Welcome back!

It’s been almost two months since my last post. If you’ve read Dough vs. DiploLife, then you’ll probably understand why I needed an almost 2 month break. I needed some mental health days, but so much more has happened in between!

First, I was notified by the people renting my house that while they were on vacation, a large branch from the tree in the backyard came through the house after a storm…which lead to obvious woes of not only home ownership, but also managing that from over 5000 miles away…..

H and I traveled on the quickest trip to Richmond, VA for a wedding (well, really a shopping haul, which I’ll discuss in my next post!!!) Thanksgiving was a just a whole whirlwind. I then cooked my first Friendsgiving dinner for 8 the very next night (3 chickens, fall salad, a mocktail, appetizers, and mashed potatoes, gravy and dessert!)

That Monday, the remaining household effects that we packed up all the way back in August arrived!!!

Getting those items back was both so exciting, but remains so overwhelming. Where do I put everything? How does this rug not fit in this room?! Where do all my clothes go!?

That was the just beginning of it, and as I write this, I still have so much to find a place for, organize, and plan for. I’ll add here that procrastination is my greatest skill, which is totally detrimental to my entire Virgo existence. While we’re still waiting for our vehicle to be released, finding things to do is so few and far between. Likely the reason why I haven’t posted in awhile, and dreaming up content has been a little challenging.

Back to the main point: I am taking the time here to commend overseas living for really introducing me to five things that are so simple and maybe mundane, yet genius. They either make life easier or make much more sense in the grand scheme of things. And while I’m sure these exist in America, it’s not the norm (at least where I’ve lived), but totally should be!

Let’s dive in!

Split AC

Back home in the US, I’ve been lucky enough with the exception of my Chicago apartment, to have central heat and air (forced air/heat). Window units, never really seemed to cut it for me, ya girl enjoys unobstructed window views. (A friend here calls me Elsa because I’d much rather insist on being in AC all of the time and never outside for long, and so much so that I’ve demanded that the next place we go after Togo has at least seasons that don’t include sand, hot to hotter, and a break from malaria pills, because these dreams are wild!)

Back to my point, central heat and air is so expensive for a whole house. Apartment, sure, if it’s insulated properly. But unless you’re a full family and are located in all of the rooms of your house, it can get very expensive and energy draining. Enter…split systems or “ductless”. These systems don’t require a network of ductwork in your home, and adjoin to a condenser on the outside of your home. They are remote controlled, can heat or cool, and be turned off at your convenience. This makes the entire system way more energy efficient than heating the whole home. We have four bedrooms, kitchen, living room, etc to cool. But it’s nice to leave the bedrooms we’re not using off. Downsides? sure, it can be an eyesore. We have older units, and newer ones I’ve seen are slimmer and more minimalist looking, also the outside units can have an aesthetic downer vibe, but with the right landscaping, it can be hidden.

My HVAC in Memphis is very old, and is projecting to be very expensive to replace. Which makes me definitely consider replacing it with these units! If you have these units in the USA, I’d love to hear your experience with them!

Fruit/Vegetable Stands

If you love Farmer’s Markets in the US, you’d love it here in Lomé! However if you’re one of those people that enjoys getting all of your produce at a grocery store in one trip, then maybe Lomé isn’t for you. But this is a feature that I personally love (mostly)!

In Lomé, you’d be hard pressed to find a grocery store that carries produce (consistently) and doesn’t charge outrageous prices for vegetables or the occasional fruit. They mostly imported (here, from France) and the cost definitely is a bit heartbreaking. Enter, the corner market….. Usually run by women or families, these stands have a range of vegetables, fruits, and herbs. Upside? You’re supporting a local endeavor, can swing by a stand if you’re missing an ingredient without having to battle for a parking lot spot, waiting in a long line, dealing with carts etc. Downside? Sometimes all items that you see one week aren’t there the next (i.e. fruits that you miss like pears, plums, kiwi’s (because they are imported) and some veggies are super small (shallots, bell peppers namely.) At least here we have to sanitize our fruits and vegetables (we use vinegar), and sometimes you don’t have good quality control when it comes to freshness. But one of the best parts is, you can let the ladies know when you plan on using the ingredients, and if it’s that day, they’ll give you the ripest one. Tomorrow or later in the week? At least with avocados, we’ve been able to get them in the earlier stages if I knew I was going to wait a day or two before needing them. It also has forced me to get creative into food storage to make ingredients last longer.

ALSO THEY CAN BE SO MUCH CHEAPER FOR MORE!!! Pineapples, plantains, and mangos? Cheap. Lettuce? Super cheap, herbs? Way cheaper than USA stores charge if you’re not growing your own. Also, if you’re lucky, a friend will have a fruit tree in their yard and you can reap the benefits of an over abundant tree!

Boxed Milk

Have you ever been like me, and bought a gallon of milk, never used it in time or left it on the counter and it went bad?

