Why Americans (and this American in particular) are very odd

This past month living in such a different culture has been quite a crazy experience. I know I’m awkward in the States, but wow guys, this is really a whole new level. I love it. Imagine if a 22 year old college educated woman came into your town and positively beamed with pride because she successfully constructed the sentence “I’m going to take your daughter back to America because I like her.” Such is everyday life for us volunteers in Peace Corps Niger. And don’t judge me, because you would all want to take this girl back with you too. She’s adorable. One experience that Nigeriens find odd is Disneyland. Whilst talking to my APCD (he teaches me about health) I learned that when he was in America he found Disneyland very strange. The roller coasters were fine, mostly because the public transportation here (bush taxis) is far more death-defying than any roller coaster America has to offer. The things he didn’t like were rides like Indiana Jones. Why would we want to stand in a crowded line for something that was created for the sole purpose of scaring us? Reason #1 why we’re an odd bunch, which provides a nice transition for reason #2. Why are we afraid of things like bugs and mice that we can obviously dominate at any given moment? I don’t have an answer for this, but I do have many great stories. For example, when I saw a mouse run into my hut and informed two of my host mothers, they replied with “Babu laihi!” which means, “No problem!” If one reads between the lines this could be interpreted as, “You big pansy!” So I turned to the children in the concession who chased the mouse out of my hut and just about died laughing at the fact that I jumped 20 feet in the air when the mouse ran by my feet. They now take whatever chance they can get to startle me/ scare the living daylights out of me. The preferred method is to sneak up behind me when I’m playing guitar and make a loud noise. Oh…good times… Reason #3 that we are weird is that we Americans have a whole lot of stuff. I came to Africa thinking about all the things I was leaving behind, and now look at all the things I have and wonder why I thought I couldn’t live without them. Such as my tuning fork. My kids (I claim them now) have endless fun with making the tin door to my hut sound an A440. They also enjoy that stopping the vibration of the tuning fork on their nose is kind of like being tickled. Anyway, the point is that things like a tuning fork are such a novelty here because really, it’s not necessary. I’ll end my ranting thusly, more to come later. Actually, I’m going to add another blog in about 10 seconds. So thanks for reading friends!