Everything Seems Normal

            I have become accustomed to all the quirks and differences in the life and culture here in Madagascar.  Not only have I become accustomed but I have adopted many of them myself.  And it seems everything is normal to me now.  I did not realize this till I was informed of it by a friend.  We were in a brusse on our way to Tana when we crossed a river and there were a few people on the river banks bathing.  She asked if I said seen them and when I answered that I had, but in a very nonchalant manner (a mannerism that has become indicative of my personality I have been told) she responded, astonished, ‘How does that not shock you?’  I did not have an answer for this and I am not
sure if do even now.  I have become acclimated to the life around me, for better or worse, and there is seldom a time something happens that I am surprised or baffled.  The response to such differences in life, culture, or belief have evolved from “What!?” to “That’s Madagascar” to “Such is life” to, at times, a simple overlook of them as just being normal.  This complacency with life as it is here, no doubt, has its perks.  I have become more integrated into my site, things do not surprise me when they go wrong, and I save a lot of time in waiting for things to happen by just showing up later than told (for example when told the brousse will leave at 7 and I show up at 9, but still have to wait).  It irks me that I become so used to things when I try to write something for this blog.  I try to rack my brain for information that I think might be interesting or things that might be different than in the States, but it is hard at times to do so.