Carry On

As I settle back in after yet another trip overseas, I consider the bizarre balancing act that a traveler and professional like myself goes through from one day or moment to the next.

24 hrs en route and already a mountain email has piled up. My first day back in the office and I juggle between countries and continents, rarely able to finish one task before another pulls me away. For each country, it is for them as if they are my only priority, and yet I still have to juggle back to the next urgent priority.

I simultaneously attempt to catch up at home, cleaning, shopping, laundry, the normal routines that still build up while traveling. I look at my social schedule for the month and see that there are already an inordinate number of volunteer and other engagements filling up my calendar.

In the end though, you carry on. Somehow it all gets done. You learn to move from one part of the globe to another with relative ease. Overall I couldn’t be happier to be home.

Best,

Miel

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I heart Nairobi

“You are clearly a Kenyan,” the woman in immigration notes as she searches for my latest visa, with difficulty, in my bulging passport. I actually heard nearly the same thing from a merchant at the Maasai Market on one of my first days in Nairobi several years ago, when I met up with a dear…

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Running the World

One of the activities I’ve been keeping busy with this summer has been participating in a fabulous Run Fit training program for half and full marathon runners offered through Fleet Feet in DC.  I initially considered the program last winter and was deterred by the thought of running every Saturday morning at 7am for 16…

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International Rotary Family

One of the things the I love about Rotary is that you can step into a room and feel like you are coming home. Last night I had a miss, arriving well past the sunset time listed for all clubs in Bujumbura, only to find no one had arrived eat. I was glad to try…

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Full Circle – Back in Buja

It always feels a bit surreal to be half way around the world in places that are so familiar. I have been to Bujumbura, Burundi more times than I can recount, traversing often during my journeys o eastern DRCongo. This time around it is after a full three years, which feels like forever and nothing…

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Siege in Nairobi

Westgate Mall was the first place I ever visited in Kenya. I arrived late from DR Congo and had a glass of wine with a colleague and friend at a great place called Art Cafe. After months in the bush I remember feeling far too scrappy for chic Nairobi. Since then I can’t count the…

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Last minute notice

Here we are on another last minute trip to Africa. The first in awhile, but it still brings back the same feelings. A week ago the status was that maybe I would go to Burundi for a week and then on to Kenya for a week. Monday it was likely. Tuesday it was maybe. Wednesday…

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Underwater Nomad

I headed out for my first dive of the year today.  I’m so hungry for it I can taste it.  It is pouring down rain, but I don’t care, as it means less sun exposure. My dive master, Silas, is from the Malindi area, just north of Mombasa.  In addition to being very good at…

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End of the Road

As I travel along my way, I often refer to myself being at the edge of the earth.  While clearly the world is no longer flat in so many ways, it still often feels that I’m about as far away as can be.  I know that sometimes my family feels as if I’ve dropped off…

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Lucy in the Sky

I’ve clearly been roaming around without having time to check in. After Somaliland I headed directly to Kisumu and Migori the next days.  Then on to visit Dadaab, where the refugee camps are at the Somali border of Kenya.  Back to Nairobi, and then on to Addis.  Tomorrow I’m headed out to Dollo Ado, where…

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