Tuesday, December 28, 2010

Appreciation for everything will turn your life around.

Can you believe I've been in Rwanda almost 2 years?!?! I still can't wrap my head around it...time sure does fly. As my time winds down (only 3 months left...eek!), I thought I would list a couple of things I am going to miss:

~waking up to the sounds of my students singing
~my co-workers at FAWE Girls' School
~TEA BREAK!!
~hanging out in the staff room at FAWE
~laughing with my students
~my host family in Butare
~East African music
~bucket baths
~being in such close proximity to my Peace Corps family
~random kids on the street saying "Gooda morning teacher!" at any time of the day
~being called Uwineza
~the beautiful landscape of Rwanda
~the amazing moments when I realize the things I have been teaching are actually being learned and put into practice by my students
~all of the awesome friends I have made since being here
~my supervisor at FAWE (I have learned SO much from her)
~the warm welcome and feeling of inclusion that I received from the teachers I shared a compound with
~the feeling of pride and humility I get when my students get in front of their peers to teach the lessons we practiced together
~when my students can create a skit, song, poem, monologue to illustrate their thoughts/feelings on HIV/AIDS, decision making, goal setting, genocide, unity, women's empowerment, etc (in short...my students are ALL STARS!!)
~speaking Kinyarfranglish
~being late in American standards, but still being hours early by Rwandan standards
~Mama Goretti
~teaching new words to my Rwandan friends, and the look on their face when they see I am pleased that they are now using the word
~being mistaken for my Asian-American friend's mother or sister
~coming out of Nakumatt and all of the taxi drivers yelling my name and offering me rides home (kind of creepy, but still...)
~going over to my headmistress's house to watch Spanish soap operas dubbed into English, and laughing over a cup of tea
~isauci wa'umunowbwa (peanut sauce), ibitoki (plaintains, but not the sweet ones), urusenda (hot sauce & lots of it!), pilau (Muslim rice), dodo (when it's made just right), ibishyimbo (beans...the mushier the better), imineke (small little delicious bananas), and Muslim spiced tea
~Rwandan invitations (when they invite you out, they have to pay...haha!)

The simple joys, the little things that put a smile on my face, those are the things I'm truly going to miss.

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