the simple life.

I've been thinking a lot lately about the difference between my life here and my life back in the States.

Life here is so simple. What I once thought were necessities, aren't. What I thought I couldn't live without, I can.

At home I get in my car and drive to some megamart to buy prepackaged food that I take home and cook in the microwave and eat while I watch something that I DVRed all the while surfing the wireless internet and texting on my cell phone.

I thought I needed those things. But I don't.

I don't have wireless at my house; I have limited internet access the one or two times I head to town a week. I don't have a microwave; I have a tiny gas oven and no counter space for cooking. I don't have television, let alone satellite and DVR; my extent of entertainment is watching episodes of The Office on DVD on my computer (Thank you, Mom, for sending Seasons 1-5.). I don't have a car; I walk to town sometimes and hitch a ride in the bed of a friend's truck or a mototaxi most of the time. There's no Wal-Mart/Meijer/Whole Foods; my shopping is done at one of my student's parent's mini-mart and in the open air market.

If you had told me a few years ago that this would be my life, I would have laughed at you.

But you know what? I love it.

The simplicity of life allows for so much that I didn't know I was lacking. I have so much time to read and think and pray. Boredom is not a companion of mine, rather I find myself journaling out my extensive thoughts or exploring more extensively ideas that I would not have previously given more than a few moments' thought.

I am very thankful for the place in which I currently find myself.