Tanzania.

One year ago today, i was starting the adventure of a lifetime.

it turned me around, made me think differently about what i have, where i live, and how i lived.

i still wish i was there right at this second.

i remember everything.  it's been a long year with a lot going on, but i still remember.

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i remember dreading this day, June 4th.  i wanted to go, but i dreaded the day i had to say goodbye.  to everyone.  to my house.  to my house.  to my lifestyle.  for 10 days.  but i had no idea what i was in for.  it was the experience of a lifetime.

i remember sitting on our brown chairs at 3:40 in the morning.  waiting.  there were butterflies in my stomach.  i did not want to go.  and once i got to the airport, i sat there staring for about 30 minutes waiting for everyone.  i barely ate anything for breakfast.  and i just wanted to go back home.  i was so excited.  but i was also super nervous.  "did i pack everything i need?" questions like that were floating inside my head.  i remember.

i'd rather not talk about the plane rides, but now i have a moment to tell you about everything else.  the things you've never heard or read about my trip...

the moment i stepped out of the plane (outside), i took a deep breath.  my shoes were touching the concrete.  but not the concrete i knew.  this was tanzania.  we got to the hotel in the dark.  i remember being handed some sort of juice.  i was too tired to care.  i drank it and slowly followed the ladies bring our bags to our room.  it was a long and windy concrete sidewalk.  and all i wanted was to sleep.  so i did.

the next morning, i woke up, and put my skirt on.  i was excited.  "yes i made it to tanzania!!!!!!"  we went on a long and windy, dirt road for about 3 hours.  there were so many animals along the road.  when we got there, i saw the 300 kids, and i just wanted to get out of that car!  when we finally did, i stood there, holding their hands.

that was the moment i remember the most.  i held their hands and talked to them with the little english they knew.  some of them held up some things like a rock or a stick and asked me what it was in english.  and then a few of them would go and tell it to their friends.  if i didn't know what it was, they would laugh.  but it was a game.  it was fun.

i learned a few of their hand games.  i got to experience their classrooms in a normal basis.  i got to hold my sponsors hand and talk to her mom.  i got to walk on the streets of tanzania.  i got to experience tanzania.  it was the best experience i have ever had in my life.

i was free.  i remember sitting on the playground with my dad after all the kids went home from school, just feeling the wind in my hair and listening to the donkeys miles away.  i remember seeing the way the kids there lived.  it was an amazing feeling.  thats where i realized i have so much.  they sleep on nothing.  their clothes are filthy.  there faces are a mess.  and yet they don't realize it.

we met a pastor at a church we visited who used to do witch craft.  i saw his home.  and yet he still thanked God for it.  he prepared a goat for our dinner.  a goat is half a persons wealth there.  that is like taking a person out to a very expensive restaurant and saying "have whatever you want.  desert, anything".  the wholes in his ears were ginormous.  he was very tall and almost scary looking but he was the nicest person.

there are so many people i can go on about.  (and i will this week)

thank you for reading this.  thank you for supporting me.  for praying for me on this trip.  it couldn't have been better.  and i regret nothing.

{this week, tomorrow through next friday, i will do my best with pictures, and more stories from my trip.}