I'm Glad

Even though our bags were heavier and bulkier than I would have liked, I think I’m glad I brought every single thing that was in them.

• I’m glad I brought the spices because I don’t see some of them in the stores and others are ridiculously expensive. Even if I found them, they may be different, for example the black pepper here is ground very, very fine.
• I’m glad I brought all of the clothes that I did, because I can already see that the variety will make dressing for church every day a little more doable.
• I’m glad that I brought the brown sugar and chocolate chips. You can’t get the kinds that we’re used to here, and American chocolate chip cookies will be fun to share sometime.
• I’m glad I brought all the little things—the bandaids, the paper punch, the small roll of duck tape, the ….
• I’m glad that I brought enough lotion to last at least for a while. Some of the product fragrances here leave a little to be desired.
• I’m glad I brought the PegBuddy family. It’s fun to visit all of the family groups frequently and for the same reason I’m glad I brought the calendar that Rob made and the brag book that Tim and Syd gave us. Family pictures are even more precious now.
• I’m glad I brought the two games that I almost left out several times; we have already played one and I’m sure both will be well used.
• I’m glad I brought my own curling iron and hair dryer even though we’ve had to find adaptors to use them. There are no large barrel irons that I have found and I have no idea how much this good ion dryer would cost. Technology and appliances are considerably more expensive. The $139 Kindle I got for Christmas is $249 here.
• I would be very glad that I brought my stick blender because butternut squash is sold her in bags like potatoes, but I’m afraid that I killed it by plugging it into what I thought was a converter but was only an adaptor.

I could go on, but in short, I’m glad that I brought almost every single thing I brought and because I thought very carefully about what I would need there isn’t much I regret not bringing. Johannesburg is a big city and we haven’t explored everything yet of course, but so far I would say that when people tell you that you can get anything where you are traveling, it ain’t necessarily so.