Lessons learned

                It’s been nearly seven months since my arrival in Lesotho.  Looking ahead to the rest of my service, I don’t know how I’m going to make it.  Ack.  Two years?!  What was I thinking??

                But every Friday after school, I can hardly believe that a week flies by so quickly.  I can hardly believe that it’s already May.  I still remember getting off the plane last October.  I still remember my last sushi dinner at Hapa before I left home.

                Compared to the older, wiser, more experienced volunteers that are getting ready to leave Lesotho in July, seven months is nothing.  Sometimes I feel like a wimp swapping “war stories” with this older group. 

“Oh, you got pick pocketed?  I know a guy from the ’09 group who got robbed twice in 15 minutes.” 

“Giardia?  I’m sorry.  Yeah, I had that for two months last year.”

“Oh yeah, I hate getting rats in my house.  One girl I know had a rat crawl into her bed with her.  Good luck!”

                You really can’t win when you’re talking to these veteran volunteers.  None of my stories can top the ones I’ve heard from them.  I’m sure I’ll eventually secure that expert status after a few horrifying experiences.  Somehow, it’s almost a measure of pride in the volunteer world to suffer through odd things that happen in developing countries.

                Regardless, I think seven months is a suitable amount of time to pass a few judgments on the things that I’ve noticed in Lesotho.  Perhaps judgment isn’t the right word.  Observations.  I don’t have any really horrifying stories to tell of yet, but I have observations.

                After seven months, here are some of my general observations.

• Picking your nose in public is absolutely acceptable.  On the bus, during a meal, in the middle of a conversation, at a work meeting… anytime.  Also, you can keep eye contact with someone if they are talking to you and you need to pick your nose.  Just casually flick it to the side when you’re finished.
• When you greet someone, feel free to ask them any number of intrusive questions.  Where are you going?  Where are you coming from?  Can you lend me money?  I’m hungry; where is the food?  Where are your candies?
• Always greet people when you walk past them along the road.  Especially if they are your elders.  But if you are standing along the road and someone passes you, it’s their responsibility to greet you.  It’s usually a game of chicken, where you stare at each other until one or the other says the obligatory greeting.
• For the ladies, any blanket-like material lying around the house can be a fashionable accessory.  When you’re finished using your towel, just wrap it around your waist.  Wrap your comforter around your waist when it’s extra cold.  If you have a baby, wrap it in a blanket and carry it on your back.  If it’s sunny, just plop a blanket on the top of your head for a little shade. 
• If you’re into someone, just tell them that you love them.  If you really love them, give them a marriage proposal.  Getting to know someone comes later; marriage comes first.  
• Don’t roll the window down in a taxi.  Even if there are five times more people shoved inside the car than physically possible, and the man sitting next to you smells like cheese, don’t roll the window down.  You will inevitably catch some airborne disease.   
• Holding hands for an uncomfortably long time is OK.  Even upon first meeting someone, you don’t have to let go of the handshake… you can keep it for a good minute or so.  Even man-on-man handholding while casually walking down the street is fine.
• If they say the funeral/wedding/lunch/dinner/meeting starts at 9:00, show up at 10:30. 
• Don’t fetch water at night.  Don’t hang your laundry at night.  Don’t hang your white laundry during the day between noon and 2:00pm.  It causes witchcraft activities and terrible hail during harvesting season.

I think I could go on, but these are a few observations that come to mind for now.  Most of these social norms are slowly becoming second nature.  For instance, I tried to hide a quick nosepick on the taxi today, but then just thought, to hell with it! and went for it all the way.  No one looked twice at what I was doing.  I don’t really think anyone looked at all.  It was actually pretty exhilarating.

Part of the mission of Peace Corps is to promote cross-cultural understanding between populations of other countries and Americans.  I’m trying to decide which of these cultural norms would be most likely to be accepted stateside.  I think I could really bring nosepicking out of the closet.