on the way home

I am at the Charles de Gaulle airport in Paris after my 5 hour flight from Bamako. It's 7:15 am here and still dark! And it's very cold... 10 degrees Celsius outside. I don't know the conversion for that, but I know it's "butt cold," as my dad would say. So that's pretty weird after about 7 straight months of heat and early sunrises.
I am looking forward to going back to Arizona in the autumn. The heat has ended, but it's not too cold.

So I just changed 20 dollars into about 10 euros and spent all of it on the following three items: a Coke zero, a small water bottle, and 30 minutes online. So expensive. Especially after living on about 1 dollar a day in Guinea and 2 dollars a day in Mali.

I feel disoriented and tired and dehydrated. My last day in Bamako was insane. I had to do a lot of things for my medical and admin clearance to close my Peace Corps service. It was a vrai bordel, quoi!
I was on the edge of tears all day. I guess I was just tired and ready to go and it was hard to say goodbye to my friends. And as uncomfortable and difficult as Africa can be, I cried a little as the wheels of the plane came off the ground. I don't know what it is, this attachment I have to Africa. I know I will be back one day, inshallah!

Speaking of inshallah, I know I picked up all kinds of mannerisms with my speech, especially in French. Instead of saying "d'accord," now I say "awa," which is the same thing in like every West African language-- it means "okay."
I also do the typical African "eh!" to express surprise. Or I say things like "alhamdulilaye," or random things in Fulani, like "si Allah jabi," which is just like "inshallah," or "if God wills it." They say this all the time in Guinea.
Oh and I say "walai," too, which I also picked up in Niger. It's just like "I swear." I'll say stuff like "il fait chaud, walai!" = "it's hot, I swear!"
It's a real wake up call, hearing real French on the airplane. French French. I may have picked up an African accent in French too. C'est grave, walai!

Well I need to go because my 3 euro internet half hour is almost up. See you soon, America.
A bientot, Afrique, si Allah jabi!