As in any place around the world and any point in our lives, we gradually become accustomed to whatever is around us, no matter how strange or crazy it may be. When I moved to my first home overseas, everything was new and interesting. I jumped up and ran to the window any time I heard a commotion brewing in the street. I tried anything, no matter how unrecognizable, that was placed before me on the dinner table. But I was disgusted with the humongous slabs of meat that hung above the sidewalk outside the butcher’s shop, sometimes with heads and tails still attached, and the loaves of bread that were covered in dust and dirt from sitting in the street all day. I just couldn’t figure out why people so rarely smiled or laughed or how women wearing 17 layers barely broke a sweat in the sizzling Cairo heat while I was smothered in only 2. But eventually I adjusted and those early phenomenons just weren’t that phenomenal anymore. Hake, as they say in Jordan. That’s just life.

My sister Martha is living with me now. Although she has traveled internationally a considerable amount (for a 23-year-old), this is her first time to actually live overseas in one place longer than a few weeks. Everything is new and interesting to her and I recently realized how far I’ve come in the past year and a half. Things that are simply amazing to her are commonplace for me. I find myself saying, “Nah, that’s just life here” over and over and over. Sometimes she has to stop me and say, “No, Sarah, that is NOT normal” and “Please don’t wear that when you go back to the States.” Of course, she is gradually adjusting as well and we laugh at how we find some things so customary that just aren’t!

Martha has discovered that one can learn almost anything about a new culture simply from taking a trip to the grocery store. And she has become fascinated with the man who owns the little grocery shop across the street from our flat. Staying true to the African style, he doesn’t really work all that much (I don’t think he really gets much business) and spends a lot of time hanging out with the neighborhood children playing in the street. I wait for the daily debrief from Martha. She told me all about his 2 shirts that he wore interchangeably for about 2 weeks and then what a big moment it was when he appeared one day wearing something different. She finds his relationship with the neighbor kids interesting because it’s a rare thing to see a man gentle in his demeanor with children (note: this is actually more common in our current country than any other place I’ve lived). When we visit his store, it is a successful trip if she understands what he says to her and she leaves with what she came for. His patience with her language learning is highly appreciated.

I’ve had flashbacks to my first months in Egypt and how I experienced the exact same thing she is experiencing now. It's almost surreal to watch her deal with the same issues, almost like clockwork. And I still find it unbelievable at how different life is around the world but somehow we just change with it...albeit ungraceful at times...and find that what might have been important in one place just isn’t in another. And it’s not a question of right and wrong, it’s just different.

Just a few thoughts for today...