I started out married life in Turkey. We did have a western-style toilet, but you had to flush it with a bucket of water.........that is IF the water was running. Getting hot water involved building a wood fire in the waterheater, so I learned to take a perfectly adequate bath with a bucket of water and a kettle of hot water. We heated with kerosene, which I learned how to use properly after having my bangs and eyebrows singed off by a kerosene flash. The water had to be treated before drinking. Electricity was undependable, there was no TV of course, but we did have a short-wave radio that brought in great English-language broadcasts from all over the world. I learned to cook on a bottled-gas stove that had two settings for the oven....on and off. So, if I had to bake a cake at 350, I would close the door til it got up to 375, then open it until it went down to 325.....repeat, repeat, repeat. I served my poor late husband many flat cakes and charred cookies.
The worse was experiencing a bad earthquake the day I learned I was pregnant. Our building had cracks in the walls that you could see daylight through.
I think this experience taught me to appreciate the "little" things in life....flush toilets, hot water from the tap, air conditioning.... I've always lived simply and saved money. Right now, my boyfriend and I live in a small house, I drive an 11-year-old car, and always look for bargains. This lifestyle allows us to travel 4-5 months a year seeing America and some foreign trips with my sisters and friends. No Ritz-Carlton for us, though. We tend to travel as simply as we live.
