What is "normal?"

I think I have been here so long, I forget what is normal. Or, “normal,” that is.

Having a guest here reminds me that the things I see everyday and what has become normal to me, are really quite strange and sometimes even surprising. Our intern, Susan, has been here for two weeks now. She is beginning to settle in become familiar with things. Still, there are many times when she just laughs at something and it takes me a minute to register what she is laughing at.

For example, we were driving down the road the other day and I overtook (passed) a piki piki (passenger motorbike) carrying a little old sho sho (grandma) with her walking cane sticking out from the side. I didn’t think a thing about it, but then when I switched to my American brain, it was a bit amusing. She was wearing typical mama Kikuyu dress with her little wrap on her head, her shawl around her shoulders, and enough missing teeth that we could notice her little drawn up mouth even as we passed. True, quite a sight, but one that is so very “normal” to me now.

Another “normal” is baby hair. It goes from cute little fluff one day to random pieces of yarn and beads the next. Babies who cannot even walk, yet have a full head of long yarn hair decorated with colorful beads is more common than a baby with fluff hair and a little bow (i.e. Julia style). (They do NOT like Julia’s hair, by the way!)

Susan just witnessed this sudden hair transformation the other day. Hopey got her first braids.

Susan's account of the event was quite funny. Please go read about little Hopey’s new hair on Susan’s blog! (CLICK HERE)  I am sure Susan’s blog will be quite entertaining as she chronicles her time here with us. It will definitely be a different perspective. Like Hope’s hair, for instance. Things become so commonplace to me that I don’t even think about blogging about them. Be reading her blog to get the American perspective of our daily lives.