Reflection # 3

Living simply.

I really do.

When I first moved into my Santa Ana apartment, (un-furnished, which contained literally a bed, a fridge, a Coleman stove, a small table, and 2 plastic chairs,) the first thing I did was make a long list of things I needed to buy.
I no longer remember exactly what was on that list, but let me tell you, it was long. Area rugs, lamps, pictures, art for the walls, pillows, plastic cabinets, plastic storage, chairs, furniture, shoe rack, cooking utensils, etc.
Know what I bought from that list?
A pillow and two small pictures to hang on the walls.
That´s it.
Hahaha. I told myself that each month, I would treat myself to buying something new and exciting for the house. (Lamps, chairs, etc.) And then as the months passed, I realized how much I really didn´t need any of those things.
Yes, they are things that we have and demand in our U.S. homes and lives, but somehow, one does just fine without all these things! (Stange how that is..)
Yes, my living room is bare, (to the point where a couple of people have asked, ¨oh, do you teach salsa lessons here!?¨, because my living room literally is a bare tile floor with a mirror) HAHA. No, I do not, thank you very much. I just don´t have a lot of furniture. To the point where my living room resembles a dance studio :)
But I haven´t felt at all uncomfortable in my simple house and living style.
Granted, there are a few sacrifices.
I would really love an oven sometimes! But, like anything else, I have adapted. I have searched Betty Crocker online for endless ¨stovetop¨ and ¨skillet¨ recipes, and have made a lot of soups and etc. Haha.
You do what you gotta do, right??

A lot of people also ask, ¨WHAT?! YOU DON´T HAVE A TV! DON´T YOU GET BORED!?!?!¨

Nope. Not me.
Perhaps it is thanks to my lax upbringing (and when I say lax I am definitely joking) of watching one TV show a week.
Or, perhaps it was my adjusting to not having TV (other than the local Brainerd channel) whatsoever during my high school years...
Or watching only one show, Grey´s Anatomy, all through college...(oh, and can´t forget those Twins games)
But whatever it was, I am totally not accustomed to having Tv, so it was never a big deal. The best part is that I still was able to watch Grey´s Anatomy, (Monday nights at 8!) At Shelly´s house :)

I also am accustomed to not having a dish washer. Or a washer and dryer. Or a microwave. Or a toaster. Or an oven. Or a freezer that works. All of these things, folks, they really aren´t necessities. They are luxuries. (I have discovered the beauty of the double boiler, for example, for reheating foods!)

And I really don´t feel like I have been living ¨the simple life¨--I just feel like normal old me, just doing things a little more old-fashioned! (Handwashing clothes on a ridged washboard sink, etc.) Its been really good for me to realize that even without all these luxury appliances that we have in the states, I still have so much more than a lot of people who live in Guatemala.

But we--(those of us who live on less, and those in the world who live on a LOT less) aren´t different people--we just work a lot harder to obtain the same results.


Below: A picture of my pila, the sink with the ridged washboard, where I wash some clothes. Here, we have a kitchen towel in mid-wash. hahaha.