Processing

Yesterday was our three weekiversary so it's probably time that I write a real blog. This kind of writing isn't really my thing, hence the lateness in doing it, but neither is being that white guy who gets chuckles rather than responses when he asks questions in Swahili, so I'll think of this as character building.

There are a few things have been very easy to adjust to and others that have been quite a bit harder. First off, we aren't exactly roughing it in terms of our living situation. Yes, we live in tents that we share with a roommate and we can see the stars at night, but that's where the roughing it ends. We have flush toilets and hot showers, cell phone access everywhere and internet access close by. We have two women, Frieda and Carol, who cook, clean and do our laundry. They have an incredible ability to tolerate us and I feel very fortunate to have them around. They tend to make us food we're used to (e.g., pizza, pasta) so the adjustment food-wise hasn't been a big one. I can say, though, that having women who cook and clean for us was a big adjustment. Having someone do my laundry isn't something that happens very often. It felt very colonial at the beginning and I was uncomfortable with it. Now, I think it's (mostly) awesome that someone does my laundry. I don't know what that means yet. I think in some ways I'm now more unsettled by the fact that I like it than anything else.

I thought I'd have a harder time being away from the big city than I have. For many of the weekdays, I go to work, play a bit of soccer or rugby, play some cards, talk and go to bed. It feels very much like my cottage, except with man-eating and man-trampling animals. It's also been much longer than my usual week-at-a-time cottage visits, but I'm still loving being outdoors. The days on which I sit in the office, like today, are the ones where I feel the most restless and unsettled. This is a good experiment for me. Though I love the city, there's something about being in nature (with or without a cook) that I need and that I don't get when I spend almost all my time in the city. I miss the peace of the stars under those artificial lights.

An aspect of this placement that has been really good for me is being around people 24/7. I've never had a roommate before, save for Amanda, my girlfriend, so the idea of not having personal space or time worried me. In Toronto, I spend a lot of time by myself doing school work, by myself procrastinating and not doing school work and reading, and though I've known for quite a while that I need to be around people, I get sucked into the anxiety and pressure I associate with my school. Being around so many good people all the time (all the time!) has been terrific. I'm happy to say I've only read 7 pages of a book while being here and those 7 had to be done on two separate occasions. I know I've swung to the opposite pole and at some point will miss that solitary time, this has punctuated the need for me to find a better balance in spending time with the people I care about back home. I've known that for a while, but this experience has let me see what the other side feels like and I'm thankful for it.

This is what happens when you don't write blogs frequently. I'm also not one to summarize events, so you'll need to send me an email if you want something specific. I'm not particularly good with details, but perhaps that's why I'm in psychology (zing!). I started by writing about events, traffic, etc., but strayed and deleted along the way. I think I found the more important things to say. For me at least.