Gratitude has been building up inside me as I have waited to make time to write. Even now, I should be sleeping, but what is one more late night.

Today I came home to loads of clean laundry and a clean house for the cost of a nice dinner out. As a Peace Corps Volunteer, I do not have money to waste, but every lishumi (E1, about 7 cents) of this now weekly cost will be money well spent.

I am also grateful for being able to walk to and from work, and the difficulty crossing the street even at an intersection (Swazis do not give pedestrians the right of way, and neither do they stop if there is no oncoming traffic at stop signs), is worth not riding public transportation to get everywhere.

I am grateful for the staff at my apartment complex who speak to me in siSwati, and my coworkers who also test my siSwati knowledge every day.

Speaking of work, I am grateful to be thrown fully into the fire with some serious tasks and truly do find myself in a position at the intersection of journalism and public health. My responsibilities are still in progress, but I am excited for the possibilities.

Fun side note: this is the first time in all of my working years that I am working all of my work hours at one place and working during the day (except for that internship in NYC). I still don’t have a 9-5 job because we start at 7:45 a.m., but that’s not a big deal.

And finally, I am grateful to not be woken at 5:45 a.m. by loud music, but I have been cursed with waking up at 5:45 a.m. every morning since I moved anyway, even though my alarm is set for 6:30 a.m. At least with the music I knew why I was awake; I haven’t figured this out yet.

Baking for the week

• German chocolate cake for a friend’s birthday

Media for the week

• I finished Kindred by Octavia Butler and you should drop everything and read it right now. It was incredible. Our other book club choice for the month is The Storyteller by Jodi Picoult, which listened to on audiobook but am rereading because it was also wonderful. And someday, I will finish the Hamilton biography.
• I’ve watched a slew of movies: Coraline was the last movie I watched with my kids. Since then, I’ve watched Black Panther, Save the Last Dance, Moonlight, the live-action Beauty and the Beast, Invictus, and Angus, Thongs, and Full-Frontal Snogging.