Enter UHT milk or boxed milk! It has been pasteurized at super high temperatures to make it shelf stable for a long long time. Okay, maybe my USA friends are gasping, but honestly if you’re drinking plant milk out of a box, this really is no different. We refrigerate ours for a more normal cool taste. The taste is a tad bit different, but this really has been a lifesaver if I’m making the same mistakes of “not using it in time.” It also irritates my stomach less. Now what I do miss is the gallon size and USA prices for milk. But if you need it, this is what you get, and I find it to be way more efficient for its shelf stable properties.

And if you’re wondering, we did invest in a plant milk maker, which makes fresh plant milk in less than 5 minutes! It’s called the Almond Cow, and on their website they have tons of recipes other than plant milks. In the long run, I want to switch to plant milk to be healthier for the environment, but this works great for now.

Fresh Eggs

Just look at those beautiful eggs.

Did you also know I can be terribly irresponsible and used to leave eggs out on the counter as well? Enter, fresh eggs, that don’t need to be refrigerated! I know, it freaked me out as well….at first. These eggs can be left on the countertop roughly 2 weeks, and you wash them right before you use them, or you can wash and then put them in the fridge immediately after. This is due to the “bloom” on the outside of the egg, which serves as a barrier between the egg and outside bacteria. Hence why it can sit outside! Although, if you rinse them, you are washing that bloom away, which means you need to put them in the fridge or use immediately. If you frequent a farmers market, have chickens at home, or friends with chickens, I’d recommend getting these eggs! You know they’re taken care of better than factory chickens, and the eggs are fresh! No more wondering at the grocery store which eggs are from where, differences between brown vs white eggs, etc. It really makes my life easier, because inadvertently, my fridge is always full by Thursday when my egg lady Inge arrives, and it helps that I can leave the eggs out on the counter until I can get to them.

Specialized Labor

In America, if you need something and you lived in a developed area, you’re likely to have a few stores that provide almost everything, and other stores that are more specialized and carry all of those things. I’m looking at Target, Costco, Lowe’s, etc. In Lomé, I spend most of my days wishing we had a Lowe’s or a Target, just to wander around, but also find exactly what I need without having to run around to a million places. HOWEVER, I’d be hard pressed to find and support artisans on a random street corner in Memphis or find someone friendly enough to point me in the right direction.

In the photo above, you’ll see pineapples from my lovely street vendor that only cost me like $3 for all of them, and local Togolese honey. Underneath them are the real stars, handmade baskets around the corner from my home. My guy Koffi hand weaves baskets at the corner and will even bring them to the house. Remember that dinner party I mentioned earlier? I had H ask him if he could make placemats for that event, but we eventually forgot to confirm with him due to us traveling etc. And one day, our guard told us that he came by with some baskets. Enter the baskets in the photo. I swooned over the color variation from the natural materials, and he then ended up making us different sizes for another project! So I’m not too sure if basket walls are in or not, but I’m definitely going to make one! He also made the baskets we use to hold items in the bathrooms, and two large baskets that one is used as a hamper, and another one, that is so unique I just don’t know what to do with it yet. He even has offered to make me a basket for my bike when I’m ready! The guy is too cool and now I have personalized baskets to take with me, and I get to say, “Oh, those were handmade in Togo!”

I saw a cool DIY stone side table on one of my favorite bloggers instagram, and I knew that I was going to hide the provided nightstands that came with the house in a closet because they’re hideous (sorry, not sorry Ethan Allen’s America collection.) And while we still don’t have a car, we message Francis and he’ll take us around town for shopping, or for us to go to a restaurant, but in relation to the issue above, we messaged him to see if he would know where to find said materials, and man, did Francis deliver. Others around here have “Finders” that will go out and either find the item for you, pick up the item and bring it to you, or get your food delivery. Need a cool wood furniture set that would cost you thousands of dollars in the US? There’s woodworkers for that. Need a seamstress or tailor in a pinch? They’re everywhere. I’ve struggled to find affordable shredded sweetened coconut around here, generally the ones on street corners are young and are for coconut water. The cute brown ones are older and are used for my intended purpose. A friends housekeeper went and found them for me! And two of them only cost $1! Now, I do have to sweeten it myself, but the imported bags (which only gives you about a cup) is closer to $6, so I think I’ll DIY that for sure. And if they don’t know, they’ll ask for you.

It’s about the relationships here. As I would also assume most places it is the same. I don’t find that too often in the US, unless it’s a super small town, or you’re really close to your community. Even though these simple tasks could be completed in one store trip to Target or Lowe’s, it really makes for an adventure to go out, meet the people, and get a semblance for how life really is here.

If you’re an international reader, I’m sure many of these things exist where you already are. I’d also love to hear about the amazing things your country provides, that probably don’t exist on a large scale in America! *Healthcare counts too…. 🙂

Up next in this journey is a recap of our shopping haul and our trip to Richmond, Virginia (where neither of us were too familiar with)! Thanks for following along, and I can’t wait to show you what I’m doing with this place.

-Carrie