How could I describe life here without looking like an arrogant self-sufficient guy ("Yeah baby, I risk my life every day to save small children in Darfur. Do you want a drink?") or how can I do it without using the same stupid cliche again and again ("Yeah... you know... with the money you spend for your makeup, you could feed a family for one year in Darfur"). I don't know...
The truth just is that almost everything here is different and that sometimes, reality meets the cliche. The weather, the notion of family, religion or entertainment, the notion of dynamism, being pro-active, etc... all those things are different.
A friend of mine wrote to me the other day that it was too hot and that she needed to jump in a swimming pool. It was 27°C. It is the temperature I usually have during the day in my office, with the A/C and that I sometimes find "too cold". Outside, it is now between 40 and 45°C. When my room burnt, some friends from Europe wrote me "I'm sorry for you. The insurance has to pay!!!". Here, it's "I'm sorry. It was God will. Inch'allah the insurance will pay". I love eating sushis, tapas, chinese food, good old french cuisine (e.g. some andouillette), swiss one too (e.g. my dear roestis with sausage). People here have about 2-3 different plates... that's all. The notion of culinary curiosity doesn't seem to exist here. Or in a different way.
After my first breaks/vacations, I sometimes felt guilty. Guilty to spend so much money in a restaurant, in a nice hotel, in a new camera (and not to put any money aside), when my life here is so simple and when so many person here have nothing. It took me time to realize it was normal. I know I can spend months in the middle of nowhere, with almost nothing, under harsh condition. I'm everyday more influenced by what I life, see and experience here. But a part of my roots remain the same. And, if one day, after a long time in the field, I stop missing all those things then... maybe it'll be time to return home, wherever it is.
The Awakening of a Woman (Burnout) [Man With a Movie Camera] by The Cinematic Orchestra.
4 comments:
The feeling of hot and cold is not only about temperature but about hmidity as well. 45°C may be tolerable in Darfur because it's dry hot. But in Switzerland it's usually quite moisty and 27° could make yourself feel like suffocating...
As was saying the one with the tongue out: tout est relatif...
The one with the tongue out? Oh... sexy!!
Oncle Albert sexy?!? O_o
Tu as changé de bord?
Quelque chose à nous annoncer?
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