- You feel like you’re the only white people in the entire country. (Probably close to it at least)
- You get WAY too excited when you see a white person from afar… bonus points if they’re American.
- You get WAY too excited when you see/ feel/hear rain for the first time in 2 months.
- Coffee is a luxury and now that you’re on a cheap budget you refuse to pay more than $2 USD for it.
- Washing your clothes in a bucket on a roof becomes normal.
- You have to heat your water for your bucket shower with a heating coil.
- You actually have a bed but it’s hard as a rock so you’d rather just sleep on your sleeping pad. (Seriously, don’t take your comfy beds for granted..it’s rough out there.)
- You’re going on a week of not showering and being ok with it. Just reapply deodorant and spray yourself with body spray and you’re good to go.
- You’re sniffing your clothes to see if they can be worn another day.
- You play frogger every time crossing the road.
- You haggle 20 cents for an orange.
- You squeeze 28 people in a 14 passenger van.
- You see all kinds of livestock just roaming the streets.
- You’re overly excited about getting to spend you’re day’s entire $4 food budget on 1 meal. Ballin’!
- You’ve completely forgotten what personal space means.
- Talking about bodily functions at dinner feels totally normal.
- Toilet paper and baby wipes are like precious gold.
- You’re praying over village people’s vehicles and pregnant water buffalo.
- You crave simple foods from home. (cheese, a REAL hamburger- not a literal “ham” burger, beef, real doughnuts, BONELESS chicken)
- You put peanut butter on any and everything. (Good thing I love peanut butter.)
- You communicate more by hand motions than actual words with locals.
- You forget how to apply make-up and when you do figure it out, you feel like a new woman.
- You have no idea how to react when you get to wear shorts.
- Your milkshake has chunks of ice in it.
- You see Christmas decorations up in villages year round.
- You become even MORE low maintenance than before you left. (You’re welcome, future husband)
- When the cafe wi-fi crashes because too many people are on it so you have to cafe hop.
- When it becomes normal walking into your compound and instead of a dog going through the trash, it’s a cow.
- When you become a pro at using a squatty potty.
- It doesn’t phase you anymore seeing men peeing on the side of the road or hearing them hock loogies as your rooster in the morning.
- Your standards for a “nice” public bathroom are lowered drastically. A real toilet, toilet paper, and real paper towels are all it takes to meet that standard.
This is all I could come up with for now! haha Enjoy!
