Untukmu Para Pengunjung

I stayed home from work yesterday, to rest and try to get over this cold. It was actually quite a lovely day. I stayed in bed til 11:00am – reading, and watching one of my favourite movies, “Whale Rider” (it’s so touching – I always cry in the same parts!) Then I got up and painted my toe nails. I drew a nice, warm bath and gave myself a foot massage. Before we left Canada, my sister-in-law Lindsay gave me a bunch of Avon products. I had been saving the “body soufflé” for a special occasion, and this was it. Oh my gosh – how luxurious – to have my body souffled! It was almost like a day at the spa. I was thinking about how many companies in the west offer "mental health days" now. And I was thinking about how mentally exhausting it is when almost every conversation you have all day centres around the theme of "how are we going to survive?" or "are we going to starve to death?"

Of course, I know that taking my own mental health day/day at the spa was a very luxurious thing to do. My gosh, one of the most common conversations you hear these days is the debate about whether or not to buy soap. When your salary isn’t even covering your transport to and from work, you have to give up luxuries, and so the debate is whether soap is a luxury or a necessity. The jam-packed combis (public transportation) are drenched with the smell of human sweat, and so I’m guessing that most people are relegating soap to luxury item. What next?