I’ve only been ‘on the field’ for a brief 3 months, but it is so intriguing how quickly things become normal. To give you a little glimpse into my new daily life, here’s a little summary of some of my new normal’s.
Water … Water is so readily accessible back in the states and I don’t think I’ve ever truly appreciated that until this past month in Jamaica. As you probably can understand, since I didn’t grow up in Jamaica I am much more likely to get sick from drinking the water here. This leads to quite a process in order to get our water. About a mile walk, a taxi ride and carrying a 20+ lbs container of water up about a 75 degree incline was what needed to be done every other day. I think you can understand the struggles of needing to do that for an entire month… fingers crossed we have better luck in the next country!
Definition of Cleanliness … Back in the states I’m very much a shower every night before going to bed. That is not always an option while on the field. Especially considering our last week or so in Jamaica has consisted of a water shortage. By water shortage, I really mean we just didn’t have any water at all… which then meant that baby wipes became our new best friend!
Laundry … It is a process. Back at home if there was a stain on my shirt or it even hinted at some bad B.O. I was throwing it in the wash. Not. A. Thing. On. The. Field. When you spend hours to hand wash the only 10 pieces of clothing I have a little B.O. just doesn’t seem so bad anymore. I’m not saying I’m smelling like Big Foot, but I will stretch the use of my clothes for as long as possible before having to actually wash them. Realistically, I’m at about a once a month laundry kinda gal.
Bugs … They. Are. Everywhere. It blows my mind how quickly I have become okay with the amount of ants and other creatures I have crawling over me on a daily basis. In fact, just the other night, while trying to have a little movie night, I found myself killing about 20+ ants who were just crawling all over me. Normal, right?
Only 3 months in and I swear I could write about 50 more pages on my ‘new norm’, but I’ll bless you with just these few!
