What I Like and What I Don't

Things I like:

1. Amazingly hospitable people, really amazing. We are always offered a drink and food when we visit someone. And if they come over to our house, the women almost always put themselves to work, against my pleas that they just rest! I think my dishes have been washed 4 different times by people coming to visit us! Yesterday someone helped me sweep and mop!

2. The tuk tuk's -- little covered scooters with expanded seats so the whole fam can fit. For under a dollar, the whole family can get a ride to the center of town (at least a 20 min walk with kids in tow).

3. Fresh food. I love knowing that the food I'm eating is maybe 3 days old by the time I buy it. Can't say that for the Price Chopper produce--it got ripe on a truck on it's way from California.

4. The warmth of a fire every night.

5. Ingenuity in light of scarcity--for example, we have something called a pila (a deep sink) to wash clothes/dishes in. The water was spraying everywhere and a friend grabbed a shopping bag, tied it onto the faucet and sha-bam, instant spray hose!

6. The view, especially in the morning. The sun is almost always shining and I walk out on my way to our kitchen (which is separate from the rest of the house) to see the mountains checker-boarded with fields of corn and trees.

7. All the exercise we get just by taking care of everyday necessities. Lots more walking and just more work to keep things clean, etc. I feel healthier here than back in NY and I think the exercise is a big part of it...and the fact that I'm in my second trimester helps too. :)

8. I almost forgot one of my favorite things...how kind people are to our kids. And in general, people here love kids, teenagers, men, women, everyone. When the kids meet some of our friends for the first time, immediately they want to hold the kids and touch Lucy's curly hair. The women will often tie Levi on them and carry him around. It's awesome.

Things I don't love:

1. People thinking we're rich because we're North Americans.

2. The dust, which I'm told is only going to get worse. My kids are filthy--but so happy being outside so much. Can't really complain.

3. How Lucy has become obsessed with "helping" light the fire! NO NO NO!! Freaks me out!

4. The lack of government investment in it's people. For example, there's a little boy here who's 3 years old and doesn't talk at all, just grunts. His parents don't know what's wrong and don't have the money to find out or to treat it if they did find out. It makes me so angry to realize that if he were in the US, he'd have Special Ed services just like Lu got. He'd have a personal Speech Therapist, Special Ed teacher and maybe other helpers. I'm grateful for what we had for Lucy and what it taught me that I can continue and I wish this little boy had the same.

5. The vast amount of hungry stray dogs and the drunk men on market day. They make me sad.

6. Showers that are unpredictably hot or cold and that predictably have low water pressure. I LOVE long hot showers. It is one of my indulgences. Oh well, that one will have to wait till we make it back to NY at the beginning of the summer...when I'll least want a warm shower, aw man!

Overall, I'm really happy here and the kids are happier here than couped up in snowy Albany. We feel amazingly blessed and lucky. Thanks to all of you who are supporting us. :)