Random story time - all about love

No I’m not in love (don’t worry!)…but I love being here! Sometimes days I’m not expecting to turn out well go much better than expected – and for that I am tremendously thankful. (Maybe that’s the low expectations thing Eva told us during orientation before we left!) Many things about being here have been an exercise in patience, flexibility and letting go of myself, my desires and plans, etc. Now I try to “go with the flow” and trust God will use me in a good way if I just go with whatever ends up happening (for a planner and achiever like me this isn’t easy but it has been rewarding!). I love God’s wisdom and the way he places me in certain places at certain times.

One day recently I had a fair amount of things looming over me at work, including planning for the afternoon’s lesson that I was told to teach but didn’t think was the best lesson, so I wasn’t too excited about work that day. I had a couple interruptions in the morning and the people only showed up for the interview not long before class was supposed to begin, so I was almost 30 minutes late to English class. That day refraining from saying “No” to doing things when others asked me to (despite it not being an ideal time for me) was rewarded – there was a situation down at the school that meant we started class an hour late so I wasn’t late at all! (A truck plowed through our makeshift fence and a small tree on our property…Why?...no working brakes! Thank goodness none of the students were outside and nothing was currently planted on our field!!) Oh and the lesson went really well too; it’s fun teaching on my own – my students are really motivated and try hard to speak a lot of English when there’s no teacher to translate for them!! I love my students.

Last Saturday I got to attend my coworker’s dowry ceremony, my first time to any part of a marriage here in Rwanda. These ceremonies precede the church wedding and are highly traditional. Decked out in my traditional women’s fancy clothes that were borrowed for the occasion and near a somewhat decent English speaker, I was able to enjoy the ceremony very much. Many small gifts were given from the husband’s family (such as drinks, a hoe, and who knows what else) and lots of funny round-about talking was going on about other girls in the family he could marry and how many cows the husband’s family had (no cows are actually given anymore but they are symbolic of the gift) before they acknowledged the actual bride and groom. Then they made their big entrance, the groom and groomsmen wearing capes and carrying staffs and the women had traditional women’s clothing (with feather boa necklaces)…what a sight! I love learning about the culture here.

Valentine’s Day is perhaps the most similar holiday here to the US, although there is much less marketing here. In English class we made and decorated paper hearts (fold paper in half and cut) which they were quite excited about. I also made heart shaped sugar cookies and had some heart lollipops to give to them. We even got in some English practice with writing on the paper hearts and having an English competition to hand out the cookies, so it was fun yet productive! My evening was filled with delicious food from an Asian restaurant, good conversation with friends, and a bedtime snack of heart shaped Reese’s PB cups (thanks to my wonderful mom!!). It was a good day. I love my friends and family, both here and back in the US.

PS – If you’re interested, I put new photos up on facebook.