Alright, it's been one week. Things are still challenging, but my perspective has changed. I have learned that 'learning to cope' is a privilege. If this is all I knew, I would have no difficulty; I would know no different. This being said, I find myself incredibly grateful for a myriad of things that are so simple, yet so missed when lacking. Case in point, this morning I am feeling grand for 2 reasons. 1) They served tea at breakfast. 2) Tonight I will have clean clothes.

A brief note about the tea... it was triumph turned tragedy, then remedied by selfless kindness. Once a day, most but not all days, we get to have tea at breakfast. Simple black tea, yet hot, soothing, and caffeinated... I like to hold my cup for a few minutes before drinking, enjoying the anticipation and contemplating what the fist sip will be like. WELL, this particular morning, a mosquito landed on my hand during my revelry. Always contemplating if 'this' mosquito is the one that will give me malaria, I got flustered and in a flurry of motion to get the miniature beast off of my hand, I dropped my sacred cup of tea. It was like watching the ice-cream fall off its cone before the first lick. Before I even had time to react, one of my teammates gave me their cup of tea reasoning that they would have the 'chai' later which they know I don't like. This was the nicest thing anyone could have done for me at this moment. It seems so dumb- a cup of tea, and yet when it is one of the only luxuries, this particular kindness was unparalleled. I think the greatest gifts do not depend on how big or how costly, but on the simply gesture behind them. I like this because it doesn't ration the potential for kindness on any level.

In respect to clean clothes, I have been wearing pretty much the same skirt since I've been here and rotating between 3 shirts. 3 AMAZING shirts that keep you cool all day. Anyway, there is a bucket in our room that we have tried to wash with, but due to the humidity, things do not dry and then they smell. 2 days ago, we heard rumors of a washing machine. This morning, we FOUND IT! It is armed by a very little woman who has insisted on washing our clothes for us (we will pay her). She speaks no English, but is very sweet. I couldn't even hold it against her when while organizing our things for washing, she held up my underwear for all to see...:)

Promise to write more soon. Please keep emailing, it's really nice.