Moment by Moment

I’m sure you’re all familiar with the phrase “Just take life one day at a time.” But really, I am telling you that life is simply moment by moment. I will define moment for you, as I did one afternoon this week for Marisa, as ranging anywhere from 1 minute to 39 minutes.  Why 1 minute to 39 minutes? Well, it just seems like the right amount of time for a “moment” in life at Muyenzi. In my interpretation of the phrase one day at a time, I assume that some days are good, some are not so good, but overall appreciate every day that you have. Now, referring to moments at a time, some moments are good, some are not so good, some are really quite awful, but overall appreciate every moment that you have. I might also insert the cliché “what doesn’t kill you makes you stronger,” since that thought has also occurred to me multiple times in the few months that we’ve lived here, but I don’t want to worry all of you….

Let me illustrate my “moment by moment” mentality.

Today’s post begins with Sunday November 25. This was our last day in Mwanza, and we had planned to move to a nicer hotel for the night, so we could take a hot shower, spend time on our computers, and generally just relax and enjoy our day. Current mood: good! We packed up, called a taxi, and went to our hotel of choice, only to find out it was booked, and really far from the bus stand. Current mood: bummed, but hopeful. Our taxi driver suggested we stay near the bus stand (since our bus departed at 4:30 the next morning), and drove us to the hotel across the road from the stand. However, this was on the very outskirts of town and ended up being a very expensive taxi ride, 20,000Tsh, while the room for the night was 18,000Tsh. Current mood: frustrated. But what can you do. So we get into our room for the day, only to find that it is swarming with mosquitos, the hot water certainly does not work, and we are only given one towel to share between the two of us. Current mood: this is a disaster. But good news is, there’s a TV that works, so we flip on an MTV reality show about a high school cheerleading squad. What? Current mood: in shock by this reality, but doing slightly better. Then we were hungry, so we went just down the road to a little restaurant. What’s on the menu? Rice and beans. Mmm. But the rice had rocks and the beans were overcooked. Current mood: get me out of Mwanza. We head back to the hotel after barely finishing our plates, and spend the afternoon typing up blogs and checking emails. We were also able to take an actual shower, which is always the best, even if the water is cold. Current mood: I’m SO Clean!!! For dinner, we walked down the road to another hotel, which seemed nice enough. We were the only people there for most of the night, yet it took over an hour for our bananas and chips to come. Current mood: hungry and over everything. Once the food finally came, it was decent enough so I won’t complain. Then a man walked in, who declared himself as Prince Simon! What? He was a Ugandan priest, who comes from a royal family. His father and grandfathers were kings, but under the current government, his title of prince is simply for heritage sake. He has travelled all over East Africa and South Africa, working as a missionary in schools, orphanages, and hospitals in several countries. He works closely with many international NGO’s as well, and his next project is to establish a school and hospital in southeastern Tanzania. How cool is that? He was very interested in our stories as well, and was impressed with our dedication to Tanzanian education. We exchanged contact information, so it will be interesting to see if/how we can help each other! Current mood: This is exactly why I am here! However, it is now dark and rainy outside and we need to walk back to our hotel. We made a break for it when the rain let up a little bit, but the road was really muddy, the cars were honking like crazy at us, and people were yelling Mzungu louder than ever. Current mood: I hate my life. Thankfully we made it back to our room in one piece, and I laid down to read and almost instantly fell asleep. Current mood: I survived another day…