Skip to main content

Where the hell am I?


Reverse culture shock. You don’t think it will actually happen. But then it creeps up on you.

Going from Malawi, even the capital in Malawi, to Cape Town, South Africa has been like going from zero to 10,000. There are so many choices at the grocery store, so many expensive cars and pothole-less roads, so many smartphones, and so many women wearing trousers and leggings all around. The skyscrapers are enormously tall and construction of new ones is happening with massive mechanical machines. People rush around with headphones in, completely tuned out of the world and their surroundings. Shops are chock-full of material goods, all set up enticingly, and restaurants have so many food options. People are a beautiful blend of mixed races and cultures. There are wide sidewalks, pedestrian crosswalks, and stoplights. The produce and meats at the grocery store are all wrapped up in plastic.

I feel so lost and over stimulated. What happened to my simple, village life?

As I walked around Cape Town as a tourist with other PCVs yesterday, I felt a lot of emotions. I felt guilty for being capable and privileged enough to just up and leave the village and come to a big, expensive city such as this. I also felt disgusted and literally nauseous from the amount of consumerism that engulfed me. I’d almost forgotten how (MY normal) society functions. 

Popular posts from this blog

Moving to the Big City

April is coming to a close, and I need to do another update on my life. A whooooole lot changed this month, but the biggest changes were my location, my job, and my health. Last month in March, a bunch of emotional things happened. Two of my closest friends left Liberia, dry season heat was at its peak and making me miserable, and the lack of work at my site was reaching a tipping point. I thought long and hard about my options. My favorite little 9 month old is almost walking I felt torn. I didn’t really want to leave Liberia, but I also wasn’t sure how much more of my situation I could emotionally handle. I felt like I’d lost control over every aspect of my life; my well-being, privacy, daily routine, and happiness all felt dependent on my environment and the people around me. I tried not to stress about this realization, but I also felt like I’d reached an inescapable and unhealthy place. Thankfully, things sort of fell into place all at once. As I was...
Read more

I Saw a Circumcision Today

The scurrying and thumping continued just above me, and the darkness surrounded my eyes. I reached over and peeked at my phone- checking the time. It was 4 AM: not time to wake up yet. I rolled back over and closed my eyes, trying to will the time to pass until morning when I knew the rats in the ceiling would either leave or be quiet. I heard a distant rooster cry through the dim dawn pushing its way through my window. The sound seemed to echo off every edge of the community as other roosters called back to the one, setting off a chorus of sounds. 'Not a great nights sleep for my first night back,' I thought to myself as eventually woke up almost three hours later. I tried to rouse myself from the deep indent of my body in my 6 inch foam mattress on the floor. The carpenter in town, whom I gave money to 6 weeks ago for materials, still hasn't finished my bed frame which will get me off the floor and out of the way of curious rats who might make rounds around my house...
Read more

Christmas: A Day of Bluffing

I am back in my current “home” of Liberia as opposed to still on vacation. After a very full and busy ten days, I was happy to return to a place where time seems to move more slowly. I needed a break from the going, going, going. I spent Christmas in a friend's village for multiple reasons including the fact that it was faster and easier to get to from the airport (compared to my site). I also needed a bit of a break from my boring, extremely loud and intrusive community life. On Christmas morning, a neighbor brought over 2 bottles of palm wine --which I've never tasted before! So rather than opening presents and making a fancy breakfast as is the normal tradition for my family on Christmas morning, we drank the palm wine and listened to music. It was chill and the palm wine was alright. It was milky colored, smelled a bit like sour milk, and was frothy... but it does the trick of getting tipsy on a cheap mans dime.  We had a small group of PCVs here on Chri...
Read more