I'm a plastic tea pot...

... short and stout. Here is my handle, here is my spout...
Ain't she a beauty!? I plan to make many cups of iced tea within her beautifully whimsical plastic walls.

This is the photo I meant to post last night, until that pesky little lizard got in the way! I didn't actually see where he went, but I carefully shook out my pillows, untucked my mosquito net and shook it out, and tucked it back in again... and I didn't feel anything crawling over my as I slept, so I assume he was as scared of me as I was of him...

Anyways, my plastic teapot is my newest find in Juba. It actually goes quite well with the new mugs that we found in the market two weeks ago:
Do you see a theme developing here? The colors don't seem to show up so well on the mug, but really, in real life, they are so lovely.

It has been amazing me over the past few weeks just how much I have learned to appreciate a lot of the simpler things in life living here. I have such fun going to the market to see what I can find there - and if something happens to catch my eye, it ends up giving me a lot of joy for many, many days. I spent a couple of dollars on a set of four matching mugs, and somehow, my coffee and tea times have been filled with much more pleasure than when I was drinking it out of plain old chipped white mugs.

When I go to the produce section of the market, life is simple because I know exactly what's going to be there - tomatoes, onions, cucumbers, potatoes, green pepper, eggs, bananas, limes and pineapples (well, usually!). I might be pleasantly surprised by the appearance of an avocado or two, or maybe some nice looking carrots or even green beans! But generally, the simplicity of it makes life easy. Not too many decisions to be made on what to buy in the produce department, that's for sure!

And somehow, I've been finding some contentment in that simplicity. The beauty of my new mugs, the whimsical pattern on my tea pot, the smooth red skin of a tomato, the juiciness of a pineapple... I'm learning (and even usually succeeding!) at being content with these simple things.

(But don't get me wrong - I'm really, really looking forward to a whole litany of things when I go back home for Christmas - hot showers, cheesecake, electricity, paved roads, high speed internet, TV, bookstores, telephones plugged into the walls instead of cell phones, glass in the windows... but I do think living here has certainly given me a much, much greater appreciation for the simple things in life, which I don't want to lose even in the midst of all those wonderful things at home!).

Anyways, those are just a few rambling thoughts tonight as I sit and admire my plastic tea pot.