appreciation.

i feel like i have been talking and thinking a lot about what i don't like about the culture and experience here in tanzania. so, i figured i should discuss what it is exactly that sticks inside my soul and has burned inside my heart since the minute i left last year...

i love the clean smell in the air right before it rains. i love the taste of the mangoes. i enjoy driving on the road as wild aloe plants and sunflowers grow wildly alongside of my journey.

i love the village children and hearing their voices say "good morning", regardless of the time of day. i love the classroom songs and little dances the children perform after a student answers a question correctly.

i admire the general carefree attitude, (despite its tendency to veer towards complete inefficiency :) ).

i love pretending not to care what time of day it is, so i too can be on "african time", but secretly checking my phone just in case.

i adore local churches and hearing the songs of praise and appreciation for all their gifts from god. i love even more looking at their drawings of their future church... a real concrete building where they can worship as soon as they raise enough money.

i love meeting people who know it is their mission in life to help the less fortunate in their country. people who have little themselves, but unconditionally give because that is just what you do for people who have less.

i love sitting on couches of families in the slums and listening as they tell me how they just saved up enough to start building their own home. they show me floor plans and the ten bricks they have begun to accumulate for when the time comes.

i love seeing hope in people's eyes.

i love watching children learn and knowing that this desk, this chalkboard and this teacher is their one chance to overcome everything they've ever known. that even if they don't understand it today they will one day realize, it is education that gave them wings.

i love telling people they're beautiful and watching them smile from one ear to the other and knowing that despite their un-brushed teeth and dirty clothes, they are indeed truly beautiful people.

i love the untouched beauty of the country. the wild animals and trees... they are images i had previously only seen in dr. suess books, but here they are real and more alive then in any zoo or garden you could ever imagine.

while i could go on forever... the most important thing of all is the feeling you get. it's something un-describable. something you have to see to truly understand.