One thing that has put in me in this joyous mood is the state of all of my close friends' relationships. As a bit of background, starting around February, it seemed as if everyone I knew was getting engaged. Mind you, this is not an exaggeration. Literally all but one of my flatmates from University had rings on their fingers within weeks of each other. Then others slowly followed the trend, and before I knew it, as of today... nine of my uni friends are engaged. Not to mentioned the few that are already married, a couple that have kids, and some who've been together as long as I've known them. Just recently a friend shared with me she's picking up and moving country, making the good old grand gesture to be with her fella. Others just returning from a Filipino engagement extravaganza. And even though I live as far away as Africa, they continue to make the effort to keep me in the loop and involved in all of their romantic life-changing bliss. Which, by the way, this girl needs when her closest male companion is a dumbass, albeit goodlooking, kitten named Jeter. I'm so genuinely happy for all of you. Despite the initial questioning of my life choices (what the balls am I doing in a rural village in Africa? My friends have real jobs and fiances! I need to shower more...) I couldn't be more grateful to have what little involvement I do in my friends' happiness.
Another endorphin stimulator can be attributed to the brewing vacation plans I have for the rest of my service. Given I've only taken one out of country trip (6 days in London) and one in-country stint (3 days at Gnaoua), that leaves me with... 15 days for this year and all 24 for next. That's 39 days of awesome to look forward to. 20 of those are going to my Christmas trip home. Well, technically 13 will as I'm spending a few days before and a few days after (through New Year) in London. Yay! I had contemplated not going home, and then only going for a short while. But as it's recently been decided my folks won't be heading out here next year, I decided to spend more time with them now. Plus, the brother will be in Iraq starting September, so I think a good dose of their daughter will do them good.
As for next Spring, I'll be heading to East Africa! After almost being wooed into a West Africa trip with Felicie (which I would have loved to do) an old friend from London told me he got a placement doing economic development work in Ethiopia starting this September. Ding, ding! We have a winner. So slowly but surely, I'll be convincing Ravi to not only let me visit (luckily the invitation was there as soon as he found out), but to accompany me through Kenya to Uganda and Rwanda, ending up in Burundi where his friend also has a placement. Let the plotting begin. I couldn't be more excited to cross some of my 'top 10 countries to visit' qualifiers off my list. Long has this little girl dreamed of going to Uganda and Rwanda, so if any of you have contacts, friends, or know other PCVs there, let me know! I'd be more than grateful.
The last bit of my vaca time will be a week at the end of July in Scotland for my best friend's wedding. I couldn't be more ecstatic for something that is, well, almost exactly a year from today. I could get all gushy about how much I love them and how I'll be able to see all my uni friends as this will be a reunion of sorts, and what I'll be wearing and... but I'll save that as I'm sure they'll be many future posts including those details and emotions as the time gets closer. And though it is a whole year away, I've been in Morocco for almost a year now and that time has seriously flown, so I'm sure it'll be here before I know it.
So as thrilled as I am to be in this oven of a country right now, times do get tough, so I'm happy to have these check points to look forward to. It makes the isolation seem less lonely and the time here less infinite. Now all I have to do is get my friends to cement their plans to come out here. Though as of last night, my good friend Heather will be coming at the end of October, so three cheers to that!
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