Today, I’ve made it past a month here. I am 1/27th of the way through my experience here. And I’ll probably still feel the same way in month 27, but now I am constantly surprised by this country.
Sometimes, I’m surprised by what other people are doing. Like when women grab my boobs to ask if I’d like to help feed the baby. Or when a kid riding a donkey chases his friends and hits them with a stick.
Sometimes, I’m surprised by the weather. It’s the rainy season, and even though it hasn’t been as wet as it usually is (or so I’m told), you’ve probably never seen rain like this before. The side-ways, always accompanied by booming thunder and blinding lightning, close and lock your tin door, street-flooding, activity-ending rain. And then as quickly as it starts, it ends and it’s back to being 105 degrees and sunny and you’re left to walk to class in the six inches of water flowing down the street.
Sometimes, I’m surprised by what I do. I live nearly off the grid, with a phone with poor cell coverage and even more poor data coverage. More surprising, I’m really okay with it. I have unlimited texting and calling to the other volunteers (way to have your shit together, Peace Corps), but I’m feeling less and less of a need to be in constant contact with people. I’m surprised at the role I’ve taken within my host family – awkward American (often mistaken for Frenchwoman) who tells women not to hit their children, gives their meat to the toddlers and insists everyone wash their hands with soap. I’m surprised at how quickly I’ve made made friendships and how fiercely I want to maintain those relationships. Sometimes too, I’m surprised at how frustrated I am, while other times I am outright shocked that I kept my cool in a situation.
Other times, I’m surprised at the wealth of knowledge my fellow volunteers have, their compassion, their can-do attitudes, their attentive listening skills, and how incredibly, heart-wrenchingly, delightfully nerdy they are. These people are some of the most intelligent people I’ve ever met, and I think the following quote from Helen Keller does a pretty good job of explaining what we’re all doing here: “The highest result of education is tolerance.”