Ellen in Paraguay

A little while back Ben wrote about how when he was a kid he complained about the seemingly useless job of drying the dishes when they could just air dry, but as an adult he has become obsessive about immediately drying dishes due to a shortage of counter space (At least you have a pantry, Ben). It made me think about how, whenever I complained about being cold, my mom told me to wash the dishes to warm my hands up. Since we don’t have hot water here, my mom’s advice has been rendered useless. Lately I’ve been trying to take my showers between noon and four in the afternoon, preferably after some activity such as running to the grocery store. If not, I have to do jumping jacks or at least rapidly sweep the house, anything to get my blood pumping, in order to withstand the somewhat less than lukewarm temperature of the water. When I’m finally clean, I feel like I’ve really earned that shower.