efficiency of operations in what has effectively been our home and workplace. And I think that Jytte appreciated our intentions, our motivations, and our methods. I, for one, have learned valuable skills in how to stand up for myself in conflict, how to speak my mind respectfully, and how to approach problems constructively in such a way that people actually listen. Not a bad life skill. Jorge made a speech as well, where he said that Brian was the ‘father’ of the group, very amusing. Afterward there were games and later another tradition – the after party in our Common Room, complete with disco ball.

Brian and I will spend the next month on and off the mountain. Already the car is loaded with things to take back to Aunt Liz’s house, the first step in our personal transition to the next phase of our adventure. Still, even though as we speak three of our teammates are probably looking wide eyed around them in Zambia, I am not nearly mentally ready for my move. I’m confident that in a month I will be though, as I am equally confident that, ready or not, just like that, my time will come, for time waits for no one I am told…