Uncomfortable/Funny Cultural Differences

I have been living in Botswana now for almost 11 months. For the most part I would say I am pretty well adjusted, but I guess there are just some things I don't think I will ever get used to.  Here's some of the uncomfortable cultural difference I deal with practically everyday:

The lack of modesty when it comes to breasts here. In America, on a typical day you wouldn't see other women bare breasted for anyone and everyone to see and typically you don't see that here either. But when those babies come out in Botswana, it's no big deal here. No one seems to care or become uncomfortable, but I can't help but feel squeamish and uncomfortable.

In the past week I have had:

- a woman practically breast-feed her baby on top of me while riding the combi

-my counterpart strip off her wrap not (wearing a bra) to put a shirt on, while I was talking to her about project ideas

-many of the females in my running club (once again not wearing bras), strip out of their uniforms to change into their regular clothes in broad daylight while their male classmates are standing right by

-one of the teacher's breasts fell out of her tank-top while doing the aerobics class I teach, and did she stop to put it back in? nope she just let it bounce around for all to see

And those are just a few of the examples, I probably could list more. In all these incidences it was no big deal for the Motswana (mots-wa-na) but if this were to happen in America there could be lawsuits and indecent exposure charges. It also amazes me how most women here don't wear bras. Maybe they can't afford it or again it's just not in their culture to. I would think that would be very uncomfortable to go through the day without a bra especially if physical activity were involved, but hey weren't American women burning their bras in the 60s as a liberation/women's rights thing? I am not saying this cultural difference is a bad one, just unusual and uncomfortable for me. Before I came to Botswana I was under the impression that people were conservative and dressed modestly, I guess my definition of what is conservative and modest is very different than Botswana's, especially in the smaller villages.

It is perfectly acceptable to pick your nose and dig in your ears with your fingers or pen. You could be in a conversation with someone or at a meeting and the speaker's finger is half-way up their nose or in their ear "digging for some gold".  Then after they are done digging, they may shake your hand. I'm just glad I brought lots of hand sanitizer. It still disgusts me. What's even worse is when I have let someone borrow my pen and then they use it to pick ear wax out of their ear. Usually after that happens I don't ask for the pen back.

It is perfectly acceptable to answer your cell phone whenever you want. This includes during meetings even when you are presenting, conferences even if you’re the keynote speaker, chapel, cars, conversations with other people and pretty much anytime. You may be thinking the calls must be really important, but that is generally not the case. Most of the time I have seen people answer when they don’t even know who is calling. To be fair most people don’t have voicemail and you don’t have to pay if someone calls you. The way a cell phone works here is you pay to put airtime on your phone and you only lose airtime when you call or text someone, so if you can talk on someone else’s dime, then you gotta do it.

Women touching women. When women greet other women they know no body parts are off limit to touching. It’s common for me to have a woman say hello by touching my upper chest and then dragging her hand down my breast. One day I was walking to my house from school when a group of young girls stopped me and gabbed my breast and then said "ooh soo small" guess they were just saying hi. I've have also had women chest bump me to say hello. Women often tap each other on the butt when they walk away after a conversation. Very rarely I have also received a frontal tap in the lower pelvic region.

People drive on the opposite side of the road. I am still adjusting to this one. Maybe by the end of the two years I will be adjusted, but then will have problems when I go back to America. Haha! I find myself often being afraid we are going to get hit by a car when we pass them on the road, because I forget they drive on the opposite side, or I have almost got hit by cars multiple times because I forgot to look the "correct" way for the car to come.

Men hold hands. This isn’t the hey what’s going on let me shake your hand, then pull it into the thumb wrestling move, then shake again and let go phenomenon. This is straight out two men holding hands for a long period of time and swinging their arms while they are interlocked as if they were two lovers holding hands. It can be very awkward at times, especially since homosexuality is illegal here. I am glad I am not a guy, but then again the way women great other women here sometimes is pretty uncomfortable.

Alright so there are a few of the cultural differences that I still, after being here for basically 11 months, find to be weird and uncomfortable. Maybe it'll take me another 11 months to become comfortable with them, maybe not. Thought I would share.

"No culture can live if it attempts to be exclusive." -- Mahatma Gandhi