Things I'll Miss

It is always difficult leaving this place I have come to love so much and so today, while sitting in a cafe, I sat down to make a list of the things that I will miss.  This was not as easy as it sounds because the first things that come to mind are all things that I will miss simply because they remind me of how nice life in the US is (i.e. cheap massages).  Instead, I wanted a list of things that I will miss about Ethiopia, not things that I will miss just because they are better/cheaper here than America.  Here is what I came up with: ~I will miss the omnipresent Ethiopia shirts, hats, and scarves that illustrate the ubiquitous nationalist pride in spite of the country's problems; ~I will miss the random conversations with people on minibuses who are genuinely interested in you (or at least your "whiteness") but interested nonetheless, ~I will miss desperation and danger of everyday life in Addis, ~I will miss the mundaneness of seeing polio, elephantiasis, and terrible burn patients in the street every day; ~I will miss Shabbat at Rick's; ~I will miss the people's religious devotion and tolerance of each other's beliefs; ...And above all else, ~I will miss the rain on the tin roofs.