Wish List

With the approximately two month shipping time, I thought I would put up some thoughts for Holiday gifts (IE: stuff you can’t get in Lesotho).

Always Needed:

Pilot G-2 Pens (worth their weight in gold)

Good writing paper (ditto)

Socks (the holes, they form fast)

Crystal Light (tasty and delicious)

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Holiday ideas:

- Zippo:  No, I haven’t taken up smoking.  However, I go through about a box of matches every two days.  Lighters seem to be more economical and (haha!) sustainable, and I always have kerosene around for my lamp.  Important:  Zippo now makes Butane lighters as well, which would not work.  Finding pressurized gas in this country = not with the possible.

- Good Knives

- Hiking Socks, Boot Insoles and Long Underwear: hey, you can’t say I’m not practical.

- Reading Material.  Idea:  Gravity’s Rainbow, Moby Dick, Anything by Bill Bryson, a subscription to the NY Review of Books (informed by phone it was ordered).

- Watching Material:  This is more for mom and dad, but there are a few DVDs in my collection I’m hoping to get shipped over.  Namely: Babette’s Feast, Garden State, Dr. Strangelove, Princess Bride, and Black Hawk Down (the coworkers like action movies).  Also, anything people think I would like.  Friends:  Thar be anime watching with Thaba-Tseka volunteers.  Family:  I have a live DVD of Josh Ritter playing, if you could throw that in a box at some point it would be awesome.

- Music!

- Anything I can tack to my wall for decoration.

- Hot Sauces!

EDIT:  NEW STUFF AS OF 9/25

*ahem*

There’s been some work related issues with me having a mac and needing to use Access and (eventually) SPSS.  The fix I’ve been able to work out is to get the newer version of Mac OS, which comes with bootcamp, a utility that allows you to install windows as well.  This requires two things:

- Mac OS 10.5:  This might work better as contributions to a fund, as rumor has it that Mac has a discount for serving PCVs.

- A small external hardrive that does not require a separate power source, IE the passport.

EDIT:  And one more thing:

- Headphones.  Mine crapped out the third week of training, and the third pair of them I’ve bought in Maseru just died.  Of course, you can’t get headphones in this country for more than about $10, and it seems you get what you pay for.