Give Thanks with a Grateful Heart

Just a small list of simple things I will never take for granted ever again:

1)      Hot water

Brrrrrr.
There are two taps. Left = cold. (occasionally luke warm....for 1 min) Right = freezing. 

2)      Electricity!! 

3)      High speed and consistent internet connection (For those Skype convos!)

4)      Varieties of food

5)      Being able to understand and speak a country’s language

6)      Not having to worry about Malaria (and constantly spraying on deet)

7)      Having a printer!

8)      Bugs that are no bigger than my finger (The last centipede was the stuff of NIGHTMARES I tell ya. Me: “JEFF KILL IT!!!!” Jeff: “I’M TRYING!!!” Jeff throws his flip flop on a MASSIVE black centipede and tries to whack it with his other flip flop....which fails to do anything but give Mr. Centipede a nice back massage. And then it crawls off to who knows where. Wily Mr. Centipede who is the size of my hand still lurks in our house. ::SHIVER :: )

9)      Having a fridge that is actually cold...and that has a door that doesn’t come off the hinges every time you open it

10)  Being able to drink tap water! Mmmm... nothing like the taste of water tablets

11)  Not having to worry about being run over by motorcycles and dalla dallas when crossing the road (Martha had quite the close call today)

12)  Blending in and not being pointed out as Mzungus/giant targets/suckers everywhere we go!

13)  Having more than 2 tops and 4 skirts to wear (sorry, such a first world problem.)

And a few simple things I will MISS

1)      Buying fresh fruit and avocados off the street that come straight off the trees

The most perfect avocado EVAR

2)      Best Bite!! (Martha begs to differ)

3)      Pop in reusable bottles

4)      Perfect weather

5)      MILK and tropical clusters (I’m kind of obsessed)

6)      Being greeted by everyone

7)      Beautiful surroundings (such diverse EVERYTHING here)

Imagine these...in every possible colour. EVERYWHERE.

8)      The kids! The kids!

9)      ALL THE PEOPLE HERE. WISH I COULD TAKE THEM HOME WITH ME. (okay, maybe not ALL)

10)  The happy, optimistic, chill, relaxed, welcoming TIA culture

11)  Dalla dalla rides! (So darn cheap, convenient and fast)

12)  How far the Canadian dollar goes here (beer for a dollar, what?!)

13)  Living with the Tanzacrew! (Our music sharing sessions, our in depth conversations over dinner or beers, power outage nights, dance parties in taxis, dusk runs)

All I can say is that I’m so thankful and blessed to be here in Tanzania, at this fieldwork placement, in this house, with this group of people. And we should all remember to be grateful for EVERYTHING that we have wherever we are, now and always.