The New Normal, Part 4
After a year at our respective sites, G29 has become accustomed to the no-frills lifestyle. Of course, I came into this experience expecting such. However, if you were to have told me that I (or my fellow volunteers) would experience any of the following while living here, I would have cringed or laughed.
But being here, seeing/hearing/feeling these things every day, it's no big deal. It's the new normal.
Phevee was looking for dog food at a store in Vila, and they didn't have any, so she left, dejected. Then, the butcher chased her out with a free plastic grocery bag of raw loose meat pieces.
Seeing an 8-year-old girl buy loose cigarettes from a bar in Luganville doesn't make you think twice, since you just assume she's buying them for her parents.
A brief bout of illness leads to you having a text debate with volunteers over which is preferable: diarrhea or vomiting (I prefer vomiting b/c you don't always have to look for a toilet).
You need to get a flash drive to a nearby island and find yourself discussing whether swimming or kayaking is the best way to get it across.
Me: What's in this luggage? Why is it so heavy?
Annalisa: Oh, you know, just some laptops and avocados.
In a conversation with your neighbor, you casually mention you enjoy baking banana bread, and you end up walking home with no less than 20 bananas.
Actually, ANY time you need produce, you know you can just hang out with any neighbor at all and they are bound to ask you if you need coconuts. Or avocados. Or bananas. Or papaya. Or manioc. Or sweet potatoes. Or lemons. Or grapefruit. And then, even if you half-heartedly shrug your shoulders "yes," you walk home with all of the above.
You wake up on a Saturday morning to the loud, visceral crunching of bones as your cat feasts on a mouse it just caught in your rafters.
More to come in future posts.
But being here, seeing/hearing/feeling these things every day, it's no big deal. It's the new normal.
Phevee was looking for dog food at a store in Vila, and they didn't have any, so she left, dejected. Then, the butcher chased her out with a free plastic grocery bag of raw loose meat pieces.
Seeing an 8-year-old girl buy loose cigarettes from a bar in Luganville doesn't make you think twice, since you just assume she's buying them for her parents.
“What is my dog eating? Oh, a giant fish head.”
“What is my cat eating? Oh, a baby chick.”
A brief bout of illness leads to you having a text debate with volunteers over which is preferable: diarrhea or vomiting (I prefer vomiting b/c you don't always have to look for a toilet).
You need to get a flash drive to a nearby island and find yourself discussing whether swimming or kayaking is the best way to get it across.
Me: What's in this luggage? Why is it so heavy?
Annalisa: Oh, you know, just some laptops and avocados.
In a conversation with your neighbor, you casually mention you enjoy baking banana bread, and you end up walking home with no less than 20 bananas.
Actually, ANY time you need produce, you know you can just hang out with any neighbor at all and they are bound to ask you if you need coconuts. Or avocados. Or bananas. Or papaya. Or manioc. Or sweet potatoes. Or lemons. Or grapefruit. And then, even if you half-heartedly shrug your shoulders "yes," you walk home with all of the above.
You wake up on a Saturday morning to the loud, visceral crunching of bones as your cat feasts on a mouse it just caught in your rafters.
More to come in future posts.
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