-you find yourself making a meal out of ANYTHING because you either a) don’t want the almost-rotten food to go to waste or b) there are no ingredients available i.e. stores are closed, or its night and its not safe to go out alone.
So far, I have made a meal of canned tomatoes, jar of pickled beets, can of tomato sauce (note the common theme of CANNED items), bag of chips (that one I didn’t mind!), actually, now that I think about it, this list could get pretty extensive. I think my list of “real” meals would be even shorter.
-you kill bugs with your bare hands (yes, even me)
-and, related to the point above, when you do find an insect in your food (which is inevitable in the outdoors), you just remove it and keep on eating (some volunteers don’t even bother removing it, seriously, I’ve seen it happen.).
-you have added another food group to your diet, worms.
-you are trying to learn more than 3 languages, all at the same time! (damn you Afrikaans, Oshiwambo and DamaraNama)
-you are always on the look-out for scorpions or snakes when walking. On the same note, you check the inside of your shoes every morning for scorpions.
-you know the trick to making a mean smooth porridge out of pap (maize meal)
-you have downgraded your levels of cleanliness, personal hygiene and personal grooming. I mean, if its common for women here to have hairy legs and lots of chin hair, why can’t I let go too? When was the last time YOU cut your own hair? For me, it was yesterday. Hey, that’s an extra $50 in my pocket!
-you have developed a new Namibian Gold Standard to compare all experiences to, and have forgotten or consciously decided to ignore the standard that was enjoyed back home. If I have ice cream here and another volunteer asks for my quality assessment, I don’t compare it to the ice cream in Canada, but rather, to a New Namibian Standard for ice cream. So, here, ice cream can be Nambian “good” yet also Canadian “bad”.
-think its totally normal to pee outdoors, in the bush. I think I may have picked up some bad habits since I now prefer to use the bush. I mean, how great is it to hear birds singing and insects chirping in the background?!
-Think that public nudity is totally normal.
-you start talking like a Namibian and threaten to “beat” someone when they annoy you (and yet, unlike the Namibians, you don’t actually mean it).
-you don’t remember the last time you ate a fresh vegetable.
-when you find a long straight hair in your food, there is no doubt that it belongs to you (since I could be the only person shedding straight hair).
-You minimize the amount of groceries you keep at home because a) you ARE on a volunteer salary b) no matter how much food you have, it will all get eaten by friends/visitors at your home anyway.
No comments:
Post a Comment