Happy Anniversary!

So this weekend we had a reason to celebrate.  My fellow Limpopo volunteers of Peace Corps South Africa group 21 (we were missing one of the group!) got together to celebrate our one year anniversary of living in South Africa. I have a few pictures of our weekend in my photo album (we even went to a coffee place in town which was a highlight)!
And now for a bit of reflection time. I never thought I would make it this far. Through the application, leaving everything that I know and love, giving up the physical comforts of my very blessed American lifestyle, trying to figure out what I was supposed to be doing in my project (and how to communicate in another language which is still definitely a work in progress)…and now I will use a cliché. It is the toughest job you will ever love. And, strangely, I do love it. Not to say there aren’t moments (or, okay, let’s be honest, even days) that I have hated it. But I am so glad I took this leap. I am doing something that only a few people will ever have the chance to do. And what makes me love it the most to be honest are my interactions with the kids.  They see me as a part of America - a place that they will probably never get to see (and many of them will never even leave this village).  But I have this opportunity to share part of what America is and who I am with these kids. It seems less and less about the big things (although I’m still trying the big things and some work, some don’t). But the exchange and sharing of culture is something I will never again take for granted.

Here's to one year in South Africa!