Yes. I’ve reached the place that I consider home.
No. It’s not the end of this blog. In fact, I believe I’m just getting started.
Needless to say, it’s strange coming back. People drive on the right side of the road again, my cell phone never runs out of pre-paid credit, the internet is fast-free-and-widely-available, people do things at the time it’s scheduled to be done, and the bananas seems genetically engineered to look really, really, perfect. How’s that for some fruit for thought.
I think the best thing that I’ve re-discovered since coming home is the public library. I still can’t get over it. At all different times in my trip, I would be reminded of books or movies that I hadn’t read or seen, and I would get the desire to watch or read it there and then. But I couldn’t. There are no real book shops in Arusha. The public library is small and usually overcrowded. Movies are expensive and the selection is fairly limited; Netflix doesn’t deliver to places without addresses.
One of the first things that I did after getting settled in was to go and join the local library. This was only preceded by getting a temporary pass to the gym, and seeing the doctor to tally up the foreign organisms that I have now living within my body. Walking around the library, I was overwhelmed with the amount of content and knowledge that I had access to again. And it’s all (read: mostly) free. Paid for by the U.S Government (read: taxpayers). Still, it’s an incredible resource that I hardly took advantage of growing up.
I’d like you to consider for a moment how much you take the local library for granted. When was the last time you went?
I just can’t realize some of the incredible public services we have, and how much they would be desired in places like Arusha. It’s unreal. With that, I encourage you to go to the local library this week…read a magazine, check that book out you’ve been meaning to read (email me for recommendations if you can’t think of any), rent a DVD!! It’s just the surface of what I’m rediscovering upon coming home, but I think there’s plenty to continue writing about as I make the transition.
In the coming months, I also hope to start using this blog as a space for video, radio, and assorted visual content. Translation: please don’t stop reading. With that, thank you to everyone who has been reading for this 6 months. I’m happy to say that I’ve received over 10,000 page views over the course of my trip (which may be nothing to professional bloggers, but it’s significant to me). So thanks for allowing me to keep indulging, observing, and reiterating the things that catch my attention.
observations 
Stephen,
You have talked about the two “luxuries” I miss most…an affordable and well equipped gym, and availability of books (whether library or bookshop). I LOVE libraries!!!
East Africa, let alone Arusha, could do with a decent music store too…yes there’s i-tunes, but the internet is expensive for downloading here!!
Glad you made it home safe.
Rebecca
(: ” bananas seems genetically engineered to look really, really, perfect.” that bit was hilarious.
but seriously…i think one of the things i appreciate most about los angeles is the very very very very close to perfect and ridiculously cheap and comfortable public transportation system.
i never noticed before. especially little things, like your banana observation.
it’s great. i still have to write a recap of my trip…but it takes so much effort. :D kudos ! KEEP WRITING !!!
xoxo
I am so with you on the library thing. It’s the perfect way to pass the time for those of us (ahem, me) who are unemployed. I have even started a nice acquaintance with the homeless man who sits outside the west portal library (did you know you can’t get a library card without a permanent address?). Anyway, I let him borrow one of the books I checked out. How is the documentary process going?