Things That Feel Hard and Items That Have Come In Handy

When I started this blog, I told myself I wanted to share it all. Not just the glamorous parts, the difficult parts too. Here’s a couple things that feel challenging right now.

Living Among the Bugs

I anticipated there being bugs. We are in the rain forest and insects thrive here. I expected to be bothered by big scary spiders and unknown creatures. While we have seen a few unknown creatures and encountered a few cockroaches, the bugs that are wreaking the most havoc are tiny! There are these tiny yellow ants (imagine 1/4 the size of black ants you find in Colorado). They are EVERYWHERE! We have become good at eradicating them from the kitchen, but we have to be extremely vigilant about cleaning up every single crumb. If we had toddlers it would be a nightmare!

There are also small bugs that are biting us. Are they mosquitos? Are they no-see-ums? I really have no idea. Collectively we currently have over 40 bites. Alexis has the worst of it, and Braxton somehow has none. At any given moment I often feel like something is crawling on me. While typing this, I killed two ants crawling on my arm.

Cooking Without Comfort – Serving With Love

I can’t exactly put my finger on what feels hard about cooking, but it feels like a daunting task at times. I think it’s a mixture of things. I’m starting from ground zero with no stocked pantry. The ingredients at the store are different and I imagine this will only get worse the farther we travel from the United States. The kitchen has very limited supplies and there is no oven. I’m figuring it out, and my family is being unbelievably gracious and eating whatever is put in front of them. Often with sweet comments on how delicious it is.

At home I make pancakes every Saturday morning. I attempted this on our first Saturday here. Overall it was a success, but I had to mix them in the only big container we have (no mixing bowls here), and cook them one at a time in our small skillet. They were not the homemade fluffy pancakes from home, but the kids said they tasted great!

Items We Are Happy We Packed

When we were deciding what to pack in our backpacks we had to be very intentional. Alexis and I are hoping to do a post on exactly what we packed, so stay tuned for that. However, I wanted to mention a few things that we are so glad we packed. And some not necessarily for their intended purpose.

Item #1: Microfiber Towels

I wasn’t sure about this item. Although they pack small, they still take up space and are surprisingly heavy. However, they have been clutch in our current location and thank goodness we packed 4 of them! They have come in handy for the obvious reasons like drying off after being in the rain.

However, they have been very useful for other reasons too. We have used them to dry our dishes. Remember, no dishwasher here, so we are drying a lot of dishes. We have taken one and jammed it under a large crack in the front door. This is our amateur attempt at keeping roaches out. So far it’s working! And lastly, one has been used as an additional blanket for Braxton when he needs it. The comforter on his bed is rather light. I have no idea what blog I read that recommended this item, but it has been FANTASTIC!

Item #2: Packable Backpacks

Dave and I both have one of these. He has this one. Prior to boarding the plane we unfolded them and put anything in there we wanted during flight. This allowed us to only have one big backpack as we traveled through the airport, while still having a “personal” item to carry onto the plane. They have also come in handy carrying groceries back to our Airbnb. We are only renting a car when absolutely necessary, so there is a lot of walking to and from the grocery store and other places.

We have taken them on hikes and they also hold our rain jackets anytime we venture out just in case it starts to rain. They have been fantastic!

Item #3: Amazon Fire Stick

I almost convinced Dave to leave this item behind as we were doing our final packing. Our backpacks were FULL and I was trying to eliminate unnecessary items. Although this item certainly isn’t necessary, it has definitely come in handy. It’s nice for the kids to have the comfort of a familiar movie (in our home language) when they’re tired and overwhelmed. Plus, it will come in handy for our traditional family movie night!