What I Got For Christmas
Nouakchott is a glamorous, electrified city and offers a wide assortment of spas, restaurants, bakeries, western style clothing stores and grocery stores. I have pinched myself a few times to see if I'm dreaming. I can't believe I wrote back in June that this was a "tiny" place.
So far I have celebrated the season in the capital city with:
A cold can of beer
The movie "A Christmas Story" (indisputably the best holiday movie ever)
A hot shower
A bed that is off the ground, running water, rugs, tables- hotel room in general
Food that I haven't had in 6 months: pears, oranges, sushi, cake...all of my food daydreams have come true
Oh yes, and a Clemson t-shirt. Thanks collsie ballsie.
A classroom for pretending I can teach French. Pictured below
posted by Laura @ 12:25 AM
1 comments
1 Comments:
Laura,
I just read all your entries, from the Xmas letter your family does. I just wanted to write and say 'hi' and say a couple of comments:
a. Hot, Hot, Hot - this is my overwhelming reaction to the Philippines too. My first time there, 40 days, the closest I could get for days to relief was a 1/2 gallon pail of tap water over my head. Since no running water, I could only use a little. It was one of my 'eye openers' to how 'soft' I was.
b. You'll get this quicker than me, you probably already have, but.....I have about 7 months total in Philippines. Still difficult, but getting routines is priceless. What people don't realize is a total lack of the familiar, when one is a foreigner (the only foreigner at times) is very upsetting to one's entire being. I’m sure by now you have routines galore.
c. As a person that likes attention, I never imagined I would hate attention so much, but you're right. Everyone *is* looking at you, and I really didn't like that. Thank God there were 20 people I saw daily that at least knew who I was. For me, I’m a ‘wallet’, probably rich, probably corrupt, certainly anti-poor people. That is what the response to me is, just seeing me for 2 seconds. I guess not only do I not like the attention, by the ‘labeling’ is offensive sometimes, its so clear.
d. I'll be very interested in how you have progressed in 'not thinking like an American'. Even - and maybe especially - well meaning people I know, when talking with them about this or that in the PHilppines - make statements and I just think "you have no idea how American-thinking what you just said is, and how much misunderstanding of the situation it shows'. But I don't say it.
Hang in there - it will continue to get easier, as you already are saying it is.
Ingat,
Jon Fitch
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