things i have learned lately

Letters from friends or family back home, be it a letter from family, a postcard from LA, or even from Japan (!) can make your day... slash week. I am having a great time here but of course being so isolated can lend itself to touches of homesickness here and there... which a letter or call or text from home easily makes better. I do still exist out here in my Mozambican village, and thank you so much to those of you who have contacted me... it really does mean the world.

Communications from home may be the most exciting thing ever, but other highlights are 1) receiving an US Weekly from my sister in the States--you have no idea how starved everyone is here for celebrity gossip--and 2) finding NUTELLA at shoprite. These events made my week significant;y more exciting!

Learning a language is extremely hard! Living everyday life in a new language is one of the most challenging things ever and I have a newfound respect for everyone who is able to communicate their feelings in their non-native tounge.

Relationships require time, and effort, but are the most rewarding aspect of life... be it relationships with family, friends at home, and newfound friends here, and life should reflect those priorities with how time is spent. I have messed up with that a lot in my life but it's nice to refocus!

Rain, and thunder, and LIGHTNING, are infinitely cooler out here in Africa. Rain on the tin roof sounds like a stampede of angry elephants, but there's something so raw about it and awesome.

Little things that remind you of home can be so exciting--I am in Maputo again today with friends--not accompanied by professors this time, we grow up so fast!!--and we had hamburgers and watched CNN election coverage (well, read the headlines, because the TV was muted). This was an AMAZING EXPERIENCE. As was the running water in the bathroom. I am really learning how to not take things in my life for granted.

Animals are amazing. Every time I see a herd of baby chicks running around outside my house, or goats, or what have you, it makes me very happy and I can't wait to have my own.

Holidays in Africa are a bit different. Meaning our holidays aren't celebrated here, but last night was Halloween so we had a little gathering, which was not really costumed and not really crazy, but fun just to spend time with new friends, which is important.

God is so faithful and He provides according to our needs.

I am learning so much here in Mozambique every day--not just about Mozambique and the culture and the HIV and AIDS pandemic and the Portuguese language, but also so much about myself. I am missing the States and my old life, but not in a way in which I am dwelling on it, but rather, using it as an opportunity to learn much more about myself and the person I am, and who I want to become.

Send me a letter. Or an US Weekly. My life in Africa wouldn't be the same if I didn't know how Angelina Jolie "got thin fast!"

But in all seriousness... much love to any one who might be out there reading this.

Court