americanism

i feel bad sometimes that i'm an american. not only that, i'm a spoiled american.

i have a cousin that is working with the Peace Corps in Cameroon. the emails she sends (once a week, and apparently it costs her big bucks just to use the computer for 15 minutes) are really eye-opening on how different parts of the world are when compared to us.

right now, i'm sitting in my lighted and air conditioned apartment, watching television and typing on my computer. the closet light is on (it's always on), the living room lamp is on, the refrigerator runs, ice is continuiously made, my clothes are clean and smell good, i can take a shower whenever i want...just things like that. my cousin has no or limited access to that. she wrote last time about doing laundry. how dirt coats everything inside and outside the home. she said that as long as her clothes smell clean, they're clean. there's no way to get the orange dust out of them. she has to use an old timey soap scrubbing board to clean her clothes, no washing machines. i dunno. it's just weird thinking that she is living in the exact same time frame as i am, just on a different continent which is apparently decades behind in wealth and technology.

i say spoiled american because i am spoiled. my job doesn't pay enough to pay my bills, so whenever i need money, i call my parents and they usually fork over what i need. it's not like i'm Paris Hilton or anything, i do have a job, i just have to live outside my means in order to be safe and happy in this town. hopefully, by the end of 2003, i'll be self suficient.

i'm thinking about volunteering to make myself feel less guilty about being such a brat. a woman in my office has lung cancer and has been undergoing chemo. she's going to start radiation treatments at the end of July at CARTI which is a radiation therapy center here in arkansas. this place treats people of all ages with cancer and they accept volunteers. so i figure i could play with a few kids a few days a week and make myself feel better while i'm helping others. so when my friend from work goes by there for another consolutation, i'm going to have her ask about volunteers.

katherine hepburn died. i thought she died a few years ago! still, 96 years old is highly impressive. maybe if i start eating right, i can live to be that old too. if only my mom could see me live that long. hehe

i need some lemonade.

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