Ordinary

Let me explain to you what it’s like to live in a different country.

Imagine this scenario:

You’re sitting in your living room reading a book as day turns to dusk; it’s getting darker. So you get up, get a lamp and plug it into the wall. You continue reading.

Simple, right? Not too much thinking involved? This is a very ordinary part of anyone’s day, and requires very little brain energy to accomplish. However, let me explain to you how I am experiencing this scenario:

I’m sitting in my house and I would like a little more light. So I take my lamp sent from the US and go to plug it into the wall. However, upon inspection I find that my lamp’s plug has 3 prongs while the outlet only has 2 holes. I look around my room but all the outlets have only 2 holes. I look in the rest of my house but cannot find a 3 pronged outlet. Even the washer and refrigerator only have 2 prongs. I then go through my assortment of extension cords and power strips but find nothing there that can help me. So now I have to go to my town’s Walmart-esque store to look for an adapter. So on my way home from school I make a detour to stop by the store. Here I peruse the aisles and don’t find a proper adapter. Now I have to find an employee and try and formulate some kind of sentence to get him to understand my request. I end up walking him to an outlet in the store and describing in motions my problem. He walks me to a different selection, but there are still no “3 to 2” adapters. I’ve now spent considerable time in my quest to plug something in, and am back to square one. I now have to think about what other stores might sell adapters. So I ask around for some suggestions. I have to write the names of these stores down because they have crazy names that I won’t be able to remember. None of these stores is in my city, so I have to try and figure out where they’re located. I discover that both stores are right next to each other somewhere in Shizuoka City. This is all I know at present. I now have to figure out where exactly these stores are. I’ll look at maps, formulate some sentences for directions that I can ask in Japanese, look up train times and bus schedules, figure out what bus stop I need to get off at, and find out the stores’ hours. All in Japanese of course. Then I’ll have to clear some time in my schedule to go down there and make sure I stop by an ATM before I go (my own banks’ ATM charges me a fee after 6pm) so that I’m sure I have enough money since I have to pay for everything in cash. And since I haven’t done any of these new things yet, who knows what other misadventures are awaiting me upon my embarkment.

So now you can see what kinds of things I have to think about while living in a different country. And this is only 1 episode. Imagine stories like this for cooking food, doing laundry or taking a shower. These “simple” things occupy my time, tax my energy and fill my mental capacities. It can be busy work just moving through an ordinary day here.

So please, the next time you plug something into the wall, don’t take it for granted. Step back and appreciate the simplicity of that activity, that you were able to do so much with so little effort, and realize that now you are able to use your energy to accomplish greater things.