See you later

I was without internet for the past few days. Luckily, I've gotten back online with just enough time to put up one last post before I fly home this afternoon.

On Friday, my last full day at iTEACH, Mary and I treated the STK team to a very special lunch – McDonalds and Spar-letta cream soda. Until then, I cannot remember the last time I ate McDonalds. I won't lie – it was pretty tasty. Sia and Sandile were pleasantly surprised. I was happy to share lunch together, as a team.

We spent the rest of the day discussing everything we had seen and heard during the test sessions over the past few weeks and making a few final changes to the instructions.

Hard at work

At around 3:30pm, some of the Warriors walked into the STK office. And then a few more walked in. And then the whole iTEACH crew, including the traditional healers, piled into the board room carrying cakes, singing. Everyone came to say farewell – singing, "Don't leave, come back to us soon."

Thank goodness I am coming back to them soon. How could I leave this:

I capped my last week with some beach time in Durban with my new coworkers (and friends), Mary and Zoe. It felt really good to relax. I didn't quite realize just how intense the past few weeks had been until I laid down on the sand, closed my eyes, and tried to clear my head of everything but the sound of the ocean. How did I get here?

The harbor (from Zoe's living room)

South Africa is a complex country. There is much beauty and much tragedy; there is old world and new; there is black and there is white. And it has a lure I can't deny. I am sad to leave, but glad to know am coming back.

This place has already given me so much; I look forward to giving back.