After handwashing about 25 articles of clothing and two towels this morning in hot 24 degree sun, I felt compelled to write about the things that I’m grateful for in life (besides my family and friends, of course. ;)). Here’s my list:

• Washing machines with awesome spin cycles: Wringing out pants and shirts and towels by hand royally sucks. I don’t know how the women here and in India do it almost daily. And they are washing and wringing bedsheets and six-metre long saris in even hotter weather sometimes and in squat formation in large buckets on the ground, not standing up at nice wash basins with running water. They are my heroes.
• Indoor plumbing: Speaking of nice wash basins and running water, on my way to Pokhara last weekend, I saw in several of the small towns, men and women with multiple buckets getting water from a communal faucet. Some were even showering near there, and many were brushing their teeth near the faucet. I also saw many women washing clothes along the river bank.
• Flushing toilets: I survived not having to use a squat toilet in India, but on the way back from Pokhara, I had to pee at one of the small rest stops. It was a squat toilet which I used for the first time. There was no toilet paper, nowhere to wash my hands and it smelled really bad. On that note, I’m thankful I brought baby wipes and hand sanitizer with me. Oh, and speaking of indoor plumbing and flushing toilets, I’m super grateful that I can flush toilet paper back at home. Here, we have to put the toilet paper in the trash can because otherwise it will back up the toilet. Fun, fun!
• Consistent electricity: Kathmandu has an energy problem. City wide, every day, there are rolling blackouts for about four or five hours at a time, twice a day. The volunteer house has a schedule of when our blackouts will happen. At home I try to conserve as much energy as possible (mostly because I hate the high bills I get every month), but I am seriously grateful for the luxury of being able to charge my laptop whenever I want, or turning the stove on anytime I want to make something to eat, or using my hair dryer without blowing a fuse or not having to time my showers for when I’ll be able to have hot water.
• Dishwashers: I never had a dishwasher growing up. My parents actually bought one when I was about 13, but they never let us use it. I didn’t have one again until I bought my house with a dishwasher and I never knew how awesome and convenient they are. At the volunteer house, we have to wash our own dishes. It’s not too bad, as I only use literally one plate and one fork (sometimes a knife lol and mug for my coffee). When I was in India, the volunteers played Uno each night and the loser had to wash all the dishes. I only played once and didn’t lose, thankfully. In any case, one of the German volunteers, Doro, who was staying with a host family was talking about washing dishes with her host mom and the mom was saying how she hated doing dishes. Doro told her that she has a machine that washes dishes at home, and the host mom asked her to send her one.

• Solid roofs: On the way to Pokhara, I saw so many houses or buildings with tin roofs that were held down with rocks and other heavy items so that it wouldn’t blow away. Crazy.
• Weekly garbage pick up: I happily pay property taxes for this service. In India, and here in Nepal, there is garbage everywhere and no one seems to care.

Aside from the material things, I’m grateful that my parents had the courage and strength to immigrate to a country like Canada, where when you tell people you recently got married, they don’t ask you, “Was it an arranged marriage or a love marriage?” or “Do you now live with your in-laws?”

I’m grateful that being Canadian means I have the privilege of having a good quality and well rounded public education with teachers who cared about my success and the resources to ensure that success as opposed to the dark cement buildings that volunteers are painting now with educational paintings on the walls. Yesterday I visited the project and one of the volunteers had to hold up his cellphone light so that another volunteer could paint the Union Jack properly because the sun was setting and there was no electricity in the room.

I’m grateful for growing up with choice and opportunity—that my future was not predetermined based on my gender, my family’s income bracket, my ethnic origin, my birthplace or my parents’ occupations. And, as much as I’m grateful for the comforts of home, I’m grateful that I am physically and financially able to experience rolling blackouts, cold showers, and squat toilets.

–Bea