One of the exciting things about living in another culture is the novelty that fills each day. There are new languages to learn, different customs to understand, and, of course, distinct foods to try. Even ordinary tasks seem more adventurous because they are done away from home. After a certain amount of time, however, the novelty begins to wear off. Occurrences that startled or amused or frustrated at first begin to seem quite ordinary and expected. Lately, I have found myself in exactly that place where life is life, in all of its ordinary sacredness. So I find myself just living: creating routines, going to work, having dinner with friends, drinking tea, and building relationships. It is a gift to share life with people around the world, to realize each day that what connects us as human beings is stronger than those things we allow to divide us from one another.
In honor of this, I want to share with you some of the amusing and/or frustrating things that I regularly encounter:
- Riding in a bus clearly marked for 14 people with 22 other passengers (not counting children, live chickens, or bags or maize)
- Discussing the pros, cons, and theological implications of polygamy on a regular basis.
- Eating a goat kidney like a kebab.
- Getting stuck in a traffic jam for nearly an hour and realizing at the end that it was a herd of cows blocking the road
- Dowry negotiations. I have been told that this is not buying a wife; it is a sign of respect. (It still sounds like buying a wife to me)
- Going to the park and having a bag of peanuts stolen by a very aggressive monkey
- Riding through a very nice neighborhood (think of Buckhead) and seeing a camel (or another herd of cows) on the side of the road
- Being called Roline, Lorraine, Loreen, Loline, because Lauren is very hard to pronounce.
- Sitting through a 3 hour worship service in Kikuyu (a language I still can't completely follow). My favorite part is always the Lord's Prayer which makes me feel safe and at home whenever it is prayed.
I don’t write this list to perpetuate stereotypes or generalizations, only to share with you some of the diversity that makes life beautiful and interesting. Each day we have the opportunity to encounter a piece of this diversity as we interact with one another.
