Sometimes I Forget Why I Love This Place

Sometimes I forget why I love this place.  You know, like when the power goes out just as I’m getting to the best part of a movie.  Or when the Internet goes out just as I’m FINALLY catching up with a good friend from home.  Or when it starts raining dogs and cats just as I am getting ready to go somewhere.  Or when I eat something from a restaurant I go to all the time and wake up puking my guts out at 3 o’ clock in the morning.  And then it happens again the very next week.  And the next.  Or when all I want for dinner is a fish brochette, and I go to a restaurant to find that the fish is “finished.”  Or when my entire body is infested with ringworm and then I go for a run for the first time in ages and I get nice and sweaty and come home to find out that there is no water to wash off the stench which inevitably means ten or so more ringworm lesions will pop up on my body causing me more itchy, sleepless nights which in turn give me a cold which makes me grumpy, and no one wants to be around me when I’m grumpy.  Really, though…you don’t.

But then I remember the contagious laughter of the senior class for whom I performed my rendition of a popular Rwandan pop song, “Igipimo.”  And the children who run barefoot down the road with me to keep me company while I run.  And the five magnificent volcanoes that tower over my town. And the hugs I get from my students everyday at school.  And the thousand lush, green hills that surround me. And the enlightening conversations I have with some of the most incredible people in the world.  And the sweet smile of my house girl who has faced more adversity in her life than any of you could even begin to fathom, yet cleans our house with infectious bliss day in and day out.  And the beautiful babies tied on the backs of their hard working mothers.  And the joyous singing and dancing of children at an orphanage.  And the cute little geckos that scamper over the walls.  And the sweetest little bananas and the most luscious pineapples and the most delicious avocados in the world.  And the inspiring artists and the burgeoning art scene.  And the fact that I can wear my Chacos literally everyday.  And the smiles and smiles and smiles that go on for… kilometers.