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We have been in Madang 16 weeks now, and so here is a list of 16 ways our life looks different:
- I peel my bananas all the way before eating them. To check for worms.
- The power goes out sometimes.
- I bathe, wash dishes, and drink rain water. When I run out of rain water, I must use city water (which can give you ringworm)… so I really try not to run out.
- If I bring our compost out to the compost heap at night, I might step on a frog.
- Recyclables are some of the only things we throw away.
- When I cut off the stem of a broccoli or cut out the core of a pineapple or cut out the bones of some chicken, instead of tossing them, I give them to Alex, our guard, and he eats them. He also uses the coconut shells as a type of firewood.
- I am becoming more comfortable with silence in conversation.
- If I want to wash my clothes on a “hot cycle” I pour in water from my kettle.
- When I plant something, it grows. Without much work.
- If I leave bread on the counter over night, I find a hole in the bag the next day… from a mouse.
- I drive with my right hand, shift with my left hand, and must look both ways to make a right turn. If I don’t look both ways, I might hit a pothole. Or a person. Or a person in a pothole.
- I can walk 150 yards, jump off a rock, and land in ocean water… next to a kid using a big block of styrofoam as a floatie.
- People at the market shake hands with Oliver more than with me.
- People ask how it’s stopping rather than how its going.
- Our kids haven’t seen apple sauce… or apples in months. But they eat pineapple almost every day.
- I freeze my flour when I get home from the store, to kill the bugs.
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