Life in the Peace Corps is all about small joys. The joys of finally using past tense in a sentence. The contentedness that comes from unexpectedly spending an hour discussing the merits of raising chickens versus ducks, all in French, with a family you had thought yourself sick of. The joy of shaking because Attaya, the local tea you just drank at the cafe, is so concentrated you can feel the caffeine coarsing through your veins as if you had injected it (that wasn’t so much a joy as a funny moment to look back on). Egg sandwichs for lunch, cooked fresh with onions by a man who calls you “mon ami” (everyone is mon ami here). Tea in the mornings during break. Unexpectedly joyous responses to the salues called out to each person you pass. Playing a hand holding game with a tiny kid who, unlike every other child here, doesn’t run at you screaming “Fote!.” Perhaps he is too young.

Sometimes it seems that the best moments in life are the unexpected ones. And those moments only happen if you open yourself to them in difficult times. I could have come home and gone straight to my room, but instead I decided to sit down for a bit and I ended up having the best conversation I have ever had with my host dad. Part of the reason that how I act in difficult situations interests me so much is because it seems like those are the times when true bonds are formed, when true character is revealed, and when friendships move beyond mere convenience. And those moments are always a test, because its easiest to run away from the situation, or to react with hurt or anger or pride. My personal poison is to run away, especially when I don’t know people well. But on those occassions when I have stuck around, either because I decided to or because there was no other option, I’ve generally had surprising and pleasing results.

There are lots of reasons that keep a volunteer in the Peace Corps, fighting to make a tiny difference in a completely different, and significantly less comfortable, world. I think one of those things is the development of small daily sources of joy. Beyond determination, willpower, having nothing to go back to, and the other reasons I’ve heard, I think the small joys, the tiny bits of progress, are what keep us here enjoying our lives and feeling like we are making a difference, even if it is in the eyes of a young girl who gains a bit of confidence in herself, or a man who begins to think of his possibilities in a new light.