Recently there have been all these articles about people who travel, expatriates, how we do - the way we are, and on and on. I have something to say about this (I know, shocking): People with similar experiences have a natural bond, so it shouldn't be surprising that someone can group all expats into one category and create broad stereotypes of how they act. There is almost nothing so intense as emergency aid work in developing countries. Don't teachers and nurses and florists all have a bond too? duh.
I was chatting with my friend Becky earlier tonight, about the dating scene, and mentioned that guys I've met overseas tend to be bad boys or cowboys or broken pasts or something that makes them dangerous. I wonder if they also think us traveler girls are all the same too? Stereotype traveler men.
I just finished a trek from Juba to Kampala... there is no shit show like the Juba airport, that is for certain. Sometimes, being a woman is a really good thing - others not so much, but as I was pushing, elbowing, and clawing my way through the mob to get to the security gate, one man took pity on me and held back the crowd so that I could get through. THANK YOU, whoever you are. Stereotype this white girl who couldn't hack it on her own.
Kampala is having beautiful weather right now - it's about 65 degrees and sunny every single day. I'm staying at the place which would feel like home if I were a millionaire. Seriously, this pool actually makes me want to swim laps, this must be how the other side lives all the time. Stereotype the millionaires.
I've been having some driver difficulty - but I keep reminding myself, this is just how life is. Get used to it. One day last week, the driver made me late to a meeting because he went home to change his shirt. When I got picked up from the airport, the driver had no fuel and asked me to buy him some. He also had a busted mirror, which was like begging to get picked up by the police. Yesterday, my latest driver was 100% un-knowledgeable about where any of my meetings were located. Grew up in Kampala his whole life, he said. Ok... Stereotype drivers.
Then I think, well if there's a reason for stereotypes - what is so wrong with them? Believing them, acting upon them, never challenging them, right? We all have them, right or wrong, but I loved being shocked out of my stereotypes, and I hate when people or events just confirm them even more. Readers, what do you think?
I was chatting with my friend Becky earlier tonight, about the dating scene, and mentioned that guys I've met overseas tend to be bad boys or cowboys or broken pasts or something that makes them dangerous. I wonder if they also think us traveler girls are all the same too? Stereotype traveler men.
I just finished a trek from Juba to Kampala... there is no shit show like the Juba airport, that is for certain. Sometimes, being a woman is a really good thing - others not so much, but as I was pushing, elbowing, and clawing my way through the mob to get to the security gate, one man took pity on me and held back the crowd so that I could get through. THANK YOU, whoever you are. Stereotype this white girl who couldn't hack it on her own.
Kampala is having beautiful weather right now - it's about 65 degrees and sunny every single day. I'm staying at the place which would feel like home if I were a millionaire. Seriously, this pool actually makes me want to swim laps, this must be how the other side lives all the time. Stereotype the millionaires.
I've been having some driver difficulty - but I keep reminding myself, this is just how life is. Get used to it. One day last week, the driver made me late to a meeting because he went home to change his shirt. When I got picked up from the airport, the driver had no fuel and asked me to buy him some. He also had a busted mirror, which was like begging to get picked up by the police. Yesterday, my latest driver was 100% un-knowledgeable about where any of my meetings were located. Grew up in Kampala his whole life, he said. Ok... Stereotype drivers.
Then I think, well if there's a reason for stereotypes - what is so wrong with them? Believing them, acting upon them, never challenging them, right? We all have them, right or wrong, but I loved being shocked out of my stereotypes, and I hate when people or events just confirm them even more. Readers, what do you think?
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