Oshakati vs. Nashvegas

Things that are the same as life in Nashville

·      Craving certain foods (pizza, turkey burgers, chocolate, Chinese food, barbecue)

·      Baking to relax

·      Delaying taking the trash out as long as possible

·      Laughing at my own jokes even when no one else does

·      Making excuses

·      Students get on Facebook when they are supposed to be doing schoolwork.

·      When bored, thinking about how to model real life phenomenon in a computer program

·      Lots of walking

·      Enjoying where I am while still missing home

·      Over thinking (bordering on obsessing) about how to take the most efficient path places

·      Daydreaming

·      Falling asleep working (slash not working) on the computer

·      Acknowledging everyone you pass

·      Pretending germs don’t exist when it’s more convenient that way

·      Being paranoid about closing my curtains all the time

·      Wishing I could dance adequately

·      Movie watching

·      Never sitting at my desk to do work

Things that are different from life in Nashville

·      Looking forward to eating on campus (someone is cooking for me 24/7? Yes please!

·      Having no qualms putting my dirty feet inside my sleeping bag

·      Jaywalking because I would walk miles before finding a crosswalk

·      My vocabulary declining

·      Not seeing the midnight premier of Harry Potter because the closest movie theatre is 10 hours away, and won’t show that film for another month.

·      Running being more exhausting (it also isn’t getting any easier with the 4 week break I’ve taken…)

·      Less green grass, trees, bushes, and what what

·      Wearing professional clothes everyday

·      Being asleep at 8 pm

·      Rachel isn’t around to ask me if I mean to be asleep

·      Not fake texting when passing people I don’t want to greet

·      Men being much more direct and forward

·      The toilet flushing lever being on the right side of the toilet

·      A spider just smaller than my palm is on the wall next to my bed, and sleeping just fine.

·      Not being able to remember the last time I rode in an elevator

·      No one getting my puns (at least in Nashville they are met with a groan of acknowledgement, as opposed to here where I get a blank stare or confusion)

·      Watching the same movie again and again

·      A full greeting for each person you pass or interact with

·      Tomato sauce = ketchup

Things that are hard to get used to:

·      Cars driving on the left side of the road

·      Cars only slowing for pedestrians in crosswalks

·      1 Namibia dollar being equal to about 15 cents

·      Needing to allow a whole day at home to do laundry

·      Re-wearing clothes because I need to allow a whole day at home to do laundry

·      Eating breakfast at 6, lunch at 10, then dinner at 4:45

·      Everything starting later than scheduled

·      Experiencing winter and pretty cold weather in the mornings, but still warm temperatures in the afternoons

·      My gas stove

·      People constantly asking what I am doing here (I guess it’d be weird if this happened in Nashville)

·      Kids touching my hair when they think I won’t notice

·      Cold showers [I didn’t think this would be as hard to get used to as it is. I suppose all my cold showers in the past have been after a day on a hot roof (you can be a World Changer) or after an intense game of soccer in Florida (Spring SPOTS anyone?). The fact that it’s already cold when I shower makes it another notch harder]

·      Everything closing early in the day

·      Being alone more

·      Namlish phrases

·      Dish soap that does about nothing