I'm home and not going anywhere... for a week or two, at least :)

Yup, I made it home from Y. Had a lovely trip back - actually, the trip went so fast! The organization that I was facilitating the workshop for had arranged for a van to bring all the participants from Jb back to Jb yesterday. So I hopped in the van/mini bus with them. It was a much more pleasant trip on the way back than it was on the way there, for some reason!

Well, for one, there weren't nearly as many people in the bus - it's a 15 seater, but we only had 12 people in it - the back three seats were holding all of our luggage. On the way there, we had, well, a few more than that! It was also great because the driver kept having to stop to pee - so I felt free to keep drinking water since I knew we'd stop every hour to stretch and pee, if necessary. So I didn't get dehydrated. And I was with all the participants from the workshop, so I wasn't worried about any of my stuff, or have people talking about me or asking me strange questions or trying to get too friendly with me. It was just so relaxing! Plus, we didn't have to stop to wait for any de-minders, and though he was still driving very safely, the driver was driving faster and we made much better time than we did on the way there. So instead of the 7 - 8 hours that our journey out there took, it only took us 4.5 hours to get to Jb. And that included a stop at the police check point before entering the city.

The police stopped us and asked everyone to get out of the bus, since they wanted to check all of our luggage to see how many guns we were carrying. They started taking out some of our suitcases while everyone was still climbing out of the bus. One of the last people to get out of the bus was one of the priests who was traveling with us. He didn't wear a "collar" or a cross or anything all week - just wore "normal" clothes - but that day, he decked himself out in his clergy gear. And when we got to the police checkpoint, I realized why. As soon as he stepped out of the bus, the police took one look at him, and started putting the suitcases back into the van. The participants explained that we were returning from a church sponsored workshop, so we obviously wouldn't be carrying any weapons with us. It really is amazing how much respect the clergy collar will get you here. In fact, I've heard stories of how busloads of people have avoided certain disaster because of the presence of nuns in their habits in the buses. Even the soldiers with their big guns respect men and women "of the cloth" here.

Once we made it back to Jb, the driver of the bus drove within a few blocks of our compound, on the main road. So rather than have someone drive across town to where the bus was planning to stop, I had the driver stop by the side of the road and I jumped out with my bags to walk the final few blocks home.

The fact that I was first of all taking the bus with the participants and not taking an air conditioned Land Cruiser or flying back to Jb made quite the impression on the participants, and then the fact that I picked up my bag and walked a few blocks to my home instead of being picked up in an air conditioned Land Cruiser, made quite the impression on these guys from the course. Sometimes they have odd notions about white people and our "prestige". Actually, status is a big thing here, so if you're anyone "important", you would never stoop to driving cross-country in a van, drinking water from a bore hole (it must be imported water from a plastic bottle!), or walking a couple of blocks with your bag. And so it's quite a big deal to have had the opportunity to show an example of the white foreign teacher who can join them in the van, drink rain water or water from a bore hole, and walk through the dust home, carrying her own bag! So I'm actually really glad that the Lord worked all of that out, too. And in fact, I quite enjoyed the bus ride back to Jb, as the landscape is really quite beautiful. And, well, I do have to admit that when they all insisted I sit up front in one of the best seats in the bus, well, I didn't argue too hard :) It was really nice to have a little extra space to stretch my legs and the opportunity to put a seatbelt on! Makes for a less stressful drive, that's for sure.

I've spent the rest of the weekend relaxing and resting from the heavy work of last week... and now it's getting rather late so I need to get to sleep so I can look forward to a good week back in the office here!