I am grappling with the first pangs of culture shock and for all the preparation I've done, it has still managed to sneak up on me.
I expected something dramatic; a sudden, acute feeling of difference that would hit me at some kind of African drum circle or other cultural outing, but the feeling is very different from this.
Instead of shock, it's more a dull, slow sense of being out of place, an inability to connect with anything familiar because nothing really is.
It's similar to the feeling I had when school ended this year. A crude transition from a regimented existence where I knew my place and function to an existence where I had no idea what to do with my days.
I feel withdrawn and fatigued and don't want to do much except read, sit in the sun and sleep.
I'm doing the things recommended to me before leaving Canada (exercise, eating well, creature comforts, etc.) but if anyone has any other suggestions, I'll gladly entertain them.
I'm told this is a natural and inevitable part of traveling abroad and I'm sure others have had to deal with it too.
Cam, there are 2 answers to your problem. The first is to become a total work-a-holic, and ignore that problem of being out of place...become everyone's greatest friend or nightmare...your choice. The second is to find a way to become more intimate with the culture. Immerse yourself in all that is Rwanda.
ReplyDeleteYour lucky that your getting this now. I had to wait for a month before this came on to me.
Don't worry mate, you'll get over it.
cheers,
Jim
PS, take up golf...that works too.
Easier then that: Masturbation.
ReplyDeleteLol. You're actually not the first person to suggest that, Kendall.
ReplyDeleteCam, I'd go with the Rwanda immersion tack - any young people your age you can hang out with? Or how about getting into the music of Rwanda? Perhaps now is the time to uncover the hidden musician in you! xoxo S
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