Random stuff, life rocks, baths in Jamaica suck

So many things I don't blog about. There are lots of things I don't tell anyone about. They are just for me. Experiences that are so profound that it is amazing just thinking about it. No way to explain how something clicks, or makes sense, or you see something that puts so many things in perspective all at once. It is like a eureka moment on steroids. I dig it. There are things I do and will share.

Starting with my failed attempt at a hot bath. Why on earth would someone want to take a hot bath in Jamaica? I am not even sure. I wanted to feel the water on my skin. I wanted the candlelight and the music (Antony and the Johnsons). Well, first of all, I had to switch on my hot water heater. I have been taking all cold showers, this is only the second time I have used it since being here. While that was heating, I went to scrub the mold out of my shower (everything molds here!). Then I lit my candle that is wedged strategically inside an Appleton Rum jar, then I placed my fan in the doorway so I wouldn't get too hot. Then I start filling the tub. Now, the water was hot but to speed things along, and in case it wasn't hot enough, I put not one, but two pots of water on to boil. I go to check my progress in the tub and the water is getting cooler so I know the water boiling was a good idea. However, my damn candle went out. I realized that the fan was blowing out my candle. I rearranged the fan, lit the candle, and the candle went out. This repeated several times until I realized that if a fan is placed anywhere in the bathroom, the light is going to go out. Fine. My water is ready, I pour it in. I get into the bath now worried I am going to be super hot since I no longer have the fan. Wrong, somehow, the water was actually cold. I got in my bath and I was cold. I wish I could say that at least it felt nice, but it didn't. I wasn't hot to begin with so I was uber cold, then the back of the tub wasn't angled at all so I wound up really uncomfortable in a cold bath. And that is the end of that story.

I also want to mention some things I am learning through experience:

1.) Don't buy a machete unless you know how to use one and what you are going to use it for (at least it looks super cool next to my door)
2.) You can make planters by cutting plastic bottles in two and poking holes in them.
3.) Your clothes will mildew and mold faster in the dresser, put them in the closet.
4.) Don't make eye contact with men, it means in weird Jamaican language that I want to have sex with them.
5.) Sometimes when you are at the hardware store and standing in a semi-non-existent line and people keep moving in front of you (for 30 min), the only thing you can do is walk to the desk and yell, "Can someone please serve me?!"
6.) Roofs in Jamaica also serve as patios, laundry lines, and gardens. I just doubled the size of my place.
7.) Even though it is more hand washing to do, go through 2 pairs of underwear a day instead of suffering with one. I can only feel moist and sweaty for so long.
8.) Don't ever give your number to people you don't actually want to call you.
9.) Don't allow yourself to fantasize too much about being in your favorite coffee shop, drinking coffee and looking out the window at all the doug firs and the rain and talking to someone you want to see badly. It only makes you sad.
10.) Don't put egg shells in the compost pile. Lucky the dog drags them out.

I'm so tired. I want to badly to write about my experience in the hardware store where I got nicknamed 'Obama', or the taxi driver that gave me a free ride, or the breadfruit and june plum trees I climbed, or the really intimidating appearance as a guest speaker that I kicked ass at. Instead, I will leave you all with my love. This is amazing. When I have time to give the rant, I will, but now, I just love. I love what is and what can be. I love the pain and challenge and discomfort I am in and I love the learning and growing it is forcing me to do. I love my friends, my long lost friends, and my really long lost friends. I love my dad and brother. I love that I am alive and can see and breath and think and talk everyday and share this life will all of you.

Love.