Oye!!! Merry Christmas!

Since I missed out on the holiday season this past year...

a friend saw it fit to send me the above video! It's now stuck in my head..and I see it fit to share the love! Enjoy!! :)

Oh...how much I missed thee.

Dear Cinammon Swirl Bread, It is good being reunited with you. Sincerely, me.

....and in no particular order, some things that I have enjoyed this week since I got back from India...

1. Cinnamon Swirl bread (the Pepperidge Farm kind..with Smart Balance butter! Yum!)

2. Plush couches (the kind that you can actually sleep on!)

3. Hot showers with water pressure that actually creates wind in the shower!

4. Dark green salads out of a bag that won't make me sick

5. Phone customer service representatives that actually know what they're doing

6. A kitchen! To make my own food - just the way I like it. (not that I've actually done any cooking thus far)

7. Momma's tender loving care. Got sick on the trip back and have been unwell since I landed. Its nice to be taken care of..

8. Basil-mozarella-tomato sandwich. Been eating this non-stop! You'd think I'd want some meat. Go figure.

9. TP in public bathrooms. Gone are the days where I carry my own personal stash of TP everywhere I go.

10. Netflix. I can play catch-up on my TV-less state and watch some good ol' movies/TV while sipping on whatever culinary goodness my mother conjures up to nurse me back to health.

11. Internet. I get to use 'unlimited' internet as opposed to 'pay-per-use internet'. Which means, I get to stalk friends gloriously on facebook when I should be job-searching ;)

...in short, I'm a fallible human being with a propensity to be gravitated towards the luxuries of life in America. Yes, living in India was wonderful - for all the experience had to offer. But being back is good, too. :)

Back home!

'Welcome to the United States of America'.

Something about these words at the immigration post on Newark International Airport on a cold dreary wintery Saturday morning had a soothing comforting ring to them. I was back. After a short stint working for an NGO in India, I was back.

I could write much to reflect on the past year - could fill tomes on the experiences, the work, the sheer joys of helping people, utmost periods of loneliness away from family and friends, the beautiful places that I saw, the delicious food that I ate, the many conversations that I had with the wonderful people I met, and the sheer diversity that is India. Great life experience - as a friend recently told me. I wouldn't trade it for a second!

But for now, I'm glad to be back home.

Yes, I said home. America has strangely become home in the short time that I was gone. Kenya will always remain home - place of my birth, and India will always remain the country of my roots, but America is now my home. And I'm glad to be home..where those that I call my own live.