April 10, 2009

The second term is finished. The school is closed and I am in Kombo preparing for out COS (Close of Service) conference. The time is pressing and soon enough I will be saying my goodbyes to my family and others around me.
To people - the ones I will definitely miss, like my 8 grade students, the most charming and vivacious girls...
To my beloved baobab trees, kings of savanna. They grow so slow that all the baobabs that we see now were here at least 500 years ago, some 1,000. Imagine that? I cannot. Those trees are truly amazing and I wish I can bring a seeding back to States. But who knows? Maybe it will grow wild in US and tear it to peaces like in the La Petite Prince. If not - well I doubt I will be here another 1,000 years to see it grow. There is a baobab tree in out compound. It is not too tall, some 20-25 feet and not too thick, maybe 1.5 meter in diameter. I asked one of the elders in the village if they planted it. He smiled and said: When I was just a boy we used to climb this tree and it was not much shorter then it is now... And this guy is about 100 years old (or 50... cannot really tell here)To the whole loudness and dancing and absence of personal space or privacy or private property - all those invention of spoiled western mind. To the whole craziness and beauty and beating of the drums aka bidong. To the whole hotness and dryness and wildness. Mama Africa. =D