Living simply

The article is about a yuppie couple who skimps on their kid's clothes so they can brag they live simply...I am not impressed.... they live "simply" because they have a garden and no aircon...duh. In Minnesota, it only goes over 90 degrees a couple days a year, and rarely at night. And they brag about a simplicity that most of us considered normal in the "good old days" of 1970.

Now, here in the Philippines, things are simple but changing.

Traditionally, clothing was sewn at home or a seamstress. Now tee shirts and jeans or shorts are bought, usually made in China. And EVERYONE wears teeshirts and shorts or jeans, except to work in an office. Joy's dresses are made by a seamstress. Because of my size, clothes are hard to come by, although now that I lost 20 lbs I can find a 3X clothing here (size 18)...and I still use Fred's shirts.
Toiletries? Thank God for globalization...we don't have to beg relatives to bring toothpaste and dental floss when they visit from the States....

We get locally grown veggies at the market. Usually yard long greenbeans, onions, eggplant, and okra...and eat them in a soup with chicken or fish or pork. Here usually you pile rice on the plate, and spoon the broth on the rice, then add the meat/fish and veggies to the side of the rice and eat. Then fruit for dessert. Sometimes we eat fish or shrimp on the side, often Talapia or another small fish, which are grown in fishponds near the rice paddies.

For supper, a lighter meal with rice and fish or sausage or fried meat... again with fruit for dessert...which is quick to cook...

Breakfast is traditionally dried fish or fried fish and rice (yesterday's rice is fried for breakfast), but because I'm here we have egg, and small rolls, i.e. pandesal, which are baked locally every morning.

We don't have a garden here in the city, only trees and flowering plants. I did start a garden at the farm, or rather had the driver start it, but we are back in town so the produce is being eaten by those working there.

We eat the local food. My stepson misses traditional US food, so goes to restaurants and Starbucks. Yes, there is a McDonalds now in town...also a KFC, a Jolibee, and a Chow King. we eat out once a week.

In my prayers this morning, I felt guilty, because we are using an Air conditioner, and I prefer to live simply. I predate Air conditioning, so consider it as a luxury...

But the first six months we were here we didn't have a generator, so we suffered greatly with the heat during brownouts...
So now I run the Aircon fan (the airconditioner has a filter) at night so I don't inhale smoke from the burning of the nearby garbage, and/or pollen at certain times of the year.

As for washing clothing, usually the staff washes it, uses the washmachine to rinse and spin dry, then it is hung up. Usually it is ironed. When humidity is 90 percent, you need to iron clothes to get them dry enough to store...

And yes, we have computers. since last year, we've even had DSL.

Now, if we only could get garbage pickup, sewers, and reliable running water and electricity that doesn't go off all the time...