The many uses of a garden hose

Warning... this blog may be long and painful to the reader. Do not embark on reading unless you have spare time, and are willing to be a little philosophical with me. Otherwise, please just view the pictures.
:-D

So it is Sunday, although you will not be reading this until Monday because I am unable to post it until I get back into the office. Dave has allowed me to use one of the spare laptops here, and I brought it home with me so I see if by any chance there would be wireless Internet here. But there is none.

So, my day today has been interesting. I slept in, not having much else to do, and trying to catch up on sleep. But it wasn't too long before the garbage man woke me up, when he rang our door bell asking if we had any garbage to take out. At least that's who I think he was. I didn't understand a word he was saying, and I'm sure he didn't understand me either. But he and another guy were going down the street with large bins on wheels that I could only assume carried garbage. But it was probably good that he rang, because it reminded me to bring in the milk. Not that it would be bad to let it spoil... I have received milk every day, and haven't had any until today... and that was just a little for cereal. The refrigerator is getting full with these small plastic bags full of milk (that's how the milk comes). The milk actually didn't taste all that bad either.

So I took up by battle with the ants again... and sprayed the three holes I know about that lead to their den. The house isn't covered with ants by any means, but I happened to pick the one room to sleep in that seems to have a problem with them... and even then, it could easily be worse than ants. Afterwards, I took my shower, and got dressed... spent some time shaving (badly needed) when I realized that I could hear some kids out the back window. So, I cautiously peaked out, thinking that there might be some kids playing in the back yard, and not wanting to scare them needlessly. What I saw first was a boy in shorts sitting on the back porch with water being poured on him. So I looked a little to the right, and saw his mother. Amused, I watch this for a while. I wondered who they were, and why they were in our back yard. The mother seemed nice enough, and she and her boy were looked like they were enjoying themselves. She seemed to be helping her son bathe. Before long, the boy took off his shorts, rang them out, and put them back on with the rest of his cloths. He then took off, and ran down the street, either to go home or to go find his friends, or maybe to help with chores. The mom on the other hand stayed and continued to water the grass and the plants. I started to realize that she was the gardener. When she was done with our yard, she went over to the neighbors yard, and watered it too.

At this point, I went and looked around (camera in hand), and saw lots of things that made me start to think. All of this gives me a new perspective on what we call “outsourcing”. Although, I must say, I never have been concerned about outsourcing, I am now here looking at it first hand and seeing much of the good that it can do. Although opponents to outsourcing say (and say correctly) that outsourcing hurts Americans, it doesn't hurt us in a permanent way. But here I am, living in one of the nicest condos in the city (which is still a small step down from what I am used to) and am benefiting many just from being here. The money we bring here directly or indirectly benefits many people. As I write this there is a group of four girls and occasionally a couple of boys that are filling up buckets of water to take back to their shacks just outside the walls of this gated community. They are beautiful children. They seem to be fed well enough, although I am sure they wouldn't mind a little more. Their parents likely work for this community in which I am living, doing things like garbage duty, gardening, cleaning, and being a watch guard. By just being here, and living by the standards I am used to, I have helped to give many people much less fortunate than I, a chance to work for food, and a place to fill their water containers. (I am curious what they need the water for... they have been filling containers for quite a while now, taking them back, and bringing them again empty.) And this of course doesn't include the people that the company is actually employing here. And we pay them well enough, that I'm sure they are in turn helping others less fortunate than themselves. India is slowly rising out of its poverty due to people like me and companies like the one I work for. Are there those in America who are hurting because of this? Yes, but there are more who are benefiting because of it.

Many people hate and disdain Walmart (myself first and foremost among them, but for reasons not discussed here) because they buy very few American made goods, and import much from other countries. It is one of their secrets to keeping their prices low. Walmart has driven some companies in America into the ground due to their ability to undercut their prices. But at the same time, Walmart has helped to create large and thriving companies in other places such as India and China. The effects this has on those now jobless Americans is bad. But most of those who have lost their jobs have options. If they live in a large city, other jobs can be found near by. Some will have to move to find jobs. Many will take salary cuts for new jobs. All of them will still be better off than these in the garden filling their water bottles. But on the other hand, many of the poor in America now have access to food and clothing at cheaper costs than they ever had. They have received an effective “pay raise” because Walmart allows them to buy more for their money. And if you have ever been to Walmart, you know that there are many who have benefited from this because of how crowded they always seem to be. Global trade helps everybody, even though it also hurts some.

The girls outside seem to have left now. When they first got here, I gave a couple of them some choco-pies (an Asian treat not unlike cup cakes) I bought at the store yesterday. I then went back inside and proceeded to take their pictures when they weren't looking. Eventually, they started to notice me peaking out from my window. So I simply smiled, waved at them, and sat down to type this. They shyly waved back. They were excited about their treats. There are now a couple of boys who have taken up filling buckets with water. The oldest can't be older than seven or eight, and the youngest looks to be around 5. They seem to be happy kids. Beautiful kids. My heart goes out to them. Maybe someday they will get jobs working for an American company, and their kids won't have to carry water back and forth all day. It certainly makes you grateful for what you have. Again, I apologize about the length of this blog... but I have got nothing but time on my hands today. I hope you are all doing well. Please know that I am doing just fine out here... if not just a little bit lonely. I miss and love you all.

These, and a few more photos I took today