theres no place like home. theres no place like home

haven't clicked my heels lately. and ruby red slippers would be pretty impractical for field work. but still. its starting to feel like home
.
how do I know? recent phone conversation: ..."hi mom. can't talk. super busy. sorry. i'll call you when i get home." . . . hung up. disbelief. no way did i just call malawi home.

but the signs are undeniable. the other day a friend and i made fun of  some western tourists. with huge backpacks on, they looked like a pair of disoriented snails...pff. azungu

life here is best decribed as a strange medley of the exotic and the mundane. but the boundries are beginning to blur. i'm losing track of normalcy. the world is now marbled

last sunday afternoon: lazily reading in the garden. heard a strange whomping noise. looked up. oh. migrating hornbills. back to page 173. wait... migrating hornbills! watched the last ones flap through the break in the foliage.

this morning: fruit for breakfast. correction. mangoes for breakfast. mangoes which i picked from the backyard.

and still. somehow. despite all the oddities. it feels like home.. .  then again, home was never normal to begin with.