What is This Stuff?

From hotel to hotel, from town to town, we trudge up and down hill and broken street carrying this stuff on our backs. We have become well-versed at flying into our destination city, finding a hotel and spending a few days exploring, and then leaving one of our bags with the hotel staff while we venture out for a week or two. Each time we begin our return trip to the second bag, we say to each other, “What is in that thing? What haven’t we needed for the last two weeks?” And we return, empty the contents in a heap, and try, for the umpteenth time, to cull our belongings. But our bags never really seem to lighten.

Our technology stuff is fairly extensive, and we cannot bear to part with any of it. Two MP3 players (one which doubles as a jump drive), a 250GB hard drive, camera and charger and cords, laptop and cord, and tiny portable speakers.

Clothing is truly down to a minimum, a much easier task in warm climates. N has three t-shirts, two shorts (one are swim trunks), two pairs of pants, one long-sleeve lightweight parka, and a sweater. I have two skirts, three shirts (just bought a new one yesterday in the market!), a swimsuit, two dresses, a sweatshirt, one long sleeve shirt, and one thin tank top. We also each have a pair of flipflops and a pair of sneakers.

We carry two sleeping bags and a tent with poles. We have yet to use the tent, but we pack the darn thing EVERYWHERE in the hopes of having a chance.

The first aid kit is completely neglected…we haven’t pulled it out in months. But we carry it, ‘cause you just never know.

A large bulk of the things we carry are gifts for people we have yet to meet. Giving the stuff away is the fun part: we think of the people who have made impressions on us, have been humbly helpful in unasked for ways, seemed like they could use or appreciate what we have to give away, or otherwise made us happy in some small way.

Our gift giving began long, long ago in China, when we gave away the last of the items we brought from New Orleans: pralines and Cheeky Cookie Macaroons. We still carry around half a container of cajun spice, some bay leaves, and a few packages of Tabasco and Crystal hot sauce, for the next time we can cook for some new friends. We also have bags of Indian chai tea and spices to share.

In Accra, Brittany gave away the orange silk shawl I got for her in India to the sweet, beautiful woman who sells fried plantains. It still had some light spatter marks from the colored paints and powders we had been doused with during “Holi” festival in Hardiwar. She exclaimed in delight as we snacked on spicy, caramelized goodness.

Nathan gave away a hand-carved marble lion we bought at the waterfall Jabalpur, India. The lion’s feet had been broken in transit, but his regal torso was intact. When we gave it to Black Shanti to glorify his DJ studio in Asylum Down neighborhood in Accra; we knew he was also technical enough to have some super glue the feet back on.

There is a can of ‘Prickly heat’ powder purchased in Thailand which has been waiting for the right person (itch relief powder with a slight burning feeling is not the kind of thing you can hoist onto just anyone).

We still have the National Geographic ‘Crucible of History ‘ map (the archeological history of Old Jerusalem and the Middle East) we got from Nathan’s uncle in Philadelphia - who would appreciate it fully? We haven’t found the perfect person yet, but rest assured, we will.

Nathan brought his cellphone and charger, even though it was a terrible phone, even in the United States. He drove Brittany crazy with the background noise in the reception and an extremely muffled microphone. But we thought that perhaps we would get a SIM card in some country and use it. So, we carried it for months, until leaving it with the Chauhan’s. The timing of the gift was impeccable and made the burden of carrying it for three months absolutely worth it.

In Mussoorie, India, we gave away our two winter coats to the kind Chai seller who didn’t judge our two (or sometimes three or four) chai teas a day. He also got a bag of Brittany’s assorted ladies clothes for his wife and sisters.

We gifted a few of Ghandi’s books to our friends at Action Aid in Kemba, Ethiopia, knowing that we had found a perfect place to pass on his ideas and words.

But, even when the piles are sorted and we have given the fun stuff away again…our bags immediately refill with the next series of gifts which we are willing to carry for months, through the next fifteen or so countries, because we know that the perfect recipient is just around that next bend in the road.