Can appliances buy happiness?

So from my last post, you might have noticed that hot season was getting to me. The air quality + non stop heat (110 degree) made for an unhappy researcher. Well - Drissa and I have decided to go all out and make the transition to Donna Reed levels of domesticity: we now own a refridgerator and air conditioning!!!! The last straw came yesterday when, after a couple of nights back on a Bamako rooftop, I came down with a serious stomachache and was vomiting 'cause the gross stuff in my lungs seeped down into my stomach (ok well there might have been a little food poisoning mixed in there too). Health before everything else right?!

Well one trip to the Samsung store and my spirits (and hopefully my health) restored. Both appliances have one year guarantees, which means they aren't going away and I can enjoy chilled mangoes for the rest of the year. This is a rare type of assurance in Mali - knowing something is working well and will continue that way for the rest of my stay. If I had a quality of life index - it would be making some major jumps.

I am so excited to sleep in my bed tonight - it's been almost 3 months outside on the roof! I can enjoy the fact that the bathroom is steps away, clean soot-free bedding, a little bit of privacy (instead of waking up seeing all your other neighbors getting up and scrambling to put on some decent clothes), no passing smells of burning garbage or charcoal fires, and maybe even getting up in the middle of the night and pulling a bottle of coke from the fridge.

Tonight I am making a celebratory dinner - Massaman curry. This investment was expensive (like $700 for both appliances), but for my own sanity and for the next 9 months here - I think it was worth it. After all, I only pay $150 a month in rent. As goes my graduate school moto: it's all about sustainability!