Focusing On The Positive

I doubt my blog is going to be used by Peace Corps recruiters anytime in the near future to convince potential volunteers of how rewarding the experience of Peace Corps is. Obviously my blog has been a downer lately, and it should be, because it is my primary means of communication with my world back home, and I have been struggling lately. I write what I feel, that is important to me. Even when I feel mostly frustrated with being here there are moments, however, and reflections that are truly rewarding, I've had a few of those this last week, and I feel they also need to be shared.

I live a very comfortable life here. I have much more than I need, and much much more than the local people have. It is amazing living off of about 2-3 USD per day (we are actually paid 5-10 but in the village I rarely spend more than 2 a day).

I like the fact that I've been washing my own clothes by hand for the past year plus. It is rough on the hands, tiresome, and not always fun, but it is somehow rewarding to me to live without the benefit of machines to perform basic tasks. It isn't something I would ever want to do in the US, but I value having had the opportunity to live in a different way.

This is Africa. (TIA) We say this when we don't have much of an explanation for why things are so back assward here. Walking from my village trading center to my home the other day I paused to look around. African children were playing, women in traditional African dresses were walking to the village, a man was farming his small plot of land by hand using very basic tools, goats were everywhere, and there are no paved roads within miles. When you deal with it every day the experience sometimes becomes more of an annoyance than a reward. I'm certainly not going to claim that I feel the experience makes it worth it or that overall I enjoy the experience, but moments like the one I observed do sometimes bring a smile to my face. So few people will have the opportunity to live like I have lived the past year. The experience, if not wonderful, is surely incredible, and not even I can dismiss the value of having lived in an incredible way for an extended time period.

If nothing else, I think being in Africa has confirmed once again what my passion is in life. I am never happier in this country than when I am teaching. Even though I have to use an inefficient translator and 90% of the students just stare at me blankly, I love every second I am actually teaching a lesson.