living in Dar looks like:

11 Feb 2010

coming out of my classroom to see one of my girls trying to break open a coconut she found on campus, using a rusty nail that had been partially hammered into a palm tree. for fun. and for a possible juicy snack. as she waited for her dad to pick her up.

realizing that the fire truck in the parking lot of my school is not for an emergency, but rather is the only way to drain and refill our school swimming pool…

getting called out to by several guys on the back of a truck, having three cars honk at me because i'm white, and wondering if i’ll ever fit in here because of my color.

hearing the local mosque call out from the corner of the gas station on my way home - yes, that's right, there's a tiny mosque in the corner of our gas station. and wondering what, exactly, they're really saying. maybe i should learn arabic.

realizing that my beloved pineapples are now out of season, which makes me sad… and wondering if it’s sad that I’m addicted to fruit. i guess going out of season is one way of kicking an addiction!

coming home to realize that the power went off some time in the 8 minutes since i left my classroom, and only being disappointed that my fan doesn’t work. (who needs lights, really?)

and that’s my last 20 minutes in a nut-shell. sometimes I think this place is starting to feel like home – and then, i look around me, and wonder why. normal? what’s normal again? i’m just not surprised when i’m exhausted by the end of the day.

(btw, i’m boycotting the use of formal grammar, just for this post. it will just be too much effort otherwise, and sometimes, it’s just nice to know i have control over how SOMETHING works!)