OVER, IT SHOULD BE OVER! In America, one of my OCD tendencies was the age old question of which way the toilet paper should roll. Should it go over the roll, or under the roll. I don’t care what you crazy people say, it should go over and every toilet paper roll I came across in American was left hanging over. In Myanmar, that isn’t even a debate; the toilet paper comes from the middle of the roll. This is the perfect analogy for life in Myanmar. It feels like everything here is opposite to what I’ve known for 27 years growing up in America. Want more proof I am quite literally, and figuratively, on the opposite side of the world. Here you go:
There are very few toilet paper roll dispensers in most of Myanmar, so the toilet paper roll is placed on the back of the toilet, or somewhere near. The toilet paper, or more well known as “tissue”, is then pulled from the middle of the roll instead of the outside.
This shit is bananas- I grew up eating the banana from the top down. You open the banana from the top stem and peel it down. In Myanmar, you eat the banana from the bottom to the top. Starting at the bottom, you peel it up towards the stem then eat it.
In Iowa, when it’s hot, the least amount of clothes possible is worn because, well, it’s hot. However, in Myanmar, the hotter it is, the more clothes you put on. Women must always cover their knees and shoulders when out in public, in my town. This generally means a long traditional skirt and a short sleeve or quarter sleeve blouse. During hot season, when temperatures are around 110 degrees each day, you’ll see the women wearing long sleeves or jackets to cover their arms.
When I am sick, if I want any food at all, it’s generally chicken noodle soup, toast, saltine crackers and a drink of Sprite. If I have the flu, you won’t see me eating anything. Recently, I experienced my first minor sickness, cause still unknown, but I had diarrhea, vomiting and a fever. I had a full breakfast of rice porridge, vegetables and fried chicken delivered to me and was offered a lot of other food in the days I was recovering. While in America, we avoid eating food when we’re sick, in Myanmar, food seems to cure all.
Birthday parties are common in America, and the birthday boy or girl is typically treated to a meal and given gifts. Here in Myanmar, on their special day, the birthday boy or girl hosts their own party, cooking all of the food and serving the guests. The birthday boy or girl even feeds each guest a spoonful of cake.
As unbelievable as it sounds, on a day to day basis, things are relatively normal here on the other side of the world. Sometimes I even forget I am living over 8,000 miles away in a foreign country. But on almost a daily basis, something does happen to remind me of the crazy adventure I am on. Even though a lot of things I have grown up to know are quite opposite where I currently find myself. Even though I can barely speak the language, just enough for simple conversations and to make people believe I can speak Burmese. Even though 70% of the time I have no idea what is going on around me and I am just trying to absorb the culture, I feel a sense of empowerment here like I’ve never felt.
It is a crazy feeling living in a foreign country, alongside the locals. However, what’s an even crazier feeling is stopping to appreciate that I am doing it, and actually it’s not as challenging as I would have imagined 4 months ago before leaving America. Let me clarify, it is challenging, every day is challenging. What I mean is that the challenges are more like mole hills and less like the mountains I had been anticipating. And let’s get real, there are still so many things I cannot do on my own, and must rely on my community support system for. But there are so many things that I can do on my own, that are a little uncomfortable but I find a way. I started to really think about and appreciate the concept of independence on Thursday. That day, like many others, I went shopping for a few things that I needed. Generally, shopping is a quick and painless task and I am usually able to find what I need and purchase it with local kyat. What was so special about Thursday? I also went to the Post Office to mail a few letters to the US, went to the pharmacy to pick up some vitamins I needed and lastly got my bike tires filled with air. These sound like such simple, every day tasks; but imagine doing all of these things without speaking English. Full disclosure, some people in my town speak pretty good English, and some speak a few phrases, so generally at these places of business there is someone who can speak a few words in English. For the most part though, most communication is done with my minimal Burmese, an English to Burmese dictionary and a lot of charades. I ended the day on Thursday being pretty darn proud of myself to have accomplished these few things on my own.
In a place where so many things are contradictory to what I’ve always known and a place where I don’t have much independence, it feels good to be figuring things out on my own.
“A ship is always safe ashore, but that is not what it’s built for.” - Albert Einstein
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