I'm flying out early tomorrow morning. Because I can't get a same-day set of flights from Cape Town to Johannesburg and then on to Kigali without paying an arm and a leg or without taking an exorbitantly long and winding route, I'll be staying the night in Johannesburg on both my flight to Rwanda and on my return. In the meantime I've been doing a lot of running around, trying to collect my thoughts and to-do items with enough time to get everything done. I had to get a last-minute yellow fever vaccination when I noticed my previous one had expired - they last 10 years so I didn't even think to check it until a couple days ago. But good thing I noticed, because the vaccination is required to re-enter South Africa from Rwanda, and without the vaccination there's a 6-week quarantine required on arrival.
I'm feeling that normal dread that hits right before I leave for a new place - I'm excited to go but what if this place doesn't live up to the expectation? What if I get there and Rwanda is a completely different place from what I remember? What if I am unable to accomplish what I've set out to? The dread will probably last until I can see Rwanda from my airplane window, and then it will turn back into pure excitement. And then I will feel the familiar air and hear familiar language and smell familiar smells. And finally when I get to wherever I'm staying and put my bags down and let myself rest for a bit, everything will settle down and I'll feel like I never left. In the meantime, it's just one foot in front of the other until I get there.
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| What to take for 6 weeks of field research & travel |
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