Reverse culture shock= re-adapting to the realities of one's home country..........
A few days ago I walked into Toys R Us and freaked out a little bit. First of all there was AC. More shocking than that was the vast amount of merchandise, you could easily get lost in there for days. I was supposed to be picking out birthday presents for my little cousins, but there were just too many choices and I couldn't concentrate. I couldn't comprehend how all of those toys were available in one clean, air conditioned place. I realized how incredibly spoiled I am just to have access to that. I'm a spoiled American brat, and you probably are too whether you realize it or not. I promise I don't mean that in a bad way per se, I'm just absorbing how different life in the states can be from the realities that others experience. It's not just that I have access to things as "basic" as AC and Toys R Us. I have a car, an education (granted it's still in progress), parents who love me, amazing friends, the right to vote, a house, more than enough food to eat... I could keep going, but for your sake readers I'll keep the rambling to a minimum. Suffice it to say that we are lucky. Below is a map of world poverty which shows the percentage of the population living on less than $2 a day by country...
***Link for the map is here http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/File:Percentage_population_living_on_less_than_2_dollars_day_2007-2008.png blogger keeps cutting it in half, sorry***Below is something else I found online that puts things in a different light.
If we could reduce the world’s population to a village of precisely 100 people, with all existing human ratios remaining the same, the demographics would look something like this:
60 Asians/12 Europeans/5 People from the US and Canada/8 Latin Americans/14 Africans
A few days ago I walked into Toys R Us and freaked out a little bit. First of all there was AC. More shocking than that was the vast amount of merchandise, you could easily get lost in there for days. I was supposed to be picking out birthday presents for my little cousins, but there were just too many choices and I couldn't concentrate. I couldn't comprehend how all of those toys were available in one clean, air conditioned place. I realized how incredibly spoiled I am just to have access to that. I'm a spoiled American brat, and you probably are too whether you realize it or not. I promise I don't mean that in a bad way per se, I'm just absorbing how different life in the states can be from the realities that others experience. It's not just that I have access to things as "basic" as AC and Toys R Us. I have a car, an education (granted it's still in progress), parents who love me, amazing friends, the right to vote, a house, more than enough food to eat... I could keep going, but for your sake readers I'll keep the rambling to a minimum. Suffice it to say that we are lucky. Below is a map of world poverty which shows the percentage of the population living on less than $2 a day by country...
***Link for the map is here http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/File:Percentage_population_living_on_less_than_2_dollars_day_2007-2008.png blogger keeps cutting it in half, sorry***Below is something else I found online that puts things in a different light.
If we could reduce the world’s population to a village of precisely 100 people, with all existing human ratios remaining the same, the demographics would look something like this:
60 Asians/12 Europeans/5 People from the US and Canada/8 Latin Americans/14 Africans
51 would be Female, 49 male
80 would live in substandard housing
24 would not have electricity (and the 76% that do would use it only at night)
67 would be unable to read
1 would have a college education
50 would be malnourished and 1 would be dying of starvation
7 would have access to the internet
If there is food in your refrigerator, if you have clothes on your back and shoes on your feet, and if you have a bed and a home you are better off than roughly 75% of the people in this world.
*I stole this from http://users.gazinter.net/melan/Warn/Warnenu.htm
Just some things to think about. I'm going to finish packing, still have too much laundry to do haha. I promise the next update will be from Costa Rica! My mailing address there is listed below. Also, I will be taking my U.S. cell phone as well as the phone I bought in Panama. Email me for the numbers if you need/want them!
Mailing Address:
Jennifer White
C/O Centro Internacional para el Estudio del Desarrollo (ICDS)
P.O. Box 1411-1000
San José, Costa Rica
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