Erin Miller

Just the other night my loving boyfriend was making fun of me for the amount of money I spend on my "expensive New York City lifestyle." The comment was prompted by me saying how I was going to pay someone else to wash my laundry today. And that is what is actually happening, and yes, it is a luxury. But how excited would you be if you knew that on the way home from walking your dog you were just going to stop by the laundromat and pick up your load of laundry that was just washed for less than 10 dollars? Did I mention that all of the clothes come back perfectly folded? From time to time I try to argue against New York City being particularly expensive. I do this partially due to my ulterior motive to have my cheap living style boyfriend move out here as soon as possible. And truly, I can get a great tuna sandwich at the Bodega downstairs (the one under my building, not the one across the street that was shut down for running a multi-million dollar a year drug ring) for somewhere between a buck fifty and two-fifty, depending on how much I am smiling and if its a sunny day. (Sandwiches seem to be cheaper when its sunny.) And for a buck-fifty, its almost cheaper than buying all the ingredients yourself. So I was thinking all of these thoughts -- looking forward to picking up my washed and perfectly folded clothes, and thinking about maybe grabbing a cheap sandwich -- while I went grocery shopping this afternoon. I picked up a few things for my roommates too, and while I was checking out, I realized, shocked, that there was no way I was going to carry all of this back to my apartment in one trip. So the guy who was bagging offered to deliver it. I reluctantly accepted, and had all of my groceries (including a gallon of milk and more than a gallon of juice, oh and did I mention an 18 lb. bag of dog food?) all carried all the way to the door of my apartment for a 3 dollar tip. It was a beautiful experience. And Dan, while you may think it was a frivolous expense, I think it is better to think that if that gentleman hadn't carried my 18lb bag of dog food to my apartment today, I would have been asking you to do it on Friday:) Here's to the New York City lifestyle.

My project in Honduras lives on. The nutrition program at the Albergue is now being run by a health Peace Corps volunteer in La Esperanza. And donations can now be accepted through an official non-profit (with a tax ID number and everything). Donations will help to bring education and nutritious foods to women from rural areas waiting to deliver their babies at the hospital. If you or your company are thinking of making holiday or end-of-year donations, please keep this project in mind.

Here is a formal description of my project: http://waterandsanitationhealth.com/infantmortality.html

Here is the information on how to donate: http://waterandsanitationhealth.com/gpage2.html

You can donate through paypal online or by mailing in a check to the address on the page. Three percent of the paypal donation is automatically deducted to allow for the online transaction, whereas 100 percent of your check will get to the people who are running the project in La Esperanza. The non-profit is administered in cooperation with the peace corps, and no administration costs will be taken out of your donation. Please specify this project when making your donation so that it will be used specifically for the nutrition program at the Albergue. Mark your check or paypal donation "infant mortality project in La Esperanza."

If you or your company are looking to make even more substantial donations, please browse through the rest of the Water and Sanitation Health (WASH) web site. They have terrific projects all over the country. And I can tell you honestly from experience that ALL of the donation will be used towards the projects. Not a single employee is paid anything from the donations, because there aren't any employees, only volunteers.
Go here to see the WASH homepage http://waterandsanitationhealth.com/index.html

Putting every piece of silverware, cup, plate, food item, dog food, dog treat, or anything that may ever come into direct contact with human skin into plastic bags is about as much fun as it sounds like it would be. And it is what I spent a significant amount of my time doing this weekend (between lectures.) We had our apartment "bug bombed" and an extraordinary amount of chemicals sprayed about, all in our extermination efforts. We have ended up washing all of the plates, silverware, and cups before we use them anyway because cockroaches can survive a nuclear blast and yet this stuff seems to kill them. We figure we should try to keep it out of our digestive tracks. We had to mop the floor too, to keep it out of the dogs' digestive tracks. We had to wash every single article of clothing and bedding, including, of course, winter jackets, mittens, hats and gloves, and do all our dry cleaning. I spent 150 dollars on laundry. Turns out dry cleaning (even for the whole of 6 dry-cleanable items I own) is really expensive. Anyway, between all of this, I thought that I might be losing sight of what's important in life and how lucky I really am. So I sat down and started making a list of things I was thankful for. They came slowly and arduously at first, but then started to flow. This list is by no means exhaustive, but I thought it might be nice to share.

