The light in my bathroom went out recently. I figured that I could handle it. Stand up on a chair, take off the cover, put in a new light bulb. Easy-peasy.

Ha. Ha.

Turns out I need a Philips head screwdriver and not a flat head. Thing is, I don't have either (but I do know the name of both. That should count for something).

So I showered in a dark for a few days.

[caption id="" align="alignnone" width="614" caption="Headlamp, butter knife and a light bulb"]<a class="tt-flickr tt-flickr-Large" title="Headlamp, butter knife and a light bulb" href="http://www.flickr.com/photos/29050866@N06/6420452691/"><img src="http://farm8.staticflickr.com/7032/6420452691_c35d199f68_b.jpg" alt="Headlamp, butter knife and a light bulb" width="614" height="410" /></a>[/caption]

Then I dug out my headlamp, a butter knife and pulled a chair into the bathroom. Headlamp on, I managed to unscrew all three screws. I also silently cursed whoever felt like they needed to screw in the screws so tightly but then again I was using a butter knife as a screwdriver and repeating the mantra "right-y thight-y, left-y loose-y." <!--more-->

I got the cover off, the light bulb out and I put the new one in. And wa-la! Light. Then I screwed the plastic cover back on. Sure I lost a screw in the process. It dropped out of my hand and I looked around my bathroom floor but I couldn't find it so two screws will have to do for now.

It's funny when I lived in a group house, I used to always make my roommate S. climb up on the ladder to change our light bulbs. I'd hold the ladder while he changed the burnt out light bulbs and then I'd hand him the replacement bulbs. I felt very happy to be helping rather than actually changing the light bulbs.

Now I do it by myself. The thing is I know people in my building who would change it for me if I asked them. I just don't. I probably could have made it easier on myself by borrowing a screwdriver but where's the fun in that?!

Turns out this is just one of many moments that have made me realize how self-reliant I've become living abroad. Then the more I thought about it I began to think that actually it was more than being self-reliant. In fact, I've become incredibly independent.

Living abroad by myself has challenged me in 100s of good ways. I've traveled all over huge swaths of Eastern Europe by myself. I've eaten in restaurants alone and enjoyed it. I've cleaned out my own plugged up drains. I've more or less learned to cook for one.  It's nice to know that I can do these things by myself and for myself.

This is not to say, that I don't look forward to a time where I am making coffee for more than one or that it's generally more fun to eat in a restaurant with  friend. Nope, it's to say this: I am glad that I realized that I could wait around forever for other people to do what I wanted so it's nice to know that I <em>can</em> live on my own. Sure when I am taking the garbage out at 9pm in the cold, I wish there was someone else I could convince to do this but these days it's just me, so I do it. And really, who's to say that it would be any different if I wasn't living by myself?