Details
Life is in the details. So here is a list of some details about my new life that, let’s just say, will take some getting used to:
1. We have clean water! In 5 gallon containers, that you have to carry down four street blocks, up two flights of stairs, and then pour into other bottles to drink.
2. Hand washing all of my clothes - or swishing them around in soapy water, because let’s be honest it’s probably good enough.
3. Listening to an intense conversation in Creole and realizing a very large pig and several goats are just wandering next to us, which no one else really seems to notice.
4. Charging EVERYTHING when the power is on, because the electric company shuts it off at will to save money and you never know when you’ll be cooking and showering in the dark or sleeping without a fan on.
5. Trying to light a gas stove four times with no success, and then it explodes in your face.
6. 23 mosquito bites…just on my left hand…51 if you count the whole arm. #Iwokeuplikethis
7. Zero traffic rules; really anything goes here.
8. Bleach for everything: washing food, washing hands, washing dishes, it is literally used for everything we consume. That’s probably okay, right?
9. Cold showers - which aren’t really too bad in this heat because you are constantly covered in a combination of dirt and sweat. All day, everyday.
10. Cooking dinner from scratch, which starts with buying produce from the market, cleaning the produce, then spending what sometimes takes hours to prepare it.
11. Sharing the apartment I already love with fire ants, spiders, mice, and cockroaches that I already hate.
12. PB and crackers for breakfast, PB and crackers for lunch, PB and crackers for snack…Oh but wait, now there are ants in the crackers.
Still, at the same time that I’m surrounded by so many different and foreign things, God has also surrounded me with a beautiful community, full of beautiful people that have gone above and beyond to welcome me into their family. It may be a huge adjustment, but with that comes a great sense of excitement.
