Well it is week five here in Namibia and as
the summer flowers come into full bloom so do we. Of course I can only speak
for myself but I feel that in many respects we have become well adjusted to
living abroad and all that it entails. In the short time we have been here I
feel that I have already learned so much about Namibia and the rich culture of
this beautiful country. Much of this knowledge was gained very recently as we
completed our urban homestays in Windhoek. I was placed with a lovely family of
five with three children: two girls age 11 and 12 and a 4-year-old boy. I came
into the situation assuming that the culture of a Namibian family would vastly
differ from my own and that I would often be pushed out of my comfort zone, but
to my surprise this was not the case in my experience.
With all of our study of traditional
culture, history, and development I think we have in a sense been set up to
expect all Namibians to strongly abide to these practices, but I found this to
be largely untrue of the daily going-ons of my host family. While I did learn a
lot about traditional African cooking and tradition and added a few excellent
recipes to my repertoire I felt as if most of the week I was just staying with
another family in the US. Everyone in my family was very inquisitive and
intelligent and as much as I asked them questions about their life they asked
about mine. But I think the most valuable lesson I gained was that even when you
are on the other side of the world a family is a family.
Every night we ate dinner together and
talked about our days, we watched popular TV shows and movies (which were
usually American) and slept in on Sunday mornings. All of these things provided
a lot of comfort to me and made me realize that all in all we are not so
different. In spending time with my host brother and sisters I realized that
middle school in Namibia is just as uncomfortable, insecure and awkward as many
of us remember and that four-year-old boys have A LOT of energy no matter where
you go.
Being in a different country you are
conditioned to constantly observe the differences you see between your home
culture and the new culture you are living in, but in doing so we often miss
many of the similarities that bind us together as human beings. We all care
about our families and coming home to a place filled with love and
support. We all want what is best for
those we care about and ultimately hope just to be happy. When you really think
about it these similarities seem much more important to me than the
differences, because aren’t all of these things what are really important
anyway?
No comments:
Post a Comment