As is everything in life, the more something happens, the more normal it becomes.
Routine. Habits. LIFE.
Over the past 11 months, there have been many firsts, many lasts, and many in-betweens. Here are the top 10 things that became normal this year that I never thought would:
10. Making sure someone knows where I am at all times and someone else is with me. Any kind of trip, whether to the bathroom, the market, or the coffee shop involves not only a companion, but an open invite for 6 or more other people. Wouldn't want anyone to feel excluded!
9. Some kind of bug (usually ants) all over my bed/food/or stuff. I now squish them and continue whatever it was I was doing without a second thought
8. Hoarding things. Will I ever be able to go to a McDonald's and not grab a handful of napkins and sugar packets? Will I ever come across a bathroom with toilet paper and be able to resist the urge to take some for the next time (most likely not too far in the future) when I will be in a bathroom with none? (or more likely- the side of the road or a field somewhere.)
7. Clothes that are faded, stretched, have holes in them, and are either stiff with soap or still stinky after who-knows-how-many rounds of hand washing.
6. Smiling and nodding when people try to have an entire conversation with me in another language. This also includes learning how to mask reactions at learning certain cultural norms, like that Indian and Nepali people will shoot a snot rocket in the middle of a conversation and that Tibetan people don't bathe. Ever.
5. Waking up in the morning and not being quite sure of what country I'm in. (This is then usually followed by an awe moment of "is this really my life?!")
4. Never quite mastering the squatty or bucket showers even after months of use. (Think: feet washing. And shampoo residue.)
3. Seeing farm animals or monkeys wandering the streets, and frequently having to stop what I'm doing to let a herd of buffalo/goats/cows pass.
2. Sleeping anywhere, and I do mean anywhere. Picnic table at a construction site? Check. Airport floor? Check. Train station courtyard? Check. Any mode of transportation, a church pew between services, a display bed at a home decor store while friends are shopping, against the wall of a small house on the side of the mountain after lunch waiting for students who hopped across the border to China for an hour (seriously this did happen), the aisle of a bus? Check to all of the above.
And the number one thing that has become normal this year…
1. Coming up with code names ("the problem") for bathroom situations and frequently talking about said issues.
What? I didn't say it would be normal for you. 🙂
