When I was in grad school I interned at Cornerstone of Hope, which is a bereavement center. People who had lost somebody came in for individual or group counseling. Many times the people we worked with wanted their life to go back to normal. We would explain to them that without their loved, things will not be normal but that they would have to create a “new normal”.
Lately we have realized that our life on the WR is not “normal”. We have “lost” everything. We have given up our life as we knew it – family, friends, jobs, cultural norms, etc. We have created a “new normal” Things we would not normally do has become normal for us and sometimes we don’t realize it until it is pointed out to us.
Some of the WR norms:
1. When you get a shower – you tend to shower military style to conserve water/hot water.
2. Hearing conversations about people’s bowel movements is typical even during meal times.
3. You go to a new country and when trying to communicate you start to talk to them in Spanish.
4. You know a bunch of random words in different languages. Create your own language by using a conglomeration of the languages. For example: you say thank you in Creole and your teammate responds in Spanish.
5. You live one month at a time. Don’t know where you are going next and that is okay.
6. You are with the same people 24/7. When someone is gone it feels weird.
7. It is easy to start conversations with people b/c they want to know where you are from and what you are doing in their country.
10. You make do with the clothes you have…. in the cold you layer up and put together some outfits you normally wouldn’t wear but you only care about being warm. You also continue to wear your clothes even if they are dirty.
11. Luxury and simplicity at same time. Living modestly but have people cooking for us and doing our laundry.
12. You are used to bizarre/crazy things happening. For example you go into a country that is not recognized and you cross a border everyday for ministry and do not think twice about it.
13. You share everything… you are eating off your plate but someone else doesn’t have one so you offer your plate for them to put their food on as well. Somebody gives you a chocolate bar and you split it so you can share it with your team or you all share one piece of cake.
14. Meals become very creative and Nutella becomes a staple.
15. You eat the food you have b/c you live on a budget so not have much money but you also don’t have accessibility to stop by somewhere to pick something up on the way. For example: we had cereal the other day…. bad news: ants in it. Good news: they float to the top so you can pull them out. Yes, we still ate it!
