Just so you don’t think that I have rose-coloured glasses on, here are a few of the issues that I face living here in Gabs:

1. It is currently 32 degrees here – while this dry heat doesn’t bother me nearly as much as the heat and humidity of back home, I just about melted on the four lane highway as I was just crossing it with two bags of groceries. I am sitting in the shade of my private terrace typing with at least a little breeze wafting through. Yes, I know it is Africa and it will get hotter – I am prepared but man do I want a nap!
2. My second pet peeve is grocery shopping. Yes, there are great grocery stores that pretty much stock what European ones do with slight cultural variations. My problem is that it is very hard to find whole grain pasta, brown rice and other healthy food choices. There are tons of options if you want canned or processed foods. Not so many for healthier options. Give me time and I will figure out where I can go to get what I need. For now I am cooking and eating very simply which leads me to #3.
3. Yes, I know I am short. I have been all my life. It is a fact that I not only accepted but actually like. I got taller than my uncle Wally, yippee! I played on my high school’s basketball and volleyball teams starting line up. Before I broke my legs I could scale just about anything that got in my way including grocery shelves, mountains, you name it. Now you may ask, “what does this have to do with cooking and eating”?  The cooktop in my kitchen is two burners on top of a convention oven, which in turn is on top of a shelving unit. It is rather hard to cook items that are literally at chin level. If you have stopped laughing at me, please sympathize as it is very hard to scramble eggs when you can’t see in to the pan. I also have a whole entire shelf on the top of my closet that I can’t reach. When my landlady returns I will be asking for something safe to stand on, trust me!

So there you have it! The less rosey side to my life in Gabs. I think that I will go have that nap now…..