Culture Shock

Everyone always talks about culture shock returning from another country.  Honestly after our first year or two in the Sahel I didn't feel much culture shock.  My comment was we know what life is like here, we know what life is like there and we adapt.  But the last few years it has been hard.  I believe a lot of it comes down to level of comfort and ease in the US.  

In the Sahel if I am to have lunch or dinner on the table, I must start planning 2-3 hours before.  It won't always take a couple hours to prepare the meal, but to have bread rise and bake or all the veggies chopped or pizza sauce made, I must plan ahead.  Here I can figure out dinner in half an hour.  Everything is so ready - frozen veggies, ground meat, canned beans, ready made spaghetti sauce.  It is a nice break, but our garbage and recycling have astounded me.  I feel guilty using canned goods.  The amount of garbage and recycling in one week is a month or more in the Sahel for our family.  In Sahel we are able to get so much in bulk and homemade.  

The amount of electricity we use is minimal, especially with our solar doing half our electricity.  Yet, majority of the people around us never even use a fan in their 113 degree heat.  Even with using wood for cooking fires, I have to argue that the carbon footprint of these people is minimal.  

It astounds me that locking the door to the house at 5-6pm in the evening can bring tears to my eyes - I'm not going to have any more visitors tonight.  In the Sahel we are now in the habit of locking at 10pm because it is embarrassing to have visitors come and we have already locked the doors.  Sometimes this is something that frustrates me at home.  I am trying to get ready for sleeping and now I have to visit.  Yet now the idea of locking my door and not having anyone care to visit me in the evening makes me miss home.  Culture shock seems to be getting harder and harder. 

-- La Maestra