Things we're glad we brought/Wish we brought

Things we’re glad we brought:
1. Leslie’s guitar – gained easy points with local youth.
2. Sunglasses – there’s a lot of sun here.
3. Extra water bottle – there’s a lot of hot here.
4. Funny shirts – gained easy points with Peace Corps volunteers.
5. Pants – there’s also cold here.
6. A backpack – rolling luggage on unpaved roads is a bit ridiculous.
7. Hiking boots – some good hiking here. Boots make it pain free and fun!
8. Black dress boots – Leslie can go “business casual” and there’s no toe dust.
9. Sandals – Thanks, Kathi! Our host mothers make us wear them at all times in the house.
10. A good sense of humor – there’s a lot of go with the flow, make it up as you go. You can’t take yourself too seriously when you have to mime everything.

Things we’re glad sister-in-law Kendall gave us:
1. Crank flashlight – pwr went off first day (and easy pts with local youth). Nathan uses every night for outhouse finding.
2. Carabineers – perfect for clipping water bottles, mosquito nets and pillows to pack.
3. Travel pillows – easily clipped with carabineers, good for sleeping in Mongolia.
4. Water bottles – also easily clipped and good for carrying water. Did we mention the amount of constant, hot, arid sun?
5. Indoor/outdoor thermometer – good for telling the temp in Fahrenheit. Math is hard and I don’t know what 35 feels like. Usually that’s pretty cold and I need a coat. Not here.
6. Colored duct tape – because it looks good holding my stuff together.
7. Frisbee – PC folks loves them some hacky sack and Frisbee. Dirty hippies.

Things we wish we brought:
1. More effing socks – Leslie’s socks are nasty. Even Michael Ray wouldn’t wear them.
2. Shorts – “business casual” is inappropriate for volleyball with the neighborhood kids.
3. A basketball – lots of hoops here, even some with rims, but hardly a basketball to bounce in Nathan’s neighborhood.
4. A hat – lots of sun.
5. Fiber pills and multivitamins – after a week of meat, white bread and potatoes with a side of meat and potatoes, the outhouse is the last place you want to hang out.
6. More note cards – Leslie makes a flashcard for everything. Even though we cut the ones we had in half, they really go quickly when you’re obsessive about learning every one of the 400 words your host family constantly points out. Every day is a pop quiz when your host mom is a teacher.
7. A sim card cell phone – Peace Corp won’t pay for them, but you can buy sim cards that pop right into some US phones. No charge for calls into a cell phone here.
8. A hand held recorder for language classes – it’s hard to remember what the two “y”s, the two “o”s, and the two “e”s sounds like, not to mention the diphthongs. Am I saying “hair” or am I saying “water?”