zambia vs. canada

Life in Zambia is vastly different from life in Canada.  If you come to Zambia for a couple of weeks on a vacation, you can kind of stay in a bubble and continue to live as a Canadian in a different location, but once you have been here for a little longer, things change slightly and you begin to find yourself doing things that you would never do at home.

Here is are some examples of things I do in Zambia that I would never (in a million years) do at home in Canada:

Money
Refuse to take money out of the ATM unless it is 2,000,000 kwacha (because near the end of the month when the limit decreases to 800,000 kwacha and it just isn't worth it).

I cannot even imagine being in Canada and thinking that $800,000 is too little money to be worth the $5 ATM fee!

Spend 250,000 kwacha on groceries and not even bat an eye at spending thousands to eat for a week.  Although groceries are expensive here, especially if you want to eat western foods.

Blend In. . .or Not
Draw a crowd of kids when I drive into a compound and walk around.  I cannot help it, I stick out here and have no chance of blending in.

But I have to say the kids are so sweet and excited to practice their English "Hi! How are you? Fine thank you." and shake your hand to see if the colour transfers.

Fashion Don't
Wear socks with flip flops.  I do not generally leave Grace property wearing socks with flip flops, but at home I would never have that combination on my feet.

See here and here for examples.

Greetings
Call someone "Mama" or not be weirded out when a random person calls me Mama.  People are far more formal in Zambia than we are at home and most everyone is given a prefix of some sort (Teacher, Auntie, Uncle, Mama).  It actually works out well when you forget (or don't know) someone's name because you can just say Auntie or Mama when talking to them. 

Road Rules
Drive on "roads" and be concerned that I might drive into a ditch, giant pothole, or crevasse and lose the car.  Normal driving on Zambian roads can be compared to 4x4ing and the back "roads" are often nothing more than a cow path through tall grass and bushes.

Drive on the wrong (left) side of the road.

Pick Up Hitchhikers

I would never think of picking up a hitchhiker at home, but here I often pick up people and take them into town. 

Litter

Just kidding.  I do not litter (please, I am from the west coast and grew up watching The Nature of Things so throwing plastic out the window goes against every bit of me), although nearly everyone else does.  David Suzuki would have a heart attack watching people throw pop bottles and chip packages out the window as they drive along the road.

But you know what they say:
si fueris Rōmae, Rōmānō vīvitō mōre; si fueris alibī, vīvitō sicut ibi
(when in Rome, do as the Romans do; if you are elsewhere, live as they do there).