two top 10 lists for you...
Top 10 Reasons it feels like we’ve only been here a SHORT time:
10. I still really suck at speaking siSwati.
9. We’re not even close to filling up the pit latrine.
8. I still get lost in Mbabane and turned around in Manzini.
7. Haven’t yet seen any lions or giraffes.
6. Still wearing the same old patched up pair of pants I brought with me.
5. Haven’t yet read the entire PCV Handbook
4. Still have plenty of crossword puzzles to do.
3. Haven’t gone through all the bags of coffee from care packages (thank God)
2. Feels like just the other day we were back home, saying goodbye to friends and family
1. Plenty of locals still stare at me as though I’m an extra-terrestrial
Top 10 reasons it feels like we’ve been here a LONG time:
10. 9 new babies have been added to our friends/family back home (including the Burley twins)
9. I hardly notice the roosters anymore
8. I’ve become quite skilled at pretending to understand more siSwati than I actually do.
7. Eating with my left hand (which is taboo here) feels really strange… and I’m left-handed.
6. Seeing a plane and/or hanging a fresh strip of fly tape constitutes an exciting day
5. It’s nostalgic to see and feel U.S. money (we keep a wad of it tucked away).
4. Hard to recall the annoyances of living in the U.S. but easy to remember the conveniences.
3. I call my wife “Khetsiwe” (her Swazi name) way more than I call her Jamie
2. I’m okay with being crammed into an overcrowded van with engine trouble and faulty doors
1. When white foreigners passed through our community (it’s happened exactly once) I stared at them as though they were extra-terrestrials
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5 comments:
If it will ease your eventual homecoming, item #2 in your LONG list applies to Seattle as well. Poultry are now allowed in residential back yards. Just the other day in Wallingford I witnessed neighbors banding together to repatriate a rooster that had escaped. Goats (in small numbers) are also allowed.
Ooops, I meant item #9 in my previous post, although the Seattle metro bus system has been hit hard by the economic downturn so maybe #2 applies as well...
;-))
re: #2, that's just like riding to load gear at a Preston Mill show...minus chickens.
J-boy, I hope you've found the time to write a book while there. You're running out of time, but if you haven't yet begun, I suggest using this list as a starting point.
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