After digging through our toiletries the other day and not finding the dental floss I was needing, I found myself substituting with a piece of thread (which, by the way, didn't work very well) and thinking, "Maybe I should e-mail Laura (Grant's sister) and ask her to bring some when she comes".
And then, the thought - seriously?! Pathetic! Why is that?
Why does it seem easier to ask Laura to bring some with her on her 2000 mile trip, when I can just walk up the street and ask for some at the pharmacy (literally, two blocks away)?
Why does it seem easier to try and schedule a doctors' appointment for Ivory when we're in the U.S. (which requires a plane flight, and multiple airports, with an infant) than to drive into Zamora, or just over to the Seguro, right across Ixtlan, to get her shots?
Why did I ask my Mom to run into Old Navy and buy Grant a pair of flip-flops (he would probably want me to clarify that he ONLY wears them when we go on vacation, and when he takes the garbage out, and sometimes when he goes to get tacos) and bring them to a family gathering for us so that we could have them before Leman Vacation when I could probably pick him up a pair in the market, just as cheap (although probably much poorer quality)?
For some things, it's because it's cheaper, it's better quality, it's more efficient, or it just makes more sense. But in other ways it comes down to one word: familiarity. I know English perfectly, and I understand the medical system in the U.S. (well, if that's possible), which makes a U.S. doctors visit sound a whole lot more appealing than trying to conquer Zamora traffic and language by myself with a 4 month old. I've had lots of pairs of Old Navy flip-flops, and they're pretty decent, so I know that I can't go wrong with those. And the dental floss? Well, I'm really not sure about that. Maybe I'm just lazy.
But the long and short of it is that language and culture is exhausting - still... and we've been at this for over a year now. Figuring out the medical system down here has been a huge headache, even though I think it is actually way more organized than the system in the U.S., and I almost cry just thinking about going and trying to get Ivory's shots. Also, justifying spending more money on something of poorer quality (like flip-flops) is just so hard to do. More than anything, that is probably the number one reason I end up ordering things on Amazon and shipping them to whoever is coming down next. Stuff is just expensive here!
But the thing with the dental floss really threw me, and made me realize just exactly how exhausting it all is. I really think that it all comes down to familiarity. I'm used to what I'm used to - CVS Pharmacy, Dr. Buchanan's office, Old Navy - and I know how to do those places. At those places, there's no chance of failing to meet any cultural expectations, of stumbling over my words and ending up with the wrong thing, or of spending way more money than I need to like there is at the corner pharmacy, the doctor's office here, and the market.
It is so much easier to never leave my house. Maybe I'll just buy dental floss in the U.S....
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