Problematizing Normality

Well entering my third month over here and it’s amazing how my definition of normal has changed in this short time. Things that are normal now:
- Only having power every other night. So normal that I get excited when I get electricity on a no-power night even if it’s only for like an hour and I whine when there’s no power on a power night.
- The traffic driving on the other side of the road. I only realized the other day that instead of the usual being worried about being somewhere where they drive on the left – I’m worried I’ll have problems walking around town and driving when I get back in Canada.
- Random livestock in a residential area. Walking from home to the nearest supermarket I usually pass at least 5 chickens/guinea fowl and a couple of goats, once there was a cow….
- Getting crammed into a glorified minivan with a bunch of strangers to sit in traffic for a while as my preferred mode of transportation or else riding on the back of a stranger’s motorcycle to get where I need to go and paying less than a dollar for most transportation
- Occasionally hearing the call to prayer from the mosque at the corner
- Being called by my skin colour more often than my name (except by ppl I know)
- Knowing the price quoted isn’t the real price and knowing that I pay more than most of the people I know
- Every so often being shocked to actually notice my skin colour and that I don’t look like my coworkers.
- Seeing someone with a large gun outside a building or really anywhere
- Knowing that the success or failure of peace talks will have an impact on your life
- Hearing that my coworkers and friends have all lost someone they knew either to the war or to HIV/AIDS and sometimes both
- Being able to eat a meal at a restaurant for less than 3 dollars including a soda in a glass bottle (oh and calling pop soda) and staying in decent hotels for less than 15 dollars

Things that are no longer normal:
- Traffic lights and lanes on roads. Oh hell, paved un-potholed roads
- Anything being on time.
- Drinking tap water or bottled water that doesn’t have a safety seal on it
- Having a TV
- Driving myself anywhere (I hope I’ll remember how to drive when I’m back)
- Having pets
- Stocking up for a week or more at the grocery store without worrying that it’ll go bad when the power goes out
- Not having to get let into my own yard – living in a compound
- Blending in and being treated just like everyone else – you mean I can’t just walk through security, setting off the metal detector or take my backpack in places that everyone else has to check their bags (even file folders) when I get home????
- Not having to ask the military about the security situation before visiting clients
- Hailing an anonymous taxi without any worries
- Being ignored by children
- Seeing only adults begging/panhandling on the street
- Giving directions that include specific street number addresses instead of landmarks and general neighbourhoods

Please excuse the overly theoretical title - I know some people will find it funny.......