Snow sleighing experienceI went around playing in the snow the other day with some of my team mates, it was actually fun except my feet were freezing afterwards, I had to put them on the heater in the train so that I could feel them again.
It was funny when we arrived and headed straight for the restaurant and realized that I was the only black person there – told Luca that black people need to get out more, it became uncomfortable when people started to stare at us, I kinda felt like an animal in a zoo on display (…and I hate zoos).
But all in all it was awesome, thanks to Luca and Simone.
Diplomacy (sensitive readers should not read this piece!!)
When working for the UN – diplomacy is one great skill you have to possess and if you were not born with it, then you should acquire it fast.
UNFPA deals with reproductive health and rights, gender equality and women’s empowerment as well as adolescent reproductive health. This is a controversial mandate because you go around and tell people to use condoms before sex (…more like tell governments to tell their people), lobby for free access of anti-retroviral drugs for people infected or living with HIV\AIDS, and advice on family planning before jumping into the sac …just to highlight some of the things we do.
In one of our staff meetings I learned about one of the issues that is being tackled – Female Genital Mutilation (FGM), I call it circumcision, but apparently FGM or circumcision are rather insensitive terms and a rather politically correct term is Female Genital Cutting….i mean really – it’s the same difference, but apparently it is culturally insensitive to countries practicing this if you call it in a wrong manner, so despite what you may think about it there is no room for your opinion but an understanding as you are representing nations united.
Hmmm, on that note I think we should have a session that focuses on certain cultural practices such as this one; it would be very interesting to get opinions because usually we evaluate other people according to our own values and practices without ever trying to understand where they are coming from, hence the religious war between the middle east and the west.
Bling…bling… money aint’ a thing!!
I still cannot get over the fact of how expensive this country is, on Wednesday I went to find out how much does it cost to have a hair cut, I’m kinda used to going to a guy who sits under a tree next to the fourways mall and charges me R12 (about 2 CHF), when I got to the train station (…and I am talking about OR Tambo International – domestic section look a like, not downtown parkstation), I asked some west Africans (I have this paranoia that only an African can cut African hair – with exception of north africans) how much it costed and they succeeded in sending me to a shock kingdom by claiming 35 CHF (about R210), all I wanted was a15min shave of all the hair on my head not trim me and make me look like a model!!
I have never cut my hair for more that R20 (about 3, 50 CHF) and I am not about to start now, so I told them I will come back later – never did! So I let Luca shave my head today and he’s a white European… the experiment came out fine actuallyJ
Tolerance
I told you that interaction here is at a highly low level right, and well I’ve even learned to be an obedient visitor and do in Rome what Romans do i.e. get into a train/tram/bus and sit 2m across someone, do not greet (if you do, you’ll probably not get a response), read a book or look outside the window till you reach your destination.
The other day I was in a train from Bern to Geneva, when we left the station the train stopped a bit (technical problem), but after a few minutes we proceeded with our trip and when we got to Palezieux (about 45 minutes from Bern) the train stopped, the driver was talking in French and German and people were leaving the train, I assumed that is where they are all supposed to get off - it looked a bit strange actually that I was the only one left in the compartment and that they lights were suddenly turned off, but I still sat there. When I looked outside the window people were staring at me and some other guy (later found out he’s English) and one old woman signaled to me to get out of the train and come to the other side of the platform, then it clicked that we were supposed to catch an oncoming train from the other platform.
I was upset, that an old woman from another platform had to signal to me to get out of the train, and the people I was sitting with just left and did not even say a word, one could claim they thought I had understood what was being said – but that could have been apparent that I did not especially when you’re the only person left in the compartment with lights off and everyone staring at you.
…..i am really trying to tolerate the culture of ‘mind your own business’ here but you know I would think that the rule needs to be broken if someone is in need of help even though you don’t know them, it wont kill.
