annnnd 5 months later...i'm applying for the Peace Corps!

So naturally I decided to write one of the required essays about my experience in Kenya. I didn't expect to write anything particularly great, but once I got flowing I just couldn't stop and it ended up coming out as a really excellent summary of what Kenya taught me. So I thought I'd share it, in case any random strangers still check this. So here it is...

I had no idea what culture shock was until I went to Kenya. I realize now that no matter how much you've learned about where you're going, you'll never know how you're going to react until you get there. Riding on a cramped and bumpy bus through scraggly mountain coffee farms after flying for 20 hours and not getting any sleep, the only thought reverberating through my brain was that I was on another planet. I told myself that it was only my stomachache and tiredness causing me to react so weirdly, but it wasn't until finally getting off the bus and moving into our home for the summer that I began to feel a little bit calmer. Then something so awesome happened that I forgot totally about my nerves. We met the kids. In a dark little cement block dining room, the 45 orphans who we had come to help for the summer smiled shyly up at us, and then began to sing the most heartwarming song I have ever heard in their broken English "Our visitors! We are so glad to welcome you here today! We are so happy! We are very very happy!" they sang, and my fear melted away. All it took was to see their faces for me to realize that I was exactly where I wanted to be, where I had dreamed of coming for so long. Somewhere where I could make a real change. And I did make small changes, all summer long, whether it was by lifting one small cement block onto the walls of the new boys dormitory, or playing one game of tag with a beaming six-year-old girl.
The biggest changes came in me, however. I learned that you can build a dorm entirely by hand, that a smile means the same thing in any language, and that the most valuable things in life can't be bought with money. I adapted to living without air conditioning, cooking over a single burner, sharing a bedroom with bugs and lizards, and having nothing but a roll of TP when nature called. I learned that bus rides are more fun when shared with as many people and animals as possible (our record was 22 people and 2 chickens on one matatu). Sure, being in an unfamiliar culture was frustrating at times but I tried my best to take it all with a smile and chalk it up as part of "the experience." More than anything, I learned to listen. I listened to people talking and picked up more Swahili than I ever learned in class, I listened to orphans' stories and learned to never take my life for granted. And by the end of the summer, I listened to my heart telling me that this was it, there was no greater feeling in the world than to be in this place, so poor in possessions but so rich in beauty and spirit.