Happens to All of Us

I lived in Africa for over two years, but it wasn't until my final days that I felt like I was actually living the authentic African experience. What does that really even mean? Despite everything I had  experienced, I still had my expectations. If you've read my blog, you know I've killed a chicken, I bathed in a bucket,  went to traditional weddings and other cultural events, I've even met people from the royal family. I sang, danced, and dressed like the locals. I walked down the same dirt roads  and waited for the same public transport that the majority of the country takes. I've slept in thatched roof huts, and ate dinner with my hands, sitting on the ground by candle light. I've seen poverty and been around the plagues of death that have stricken this continent. So why is it that I felt like I hadn't seen Africa? I'll tell you why, it's because I hadn't seen lions. Yes, the answer is as easy as that.

My two years, I purposely didn't think of this as like a vacation or a mission. I came simply to live. I didn't have my camera out every second taking pictures,  I didn't buy a single postcard and I didn't try to analyze everything I encountered. I just let things be and rolled with the punches. My approach was how I thought best to handle my life at the time; other PCVs did so differently, and that is perfectly ok. But because I acted the way I did, things that I encountered, that of course were different, didn't freak me out or surprise me. As a result, I felt more comfortable at my site. I rarely left, didn't take vacation, didn't spend my weekends in the capital, and didn't have a whole lot of expats as friends. My life was in Swaziland, and so to think of the African experience where I lived, is just as confusing as asking you how your experience was when you lived in "___(enter your old address)__". You'd say it's cool or whatever other emotions you had attached to the place, but chances are you wouldn't say that it was AMAZING or UNBELIEVABLE!! Basically the way I feel about living in Africa is how I think people who live in NYC or LA feel. If you meet a New Yorker, yes they probably love living there, but it's not all hype for them, it's just life. I hope this is making sense.

So back to my original statement about not feeling like I had the African experience until my final days. I felt like it was important to share that even the most culturally aware people can still fall victim to stereotypes and tourist traps. The next blog post will be all about my two week farewell vacation through Africa, but I wanted to first give you readers just a glimpse of my thought process as I was transitioning from one phase of life to the next.