I am thankful for:
-my family who loves me
-my wonderful boyfriend
-that I am my grandparents' granddaughter and that means I can do anything
-my very cool roommates
-mobility in all of its meanings
-getting to look forward to my boyfriend's visit, going to Hawaii over Thanksgiving, and going home for Christmas
-the experiences I had in Honduras
-the amazing host family I lived with in Honduras
-that my projects in Honduras have continued
-not having to worry if there will be running water when I get home
-warm water
-my old friends
-making new friends
-warm cookies
-my awesome dog
-being able to communicate in Spanish
-travel
-being able to drop off my laundry and pay someone else to wash it
-the lights on the George Washington Bridge
-the sunset over New Jersey
-Riverside Park and Trail
-the view from the Empire State building at night
-food carts
-shoes
-waterproof shoes
-warm clothes
-a dry place to sleep
-being in a very interesting academic program
-learning to manage a staff of 25
-the experience of getting to live in New York City even if it means that in a year I will complain about it endlessly, frown on the subway, and love it like only a New Yorker can.

And now, its time to get ready for midterms.

"Good night, sleep tight, don't let the bed bugs bite."

It turns out that this is not just the cute phrase I thought it was. Bed bugs are real, and at least in NYC, they're back. People thought that they had been eradicated in the US, like polio. In fact, when one of my friends first went to the doctor for the itchy bites on his arm the doctor said, "Well, those look like bed bug bites, but they can't be bed bug bites because we don't have those in the U.S."

In fact, most people in my parents' generation have never seen a bed bug. My grandma has never seen one, though she remembers her mother making her search for them when they went to hotels. After the second world war, the bugs were nearly wiped out due to extensive use of DDT in extermination. But now that DDT is banned and more people are traveling internationally than before (offering the bugs hitchhiking options), they are back, with a vengeance. Mountains of mattresses form on the side walks on trash days. Our apartment has been the unwilling home to a couple of pests and we are currently undergoing an exhausting process of extermination, and preventative measures and as anyone will tell you, these pests are just plain hard to get rid of with modern chemicals.

Jon, chucking, likes to describe their rather unconventional method of mating, traumatic insemination, which is about as appealing as it sounds. This is the kind of thing I would rather not know.

About two weeks ago I walked out of our apartment building to take our two large dogs out for a quick walk when I realized that both Broadway and the street that leads to the park were completely full of police and police cars, both undercover, and in uniform. Apparently the police busted at $4 million dollar a year cocaine ring based out of the bodega across the street from my building.

"Buyers would frequent the Fiesta Meat Market at 3661 Broadway, where they could order cocaine with their cold cuts," explained the police commissioner.

Spectators (and probably would-be customers) filled the streets making it difficult to negotiate my 180 lbs of dog across Broadway. An tall man wearing an impressively heavy gold chain around his neck offered to escort me across the street, which I thought was odd until I saw his badge tucked into his waist. Apparently the gentleman was one of the undercover cops that made some of the 24 undercover purchases from the bodega.

I use to go to the bodega on occasion because they sold all sorts of fruits and vegetables late into the night. Occasionally when I got home from work I would want a banana, and I could tie Spot up outside and run in to get one. Of course, there was the risk of accidentally getting a platano (plantain), though I don't know who would ever do that. I mean I spent several months living in Central America and I can tell you they look completely different. Anyway, I am sure if anyone ever did do that it would be really embarrassing. The bodega also sold my favorite hazelnut coffee creamer and I haven't been able to find it on my block since they closed so I have been forced to drink my coffee with original-flavored creamer, and it really isn't as good.

Anyway, if you want to read more about the rather comic story:
http://www.nysun.com/article/63127

Grandma, don't worry about me, everything is fine and I am safe and living in a building with lots of friendly people and there are generally lots of police keeping on eye on things on the block.