Top Challenges
▫️Sealed housing - I have a gap of anywhere from 4 inches to about 3 feet between to top of my walls and the overhang of the roof. I also have a gap around the edge of the floor of about an inch, although it's close to 3 inches in one spot. The overhang is enough to keep the rain out, save for some leaks, but does not keep out the bugs, spiders, and other critters, especially my friends, the mosquitoes. While 90% of the time the bugs don't bother me, it's the other 10% where they either sap some of my blood or simply flock to my phone because it's a bright screen in a dark room. In addition to the bugs, I also feel the full effects of the weather, whether it be the super high humidity of the monsoon that just came to an end (I hope) or the chilly night air that causes condensation to form on the corrugated steel roof that then drips down in my room. Most tents are more sealed than my steel box of a room.
▫️Unpredictability of the power and the internet - fortunately my job treating patients does not require a power source other than batteries and most of my food is cooked on a gas stove, so I can live without power for most of the day or night. I only need power for about an hour or two per day to keep my phone charged (which I do use frequently to reference material when treating patients) and so far that has never been a problem. The main problem with the power outages which often last most of the day is that when there is no power, there is no internet service either. And to make matters worse, sometimes we have power, but I'll still have no internet service. Again, I don't need the power or this service to do my job and I could go most days without. However, since it's cheaper to call home via Skype, I prefer to have the service at least once a day during the small windows I have to call home at a decent hour.
The following are more annoyances, as opposed to challenges.
▫️Slow Internet - this comes close to being in the top challenges. The service is fine to check email and update my blog (as long as I don't post more than two pictures). I try not to spend too much time on the internet while I'm here, but it's still a useful resource to share information with the locals, like where Chicago is or what the cityscape looks like or to help explain a challenging topic.
▫️Internet only works outside - perhaps because I live in a metal box, but I can't access the Internet without being outside, so all my calls home and any other information I need has to wait until I can go outside. At night, this can be especially annoying with the bugs who want to flock to my phones bright screen.
▫️Cold showers - the first ten days I was here, the weather was nice and warm and the local water source wasn't that cold, but each day the temperature drops a little lower at night (currently it's been about 59 degrees when I wake up) and the local water gets a little colder. So far this hasn't been that bad, but by late October and early November it's going to be quite the wake up call.
Below is the room where I take my showers. The hose brings in clean water that is collected somewhere from up the mountainside.
Other inconveniences:
▫️Doing laundry by hand and hanging to dry - the worst is when it rains later in the day and clothes get wet again. Fortunately this has only happened once so far.
▫️Sleeping on a four inch thick mattress that has almost no give - although I'll admit it is a slight improvement to the two inch mattress I started with that was squashed down to about 1/2 inch after three weeks. Maybe if I was 27 instead of 47 this wouldn't bother me as much.
List of things that I don't really miss much:
▫️T.V. - I admit if there was one around with American programs available it would be hard not to tune in, but I don't really miss having it.
▫️My computer - I'm not saying I could go without one given all the things I use it for at home, but I definitely don't miss sitting in front of it.
▫️Eating meat - I've actually been served chicken meat about once a week since I've been in Chanaute, but here in Nepal you have to assume there is going to be some small bone or cartilage in each bite, so you have to tread carefully. Aside from that inconvenience, I simply don't miss it. Of course, longer term, you need to be well educated to eat a strictly vegetarian diet to ensure you are getting all the complete proteins your body needs, but I would like to try to eat less meat when I return home.
▫️A toilet seat - once you get the hang of the Asian style toilet, squatting to potty really isn't that bad.
So that's my list. What would you find the most challenging if you were here?
- Posted using BlogPress from my iPhone
Um...everything you listed!
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