New Normal

Anthropology classes always stress the importance of recording first impressions. Why? Because, after a certain period of time, the things that seem most bizarre at first eventually come to seem normal. Well, maybe not normal but they stop seeming bizarre. We have been in Chennai four full months and I can attest that those anthropologists are right. This blog can even serve as anecdotal evidence. When we first arrived, Matt and I recorded many impressions about the differences and the similarities because they were painfully obvious. These differences aren't so obvious anymore. There are certainly many things we have yet to fully accept and we are far from going native, but there are many things that at first struck us as interesting or foreign that are now part of everyday life.

-Honking is part of driving. How else are people to know you're coming?

-American chain restaurants like Pizza Hut and KFC are some of the swankiest establishments around.

-The electricity will go out at least once a day and it only takes a few minutes for the generator to turn back on.

-Despite its yearly appearance, Monsoon will still catch people off guard.

-There are just some street corners where it is best to hold one's breath when passing.

-Event though medications in the teeny tiny pharmacies are arranged alphabetically, it will take the pharmacist at least 20 minutes to find what you need. Oh, and prescriptions? Optional..

-Streets are full of garbage. End of story.

-Waiting in line with space between you and the people around you? Preposterous!

-Women carrying baskets full of rubble on their heads? People do that at all constructions sites, right?

-It would be terribly impolite not to address someone as sir or madam.

-Bullocks, goats and chickens roam the streets. Okay, to be honest, this one still makes me smile every time.

It is nice to have a new normal.

-Abbie