We have learned the importance of patience more than ever. Whether it is being patient for the water to come back on, or the electricity, or patient with a difficult colleague at work or patient with each other when we are having a bad day. Also, because we are together so often, sometimes for days at a time with little to do, we have learned to communicate our needs and feelings. To be able to realize when you need some alone time has been so important. Even though we love spending time together, there are times where we need to be apart, for both of our sanity. We knew there would be great times and difficult times and I am so glad that we have been able to navigate these successfully and have grown closer than ever. It is also really great to be able to model what a marriage from America is like. In Ethiopia, many times the husband goes out with friends while the wife stays at home and takes care of the kids and does 95% of the housework. Sylvia and I go out together in the community as partners, hang out together, drink coffee together and work together on household tasks. It is fun to have conversations about relationships in America and what it means to have mutual respect and share the house workloads equally. I have challenged many of my male counterparts at the school to try and help their wives more in the home and motivate their sons to do the same. I don’t think I realized what a great example we could be and how much we could model these healthy relationship norms. This has been very rewarding and I hope that it has some sort of impact on our community.
I remember a cheesy quote from our PST that someone said about how ‘change is inevitable, but growth is optional.’ This is so true and as I look back on the past almost two years I am amazed at how much we have grown. Serving in the Peace Corps as a couple is the way to do it. You get double living stipend (which means more Ferengi food and beers), if you really love each other you wash each other's dirty underwear by hand, and of course you get to share this life changing experience together and all the great memories that goes with it for the rest of your lives. We are so lucky to have each other.