I've been here 6 months exactly...it's hard to believe. Alot has happened and time is flying by. Even though it's been a big adjustment, I'm finding that I'm getting used to life in the Sandbox. Here are just a few things that have now become normal.
1) I thoroughly inspect my food before I eat it. When I buy bread from the shop across the street I have to pick the grass out of it before I eat it....and I don't really think that's weird.
2) Things in/on cars like: 'da bom' or 'da pom', 'BOB' (marley), 'Osama', pictures of mashetes, huge teddy bears that are holding hearts that say 'I love you', curtain fringe hanging from the roof, really anything tacky that you can think of, don't even make me laugh anymore.
3) Yesterday I got angry at my amjad driver for driving carefully...I actually found myself mad when he didn't pull out recklessly, swerve all over the road and basically endanger my life with every move he made. He made me late.
4) As I walk down the street men yell things but I don't even have the urge to yell back anymore, I just ignore them. Except for when they say 'masha'allah' which means 'praise the lord'. Can't help but laugh at that one!
5) I look forward to the winter, only because it entails double-digit temperatures!
6) I've found that anything can be amusing...even watching little kids chase goats from the balcony
7) It's not a real meal unless it is accompanied by some form of cucmber/tomato salad
8) The smell of rain makes my day
9) I'll eat anything that tastes bad as long as it's not weird...a horribly tasting mixture of flour and water with some sauce that tastes like vomit on top is ok, but sheep brain or goat intestines is out of the question.
10) sometimes the trip to the butcher isn't all that convenient and I find myself thinking about the guy within walking distance who has whole animals hanging from the window...surely raw meat doesn't need to be refrigerated, right? No, I haven't gone quite that far yet!
11) It doesn't seem all that strange anymore when I see people watering down their 'driveways'. Of course we don't have driveways here, just dirt, but people will take a water hose and water down the dirt so it 'doesn't blow'. I still don't see the logic, but I've just gotten used to walking out of my way so that I'm out of the range of the water hose
12) When someone asks me if I'm from a country (any country, russia, china, bangladesh, seriously, they've asked me!), instead of admitting that I'm American I just say that I have a friend from the country they suggested. It tends to confuse them enough that they don't ask again
13) I feel naked in a tank top, even if I'm just around other Americans
14) My grocery store is smaller than a gas station and it's one of the big ones
15) I find it perfectly acceptable to go into the house of a total stranger and drink tea
16) It doesn't really bother me that I need the Sandbox president's permission to leave the country or to travel more than 10 miles from my own house
17) As long as the dirt in my water settles to the bottom of the cup, it's ok to drink what's on top. And I still haven't gotten sick...amazing!
These are just a few of the things that have become normal to me...
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