Washing dishes joyfully will make you welcome in many households all around the world, says my friend. I doubt it: In most of the countries I go to a dish washer is not a very special (and therefore: rare) piece of equipment but a standard part of kitchen furniture. Still it´s nice to be recognised for a gift even I didn´t consider a gift until now. Around people who have no dish washer in their kitchen, cleaning the dishes has been, at least for me, an easy and joyful way into their hearts.
I am also good at vacuuming (joyfully), but this hasn´t been appreciated in the same way. Depending on low provision of energy (coming mostly from solar panels) results in a conflict of interests: me using the vacuumer inside the house interferes with someone else using the saw outside in the shed. So I switched to sweeping the floors with a broom …
I learned that you can do without a lot of things: over the last weeks, for instance, I hardly ever used a toilet with a flush but a compost one – with a bucket of compostable stuff beside. I didn´t have any crisps or processed sweets (except for this one piece of chocolate last week), but instead enjoyed a delicious dessert after almost every dinner – hand made. I didn´t miss watching movies or listening to music, a nice and modern car and some other devices (including a dish washer …)
There are some things, though, that I can´t do without: I need to have time to pray, a chance to brush my teeth, friendly people to talk to, the feeling of being useful (not only for washing the dishes but for whatever little odd jobs around house and garden or just as company), and the possibility to contact my family back home.