home again

On Saturday morning, I was informed that my grandfather passed away. Lalo, another trainee, listened to me, hugged at the appropriate moments, and took a walk with me when we should have been in a training session. I waited four hours to call my parents so that they would be awake. Because he is not an immediate family member and I'm still a Peace Corps trainee, I do not have emergency leave to go home but I have been given the vacation time. I decided to take the vacation because I cannot imagine not being at home with my family. The most difficult thing is trying to find a ticket. My parents could not buy one for me and I need a credit card in my hand in order to buy one for myself. Lisa Ellis, the country director, is going to buy my ticket for me and my parents are going to reimburse her. I will be flying out of Johannesburg on Tuesday night (about the same time that the funeral will be occuring at home) and start flying back on the 27th.
Although all of my time has been spent waiting and trying to organize a ticket, my fellow trainees and the current volunteers have been extremely supportive and I love everyone here. Pretoria is unreal compared to the villages that I have been spending time in. I'm nervous about missing training and adjusting back to the life here when I get home. Hopefully, I will up-date some more while I am at home.