When you don’t have flavors that satisfy your tastebuds for 11 months you begin to have 45 minute conversations about Taco Bell and all the different food combinations that you’re going to have when you get home that, let’s face it, you never dreamed of consuming in your life.
Luckily my tastebuds were a little ahead of the curve this year because I carried around my secret weapon: Black Pepper. Not only does it contribute 10x more flavor to your meal but I’ve concluded that it acts as a natural laxative. Hey, give credit where credit is due: Thank you black pepper for making my life somewhat consistent.
Consistency is a huge commodity when you travel for 61 hours on trains, visit 5 countries and 3 continents in 2 days and don’t know if you should say thank you in Russian or Albanian.
It’s times like those 45 minute conversations about Taco Bell that you realize how much you appreciate a good burrito and also a nice clean place to dispose of your burrito, after digestion of course. I’m just saying. I never knew how good I had it. And I don’t mean, “there’s people starving people in Africa…eat your food.” I just think it’s a good thing to be grateful that your tastebuds get to experience so many flavors, that you have a choice of flavor and of quantity. That you have a toilet and not a hole, a hot shower and not a bucket.
It’s easy to not even think about these things because it’s so normal to have them. But I want to appreciate all the amazing things God provides for me. That I was born in America and not in Thailand or Moldova, that I wasn’t sold into prostitution and that I can actually leave my country if I feel like it…
Some of you might think differently and that’s fine. Yes, there are some bad things about America but I’m sure glad i live there. I will probably cry when I land on US soil… I’m not embarrassed about this.
