What is Normal?
Just a minute ago I was struck by how much my sense of normal has shifted here. So here is what brought on this sudden epiphany...
I was sitting in my office at World Relief which overlooks a busy Bujumbura road. I happened to look out the open window and notice a group of 40-50 police/soldiers in training running by. They had just come up the long hill behind our office and they were singing and yelling like they always are. I realized that I had not even heard them coming because I am so accustomed to them running by. Picture, if you will, a group of this size running/singing/chanting/yelling on the streets of Portland... only picture one small difference...each one is carrying a machine gun. Some are holding them casually in one hand, some have them haphazardly slung over their shoulder, and some have them swinging from around their neck. Now, guaranteed, that would not be NORMAL in Portland or any other US city for that matter (thank the Lord!) I really do love living here. It's such an adventure!
5 comments:
Thanks for that glimpse into your world Sara... Also, thanks so much for your encouragement. Hope you have a great day...
Sara, I just love reading your blog! It's so much fun learning about your adventures and the little things that are different from our world here. I also love it that your group breaks for tea! How fun!
Wow, Sara. You are finally becoming normal. Jonathan
Hmm...yeah.. I hear ya my friend. I don't have soldiers running by my window.. but the idea of normal... :-) I was talking last night with a friend here about what part of this normal I will take back with me to the states when I go... hmmm..... :-) love you much my friend
Hey, thanks for the little insight into your "normal" life over there. It's so easy to forget that things are to different for you, but then when we are reminded it's so hard to comprehend. But what is normal anyway? Here is one definition I just found: onforming with, adhering to, or constituting a norm, standard, pattern, level, or type. I like how this definition starts out by saying "conforming with". It just goes to show that there really isn't a normal way of anything, it's just what we get used to over time, which can be changed so quickly and give us quite a shock for a few months. But soon it becomes normal again until the next big change and so on and so forth. Okay, this comment is waaaaay to long for a comment, I might as well have just blogged it on my own blog. OH well. Love ya girl! Please keep sharing with us your normalicies (is that a word?) over there in Africa, it keeps the distance smaller and easier to bear. :)
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