Nostalgia

Today in my free time I started thinking about home and all of the things I miss. It’s okay every once in a while to remember where you come from to understand where you are. One thing is Dunkin Donuts coffee! Here we have instant coffee that you pour into hot water. Definitely not the same. I was also texted by the other volunteer from NH and he asked if I miss being able to say wicked. I totally agreed that I miss saying all the normal things I say at home. With a language barrier I have to keep my vernacular pretty simple.

I also miss my friends and family. Especially my family. It’s nice to get to talk to them on Skype and swap stories about what is going on. However, I miss spending quality time with them and sitting and having Harry Potter marathons on Sunday nights. I miss getting to drive a car. I miss walking in the snow and feeling it fall on my eyelashes. I miss being able to take a hot bath when I’m having a bad day. I miss being able to go get an ice cream. I miss coming home from a long day and talking to my mom and dad. I miss talking to my brother about being "the chosen one" (Harry Potter reference). I miss telling my sister she's a ninny and i'm kind of a big deal, people know me (Anchorman reference).

Now that I’ve contemplated on what I miss I think it’s healthy to balance it with things I love about Namibia. I love my new puppy Hunter. I love my new friends I’ve made. I love walking and exercising. I love that I am eating new foods that I don’t eat at home. I love the stars at night. There is NOTHING like a starry night in Africa. I love the sun sets. I love my learners. I love teaching. I love feeling confident and independent. I love my new sense of myself and others. I love learning a new language. I love dancing to the music here. I love the other volunteers. I love being challenged.

Being able to keep a balanced life is pretty important. I think I’m able to better understand what that means when I threw myself into a situation where I felt so unbalanced at first. I am challenged all of the time with my environment and interactions. I am quickly learning to let things go that truly do not matter and hold onto things that do. Seeing one of my learners faces light up today when I shared some of my music with him for his phone was wonderful. I got frustrated with my 8B class and lectured them about laughing at other people. Even teachers because yes, we do have feelings too. I cannot pronounce their names, but at least I am trying. Picking your battles is important. I have a lot more to learn and I think in life we never stop learning. But at least I can say I’m still soaking it in and learning from mistakes and triumphs.

Peace and Love,
Chels