Shout-outs and Lists

Hello everyone.

I am going to begin by giving a huge shout-out to Mary from Holy Cross. She sent me an AWESOME care package with lots of goodies and treats. But it was the way she labeled everything that was a really creative and fun idea. It brightened up my day. I ate a lot of the chocolate (NOTE TO EVERYONE: CHOCOLATE DOES MAKE IT IN THE MAIL) already. If you do send things, however, make sure that you wrap it carefully, so the ants don’t get in. I hate the ants. They’re everywhere.
So, if you want your very own shout-out in my blog, send me an awesome care package. It’s kind of like buying your own ad space before the movie starts I the movie theater. Does it still take 20 minutes before the actual start of the movie and the proposed time that the movie is supposed to start?
Anyway, this is a good time to list off some great ideas for care packages.
What to send me:
Snacks (Chips – preferably cheese/sour cream/or olive oil, tomato and Romano cheese flavored; peanuts, yummy snacks in a bag or sealed container)
Sweets (Junior Mints, Hershey Kisses, Junior Mints, York Peppermint Paddies, Junior Mints, Mini Junior Mints, Twizzlers, and anything that is in a bag or box, M&Ms, Junior Mints, anything Dark Chocolate) – As you can see, sweets are hard to come by here.
Pictures – I would love to know what’s going on with you guys. The funnier they are, the better.
CD Mixes – I am probably missing out on awesome, awesome music that you all listen to. Send them my way.
And just be creative.

Next list…
Here is a list of things that the other community mates and I came up with that deal with what we have taken for granted back at home now that we live a very simple lifestyle. Hopefully this list will give you a better perspective into how my life has changed in this short time:
Things We Have Taken For Granted:
-Leaving food out (here they get bombarded by ants)
-Getting food at any time of food whenever you wanted it
-shower
-hot water
- vending machines
- power (it goes off allllllllll the time here)
- copy machines
- nice mattresses
- going places by myself
- paved roads
- internet
- steak, pasta, fresh food, basically any good food
- (for girls) pants – they’re not allowed to wear pants here
- season changes
- the cold, snow, autumn
- public transportation
- a bug-free environment (here, just because you’re indoors, does not mean that there will be less bugs around)
- paper products
- recycling
- basic waste management (thank you Mafia, you kept home so clean)
- radio
- movie theaters (there are none here)
- current world news
- cheese and Junior Mints
- that things actually start on time (here we have something called “island time”…you kind of just show up when you feel like it)
- wounds would heal rather than fester
- having to dry everything completely
- the lack of humidity – also not sweating all of the time
- everyone knows the same language
- things are reliable (construction, computers, businesses)
- long evenings (it always gets dark after 6:30 here)
- carpets!


Here is a list of things that we will probably realize we have taken for granted once we leave this place in two years.
- eating or drinking a coconut whenever we wanted to
- our students (sometimes)
- how diverse our community is
- baked bananas with coconut milk
- ocean/lagoon view
- no snow
- papaya
- walking around barefoot everywhere
- eating fish with the heads on them
- seeing the entire Milky Way at night
- palm trees everywhere
- the quietness/peacefulness
- no TV
- slow pace of life
- no bombardments of advertisements (I hate that!)
- connection with nature
- a little candy you get instead of receiving change (once a store I was at ran out of pennies, so instead of getting 3 cents I got 3 pieces of candy)

If I think of any more I’ll write them down later. But this should give you a pretty good idea of what we have and don’t have, and how that puts a different perspective on things. If you have any questions, send them this way. And send packages. Sending love is fine too I guess.