Favorite Things (Way Better than Oprah´s)

If I were in the U.S. I would say that my prized personal possessions were things like my computer or other electronics, but since I don´t have many of those fancy new fangled devices, my priorities have changed a bit, and I have, perhaps, a surprising list of things that make my life a whole lot better here.

1.  Headlamp  My wonderful brother Daniel gave me his, complete with extra batteries, before I left the states, and it has been of immeasurable help to me.  Not only is it useful for power outages and for trips outside my room at night, but it allows me to read before I go to sleep without getting out from under my mosquito net to turn off the overhead light.  Speaking of which:

2.  Mosquito Net Or mosquitero, which is pretty much my favorite word to say in Spanish now.  Mosquitero.  Not only does it protect me from malaria carrying mosquitos, but from all other sorts of creepy crawlies in the night.  When I´m under it, I imagine that I am surrounded by a force field that keeps me safe from cockroaches and snakes and scarab-like beetles, and now that I´ve discovered that they are, indeed, entering my room, rats.*  If I had to pick just one thing from this list to keep, this would be it, because I wouldn´t be able to sleep without it.  It is the emotional safety blanket that just happens to hang above my bed.

3.  Jumbo Box of Crayons  I´m not sure my mom knew what a great thing she was doing when she put one of those huge boxes of crayons (complete with sharpener) in a care package to me.  In the work I do, I make a lot of posters for presentations and the like, and because I always have to be aware that some of my audience might be illiterate I draw out most of waht I want to say.  Now I actually have crayons to make my drawings look good.

4.  Jackpot This is my electronic kettle that has a distinctly retro feel to it (I think it´s to do with the goofy flowers on the side), but it works wonderfully, at least when there is electricity.  I imagine it symbolizes independence for me since with it I don´t have to rely on my host family for breakfast in the morning, which can be a hectic time.  Instead of waiting for the beans and tortillas to be done, I can instead make instant oatmeal and tea for myself without getting in anyone´s way.

So there you have a brief list of my prized possessions here in Nicaragua.  All I need now is a good mouser, and I´m set.


*On my scale of emotionally distressing discoveries, this ranked higher than finding cockroaches, but not quite as high as finding fungus growing on my clothes and shoes.  My mom is convinced the only solution is get a cat to eat up all the rats.