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| English country garden with soft grass! |
Cushiness –
everything in England
seems to be soft and cushy, from carpets to grass to toilet paper. This is in
stark contrast to homes in Tanzania,
where floors are usually either dirt or cement, grass is usually scratchy and
toilet paper (if available at all) is somewhat thin and rough. While I enjoy
the softness, there are many other aspects of England’s
cushy lifestyle that I find harder to accept as it demonstrates the wealth and
consumerism of a country which, even in a time of economic crisis, still seems
opulent compared to Tanzania.
Costliness – linked
to the above is the high cost of everything. I still find it hard to stomach a
meal that costs the equivalent of a week’s wages for a casual labourer in Tanzania, even though I know it would be
virtually impossible to get even a basic meal here for what I’d pay for food in
Tanzania,
and everything is relative.
Civility – people in England
are very civil and polite, but somehow lack the warmth and openness of
Tanzanians. I find myself greeting people I don’t know with a friendly, “How
are you?” only to be ignored or see confusion in their faces. I am starting to
learn the British, “Hi” accompanied with the little nod of the head and moving
on. I miss the ease with which you can get into conversation with people in Tanzania,
whether it be the person you are sitting next to on the bus or the lady selling
bananas at the market.
Closed in – I feel
very closed in, almost to the point of claustrophobia, due to the indoor
lifestyle. Due to England’s
adverse weather conditions, our lives are predominantly indoor ones, and due to
the Brits' love of privacy, any ‘outdoor’ happens in the back garden where
no-one can see you. (Of course, there’s exceptions such as outdoor sports and
country parks, but on a regular day to day basis, one finds that people get
home from work, shut their doors, and that’s the last you’ll see of them until
the next day). After the predominantly outdoor, communal lifestyle of
Tanzanians, I have found this almost claustrophobic. Which leads me onto
another ‘c’…
Community (or lack
of!!) – it feels rather isolated here, because it is a very individualistic
society. While community in Tanzania was not necessarily all it’s cracked up to
be, at the same time, there were nearly always people who would be happy to
have you visit or with whom you could talk, you would be recognised by people
as you walked around town and could stop to chat and people generally had time
for one another. Here people lead such scheduled and private lives, that you
can feel completely alone. I sometimes felt very alone in Tanzania too,
but for different reasons.
And so the list
goes on. I’ve generally focused on the negative, but of course it’s not all
bad. A lot of it is just different and takes some adjusting to, after having
been used to another culture for the past five years. However, I hope that I
can hold onto the good of the culture that I’ve been a part of, and not leave
it all behind in the country that I have said goodbye to for a while.
What about you, how
do you ‘c’ it? Any suggestions for more ‘c’s warmly (not just civilly)
welcomed.
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