Happiness is…

*disclaimer* I wrote this post a little over a week ago, but my wordpress account and I have not been getting along and I couldn’t get anything to post for over a week 😦 so my apologies for that! I will do my best to post more regularly if my internet connection permits it 🙂

I have officially been in my host community for a little over 2 weeks, and wow so much has happened! As with any adjustment, there have been hard and frustrating moments, but there have also been many moments of joy and happiness.

So…what is happiness?

To me, happiness is:

The extreme amount of patience and grace that people have with me when I can’t even communicate basic things in Kinyarwanda.

The children in the village who are slowly learning that my name is not “muzungu” (white person), but Maria! (Marie is difficult to say sometimes, so now I just introduce myself as Maria haha)

The orange Fanta that my host father buys me a couple times a week because I had mentioned at one point that we have orange Fanta in the US.

The fact that my host brothers are VERY slowly becoming less shy around me. It is quite the process, but progress is being made.

PINEAPPLE. The pineapple here is easily the best I’ve ever had. It is unbelievably sweet, juicy and flavorful.

The comforting warmth of mugs filled with warm milk and mixed with coffee grounds and sugar that we drink everyday for breakfast and before bedtime.

The students at the primary school I am working at asking me hundreds of questions everyday. The questions range from “What is your name?” to “What is the tallest mountain in the world?” to “How many airports are there in the USA?”. Their curiosity is endless and I love how excited they get when they successfully say something correct in English!

Unexpectedly joining the teacher’s volleyball team at my school! This last week we had a game against a rival school and I even got to play in2 out of the 3 sets. I’m not very good, but I had a ton of fun.

The smile on my host mother’s face when she quizzed s me on Kinyarwanda verbs and nouns, and I answer one correctly! (I get more wrong than I do right, but hey, at least I get some correct!)

The beauty of modern technology and the fact that al of my friends, family, and most importantly my dog (just kidding, Mom!), are all just a video call away.

Most importantly, happiness is the extreme amount of grace and hospitality I have received so far in my host community. The fact that they were willing to take in a complete stranger who can barely speak their language continues to astound me! They are some of the most generous and genuinely kind people I have ever encountered, and I am so blessed to get to spend almost a year with them.

Until next time!

Marie