Home for the Holidays – What I Miss and What I don’t Miss

Now that I’m back in the U.S. for Christmas, I miss:

The warm sunshine
Being able to walk two minutes down the dirt road from my house to the lab
Having a driver
My 6 am wake up call: the sound of Ken’s motorcycle driving past my window on his way to turn on the generator
Fresh baked rolls at lunchtime
The dance music from the soccer games at night that lulls me to sleep
The landscape: climbing up to the roof and looking at the mountains to the south or to Port-au-Prince Bay to the north
My focus: not having the Washington Post to read in the morning and sports and other shows on TV to watch allows me to really focus on my work without distractions

But I don’t miss:
Mosquitoes
Eggs for breakfast four days a week
Cold showers
Filling up the Gift of Water buckets to treat our drinking water for the dining hall
The sound and smell of chickens in the morning
Jogging on rocky ground
Hanging a mosquito net over my bed every night
Having to use bottled water to brush my teeth
Peanut butter and jelly for lunch (four days a week)

But as I said, you do get used to it.