Normal?

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Every now and then … I am reminded that some things I have come to accept as routine are just not normal for those of you living in other countries … at least the U.S.  When living in a foreign country, you adapt.  You try to blend in and try not to stick out.  The things that were “weird” over time become … normal. 

  • Dressing for warmth and comfort and not cuteness has become normal.
  • Paying to use the potty has become normal.
  • Not every seeing family has become normal.
  • Telling a joke in a new language … and having people laugh … has become normal.
  • Expecting people to be rude on the U-Bahn (subway) has become normal.
  • Seeing men pee behind a bush in public has become normal.
  • Sitting in a café for hours (literally) and drinking coffee without being asked to leave and paying only a few cents for a tip has become normal.
  • Never seeing a stranger smile at you has become normal.
  • Typing your heart out in an email because it’s too late to call “home” has become normal.
  • Hurting for those who don’t care you live in their country has become normal.
  • Never seeing your flag flying in public has become normal.
  • Smelling urine while waiting for the U-Bahn (subway) has become normal.
  • Not going through a drive-through for a quick soda (Ok, there is McDonalds … but that’s it!) has become normal.
  • Buying everything you need on Saturday because nothing is open on Sunday has become normal.
  • Realizing that being a born-again Christian is considered cult like behavior has become normal.


Some of these things are just flat out OK with me now.   Others still get on my nerves.  Bottom line, it doesn’t matter.  I am only a stranger here.  I am living here out a desperate desire to be obedient to someone I’ve devoted my life to.  I’ll take the good and the bad.  I’ll take the weird and the different.  It’s not because I am so in love with this place I call home.  It’s just because I love the one who has sent me here.  He loves it here.  He loves the rude, the smelly, the unsmiling and the cult labelers.  If He loves it, that’s good enough for me.  I learn to deal with my new normal.

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