It's interesting, how quickly life has changed over the past month. And now I'm in this world that finally feels somewhat normal. Yet I look at pictures or read stories online and find my mind drifting back over the ocean, back to a place and a people that still have a part of me.

In my creative writing class last year, we talked some about the idea of presence. What does it mean to be fully present? How can I fully be engaged here, when part of me is elsewhere? How can I integrate the two worlds, my two lives? I don't want South Africa to fade into a piece of nostalgia or a good story. It's so much more than that; it's an experience that has pressed upon my heart, affected me greatly. But has it changed me? Yes...no...it's so hard to tell...