Elections came and went, I got my Leuven ID card, my free bus pass, an email address that looks academic, and the best of all: access by proxy to the online library. Guate was fun, sad and busy, made new friends, met old friends and traveled. Leaving Guate was not as hard as I thought it would be, though. I suppose having my sister with me made it much easier. Once back in Kin, I was very busy working (for $) and working (for PhD), traveling to interviews and going to the beach in Cameroon and crossing the border to Brazza, for more interviews. Brussels, NYC, and Memphis, amazed at how fortunate I am to get to do what I love, see the people I love, have things happen the way I imagined them.
Congo has also changed, or perhaps it has changed me. I miss Guate but I am not that eager to leave the DRC anymore. I never thought I'd feel this way, much less admit it. Some ex-pats talk about the "Congo bug" that keeps you coming back regardless of how vehemently you promise this is the last time. I thought I was immune because the Congo bug couldn't possibly coexist with the Guate bug.
I have been turning the idea of the Congo bug over and over in my head. Perhaps it is simply that after three years here I'm more or less settled and used to the system. Something similar happened when I was in the States, right before I returned home. Perhaps it is the knowledge that once back in Guate I'll become more sedentary and not be able to take off as easily. No frequent stopovers in Belgium. I won't get to come back and won't probably see AB, mini-Ale and the rest for a long time, maybe forever. Also, I think I miss the field. I haven't done any real hard-core fieldwork for a while. My boots have cobwebs and my dry sacs rest rolled up with the Thermarest and the mosquito net in the spare room. The only action my dry sacs see is when I lend them to friends who do get to go out to the forest.
Maybe it isn't the Congo, maybe it is. Part of me doesn't want to leave yet. I haven't seen Katanga nor returned to the Ubangi. I haven't taken a cheap flight to Johannesburg to see South Africa. I haven't seen the hippos swim in the ocean. I haven't picked enough rocks for my collection!
Maybe it is true that after coming to terms with the idea of staying here for another two years, life suddenly became simpler. We got furniture and plants, so the apartment finally feels like a home. I can remember how I felt before, counting the days until the next trip out. Now it isn't so bad. I don't mind it as much, and I don't count the days, and I am no longer somewhere over the Atlantic. I am here.
