the list

I sat down with Mary the other day to make a list. I asked her, "What do we need to buy for our house?" She and Jean and I will be living together for a year. Our house is unfurnished, so we are starting from scratch.

Some things on our cooperative list made sense to both of us: plates, refrigerator, fans.

Other things made less sense. Initially.

I suggested we buy a water pitcher. Mary said, "What for?" I explained. Turns out she is used to using water bottles, and in the end they do work better for cool water because the pitcher doesn't fit in the fridge. We do still use the water pitcher though. It's a handy intermediate for pouring water into glasses since the big water jug is awkward and heavy.

Mary suggested we buy kitchen shoes. I said, "What for?" She explained that it's best to put something on our feet while we cook because of all the grease and water on the floor. I wondered out loud if there needed to be grease and water on the floor. Apparently there does. Now I have kitchen shoes.

I thought we needed a stove. Mary and Jean can manage nicely using just a rice cooker and a plug-in wok. We got a stove anyway, mostly for my sake. But Mary and Jean like it too.

Mary thought we needed big water basins for the bathroom. I didn't understand until I realized that water only comes out of our taps about half the time, so the basins are a very necessary backup supply.

I bought a spatula and a whisk. Mary bought a mortar and pestle. I bought toilet paper. Mary bought dipper buckets with handles.

And so the learning begins.

Here we are having a moving-into-our-house thanksgiving dinner with friends. Mary and Jean are on the left.