It's getting real.

Today was the first time things became a little more real for me when I saw my first rural village and struggled with the language. The combination caused a moment of panic. I move in with a host family tomorrow and am expected to communicate with them speaking Chichewa, but I can just barely exchange simple greetings.

Time is absolutely flying. I canNOT believe I'll be living with a host family so soon. I feel unprepared, and I'm scared, but I've also been looking forward to this ever since I received my invitation. 

Today I made my first visit to a village. It was about a mile or so from the compound where we are staying. We walked through corn fields, gardens, past goats, road side stands, and long grass to get there. There's a lot I want to say about it, but ultimately I just feel like I need to process the whole thing. While I was as prepared as I could be, I still feel like the wind was knocked out of me. I don't know though, everyone else seemed just fine. Seriously though, those kids.

In all other aspects, I am incredibly happy with everything about my life right now.

The volunteers are amazing and I really feel like I've found my people! We care about the same things, we have the same worries, we all are living out our values, and love hanging out. Most importantly, we are all in this together, supporting one another and going through the same things together. The best part is, everyone feels the same way and says it often. I can only imagine this camaraderie grows as the struggles do. 

It sounds like 10-15% of the volunteer classes end up leaving each year either because they can't handle it, or in most cases, for medical reasons. Either way, this is a sad reality. 

There is a saying that I've heard multiple times since I've been here, "Nothing works in Africa, but everything works out."  I hope that saying is true to our experiences, at least the second part.

Anyway, tomorrow the real Malawian experience begins and with it my stomach is a ball of nervous excitement!