Bryan Adams

Bryan Adams is HUGE in Mozambique. My first week here I was watching TV one night with the family when a Bryan Adam's concert came on, 'Live from Germany', or something like that. Everybody lost it. I was completely blindsided... I had no idea. When Byran jumped to mid stage to do 'Summer of '69' my 13 year old brother jumped up, closed his eyes and started to sing along, every word wrong but also right (the way you might sing La Bamba)... and when Bryan hit that crazy guitar solo in 'Everything I Do, I Do for You' (the one from Robin Hood: Prince of Thieves) my mom sunk down in her seat, held her heart, and sighed... it was a swoon. What a great concert... I too, now love Bryan Adams.

Which is to say, 'cultural adaptation' this time around has been different. There's a lot for me to relate to... and I'm talking beyond cheesy American pop (Jon Bon Jovi is also big, I saw him 'Live from London'). Many people (where I am now), both male and female, are educated at least to the point of literacy. Many people watch the news on TV and listen to the radio; there's an awareness of world news. Houses have electricity. People love to go drinking and dancing. Roads are paved. People have traveled. Forks, knives, and spoons. Thai food, Indian food, and pizza...

Life in Mozambique, this country I have just begun to learn about, is very different from the life I have known previously... but not so different. A couple of nights ago when I was sitting around the TV with the family, watching the new DaVinci Code with Tom Hanks (which was on the movie channel in English with Portuguese subtitles), eating the french fries (with ketchup) and fried chicken my mom had made for dinner, I suddenly felt like a cheat. Like I was supposed to be doing something completely different than licking ketchup off my fingers... like I was lying to all of you.
But no, this is how it is and it's very real. It's still 'the Peace Corps experience', I'm still in Africa, but at times it does detour drastically from my (and maybe your) expectations and stereotypes of the 'exotic' journey I set out on.

So embrace electricity, enjoy the ice cream, and catch up on the latest films; that's the game plan. And allow these things that are connections now to act as gateways to all the good stuff that lies below the surface.