'I thought you could use this...'

One thing I have never really understood is yard sales, you try to sell the stuff you don't want anymore to people who don't actually need it! 

We recently had something similar happen to us. 

Good friends left (for countries unexplored) and with sad good byes they handed over THE BLACK BAG, a bag of medium size, slightly roughed up and splattered with mud. Interesting...

 

THE BLACK BAG INVENTORY:

 

1. One blank note book  - USEFUL

2. Three Novels, in Swedish - NOT USEFUL

3. Five Novels, in English - USEFUL

4. One bread knife - USEFUL

5. One cutting knife - USEFUL

6. A used candle in wood - USEFUL

7. Two thermo coffee mugs - IN NEED OF A WASH

8. SeaSpa facial scrub, facial mud mask and aftershave balm(half used) - STILL DECIDING

9. Some 'beauty milk' in a different language - DANGEROUS

10. Half a pot of Rose Velvet Body Cream - STILL DECIDING

11. One small pot of ETERISK OLJA - DONT UNDERSTAND THE LANGUAGE

12. One HEALTHY Magazine, six months old - USEFUL

13. Finally - a bag within a bag...maybe to give all of this back to other unsuspecting friends when we decide to explore the unknown!

 

This transferal of useless STUFF is something I still struggle to understand in expat culture. You are leaving Dar for adventures afar...but still have a few odds and ends you dont want to sell or, for some reason leave behind without a happy home(or as someone recently said, feel to bad to throw out yourself). So, ceremoniously you hand it over to the friends that have been closer than family with a parting shot something along the lines of 'I thought you could use this, but otherwise throw it away'. 

 

So warning to all friends out there...I am now the owner of a BLACK BAG full of useless stuff...waiting to be given to someone 'I thought could use it!'

~maisha