Evidently, I was supposed to bring my passport with me to the meeting yesterday. I must have missed the memo, but it's not that big of a deal. I'm getting it mailed to me, and it'll be here in time.

Holy shit. I'm going to The Gambia. It's just beginning to sink in. We met yesterday to discuss the nitty gritty things-- what we'll eat, how many bathrooms there are, shoes off at the door. That kind of thing. And that's what really makes you sit back and say to yourself, "this is real," you know? It was all hypothetical before, but now I know where to put my shoes.

I'm going to West Africa.

I'm rather excited.

My only complaint: I was somewhat unhappy about the food we talked about, but I knew I would be. You see, dear reader, I am vegan. The reasons for my diet are many, but I don't want to go into them now. I've been vegan for over a year now. I no longer view meat as food, and eggs/dairy are also starting to fall into non-food territory. I mean it, too. It's very strange for me to think that people eat meat, or that I once did.

The Gambia is not vegan-friendly. In fact, it's not even vegetarian-friendly. I had already resigned myself to omnivory for those 7 weeks, but actually talking about the meals was unsettling.

In other news, I watched a documentary about birth earlier today: The Business of Being Born. It reinforced both my negative feelings about medical-model birthing and my desire to have my hypothetical child at home, or at least with a midwife. There were a few clips of home births in the film, and they were just magical. Birth is so primal, so uncontrolled. It boils a woman down to her essence, and there she is, sweaty and in pain, but beautiful and powerful. And then, suddenly, there's a woman and a baby, and she's crying and laughing, and the baby is so perfect and covered in goo, and you can't help but cry and laugh with her. And that's just a clip. Jesus.

I have this really strong awareness of my own reproductive potential. It sometimes threatens to overwhelm me. Back, reproduction, back! I have a few things I want to do first.