Amenities Shmamenities

Written 06:15 8 July 2008

I woke up earlier than I wanted today because of the roosters crowing and dogs barking outside my window. However, this had a very distinct advantage. I got a warm shower! It was wonderful! Yesterday I took one of the coldest showers of my life, despite it being about 95° outside, the water was something like snowmelt temperature (quite possibly it was snowmelt, there are snowcapped mountains visible from the balcony) and was very uncomfortable. While I don’t mind living without the usual amenities (more on this later), it really makes you appreciate a nice hot shower. This early morning fortuitous event led to a quite positive demeanor among me and my room mate and followed me deciding to have a hygiene day, complete with a beard trimming, shave, finger nail trip, flossing, and even a dash of cologne. Truly it is the first time I have felt clean since the fourth of July. I guess I’ll have to get used to the feeling though.

While it is nice, I must contest the popular adage “cleanliness is next to godliness”. Even just being in this country three days, I have heard a lot of stories and experienced first hand the type of living conditions for the next 27 months. Life will be Spartan. And yes, I will enjoy the hot showers, flossings, and hair washings of the next two years, living without constant creature comforts is far from my list of things that I will miss or things that I think make one a better person. Being clean does have a certain satisfaction to it; but we don’t need to be clean and smelling good to be healthy, effective, and having fun.
As a Peace Corps Volunteer, I will face a lot of challenges, and I will gladly do it smelling really, really bad.