Back to Basics

It's the night of the second day, and I think I'll get through this. I keep telling myself it's not so bad, that I only have three more days, 68 more hours. I'm trying to find creative ways to eat my food, so today I put my left over rice and beans from last night's dinner and put it on a tortilla, it was taco bell delicious, sort of. Close enough anyway. And this two outfits thing isn't so bad, I was pretty creative with layers anyway. But the hardest part was watching my deteriorating state of cleanliness throughout the day. For my 9:30 class my hair was fine, manageable really. but then at about 3:30 it was an ungodly sight. I actually looked like I was living on $2 a day, or so I imagined. All I wanted yesterday was to have some ice cream, and the only thing I could think about today was bathing in the sink, getting clean! But somehow things kept coming up, people kept stoping by, and I never got around to bathing until nightfall. In fact my hair is still wet from my dunk in the sink.
The experience of bathing in a sink was a lot of fun actually, and quite entertaining. It kind of reminded me of when I was a little girl in the summer time. When I was young I would always play games outside with the other kids from my street, like flashlight tag or bloody murder. We'd stay outside for hours hiding, seeking, and thrilling ourselves senseless. And whenever my parents would call us in for bed I remember how discusting I would feel. My knees would be all scraped with grass stains, I would feel sticky and sweaty. I'd go upstares and tell my mom I can't go to bed because I was all "icky and gross." She'd just tell me to suck it up or sponge bathe. And so tonight as I feebly attempted to get every inch of my head covered in water and shampoo, the warm night air coming through the door took me right back to my summers as a kid.
I really do think I can get through this. Living on $2 a day might sound horrifying to most people, but it can be rewarding beyond measure. Now I watch girls as they walk down campus walk and I notice all of the little accesories they have on, like a ring or earings, makeup, etc. and I think of all of the rivolous and silly things for which we waste our money. I haven't used makeup since the challenge started, and to tell you the truth, my skin feels and looks great. Living on $2 a day just simplifies things, brings things back to basics.
Basically, I think I'm down with that.