We are back in Brookline and in one piece

7/13/2012

The trip home was very long.  We arrived in Boston just as the sun was just disappearing beyond the horizon. It was wonderful to see the familiar sights of our home city.  Boston is truly a beautiful place.  Our Son, Dani, was at the airport, but he was waiting at the wrong terminal.  There  are five separate terminals.  We were at B.  He went to E. We needed to call him on our mobile, but our account was suspended so we would not have to pay for the six months we were in The Gambia.  I called the company, and within one minute, were had our service back and were able to call him. Welcome to America! Such efficiency! We were able to fit our luggage into his car, no problem, which surprised me because we had so much.

Neighbor children had made welcome home signs that were on the door to our apartment, as well as flowers, so this was very pleasant.

This is Friday.  We arrived on Tuesday night.  We are still unpacking. The weather here is beautiful summer days.  The temperature is about the same as in Brikama.  It is less humid. The sun is much weaker because we are further north and the sun has to pass through more atmosphere to reach us.

I am missing everyone at NARI and The Gambia already.  Actually with email we are still together because we can write to each other instantly.  The thread and connection is still there and we can continue to share our lives, though at a distance. 

So far this blog has been about our travels.  We did do work while at the National Agricultural Research Institute.  We were only actually working for a few months.  It seemed that it was almost time to leave by the time folks figured out and actually understood our role. (This process took time, even though there was a wonderful introduction and welcoming acceptance as a member of the NARI family.) We will write more about the work, but are waiting to find out how it turns out.  The work lives on after our departure, but now in the hands of our colleagues at NARI!

Above is the team for our project.  The photos below show examples of the kind of problems that we, unfortunately, had to leave behind that still need to be resolved.  More on these problems and how and why they came about in a future posting.

(The views expressed are our own)