Surprisingly Important Conveniences

I wanted to put up another quick post of some things I was thinking about today.  I realized, since coming back to the states, how convenient certain things are that will be a little difficult to not have right at our fingertips.  I thought I would put a few here in the blog, and if you think of any others, comment on this post and let me know.  Anyway, here is a short list of things:

• A grocery store down the street.  (There are grocery stores in Haiti, but you have to drive through dirt roads, past a police station where you may or may not be pulled over for no reason, and about 10 miles that takes about an hour.)
• Take Out/Fast food
• Target/Wal Mart
• A place to buy my wife a good present (I like buying gifts)
• Air Conditioning
• Fast, consistent internet
• Hot water for washing dishes, taking showers, and washing clothes.
• A dishwasher
• Milk
• Paved Roads
• People close by who speak english.
• Old friends who live close by.
• I’m just going to say it – Good Steaks and Hamburgers.
• Free refills

And on a serious note:

• A good education for our children.
• An established university system
• Nutritious food for our children that is easy to acquire
• An organized political system
• Laws that are adhered to and enforced
• Not being viewed differently because we are American
• Being in a culture that I know and understand

These are all things that we will figure out, and some of them we will probably find out are not that difficult once we move down there permanently.  Honestly, this could be a knee-jerk reaction to having been down there for just a short time.  But it is remarkable how many things are so simple to get here and so difficult there.  I almost ended this blog on a very serious note, but I realized I could save that for another day.  For today, what are some other conveniences that we take for granted in America that we probably couldn’t find other places?