The Biggest Adjustment

Prompt: "So far, the biggest adjustment has been _______ because......."

I'm going to have to cheat a little on this one and talk about two huge adjustments because they are a daily struggle for me down here in Ecuador.

1. The Shower

I am a huge fan of showers back home. I definitely am against wasting water, but when it comes to showering all bets are off. The shower is a sacred place, perfect for total relaxation under a hot stream of water, or perhaps a place for planning your day, week, life..whatever. That sacred place that I have taken for granted for so many years cannot be found here. My shower here has two settings: lukewarm with zero pressure vs. arctic blast with aggressive pressure. There is no in-between. Also, the contraption that heats up the water is attached to the shower head, and because safety comes first, it's electric.  Let me tell you, there is NOTHING like getting a full body shock when you accidentally brush the shower head with your hand while conditioning.  On top of this, I've recently injured my ankle here playing soccer, so the step into the shower is the most dangerous part of my day because I have to balance on my bad foot and hope I don't slip as I hop in. FYI I slip and fall into the shower like eight times out of ten.

Moral of this story: appreciate what you have because when the thought of showering becomes equivalent to the thought of getting teeth pulled you learn a lot about yourself, and dry shampoo.

2. The Keys

To get into my house I have four different keys. This is really hard to adjust to because I don't think I've locked my dorm room once since being at college, and I constantly lose my swipe.  I have the yellow key to get through the gate, then the red key to get through the first door [which is metal bars, it takes three turns and then I have to slide a tricky to reach dead bolt], then the main door which has two locks, blue key on bottom [three turns] and green key on top [two turns]. Then for the door to actually open you have to simultaneously turn the bottom key and twist the door handle, but this becomes problematic when the door handle sticks which is quite often. Needless to say, getting into my house late at night after going out with friends is close to impossible. There have been various times where I needed to take a 5 minute break and sit with the family dog before attempting again.