Monday marked a month since I returned to the UK. To 'normality', whatever that might be. 'Normality' in the UK seems to be very sedate. A month has passed and nothing noteworthy has happened. I could always count on there being something to write about overseas. But back home there have been no real dramas, no emotional extremes, no bizarre events. And what perhaps would have seemed out of the ordinary here, no longer does. Perhaps my threshold has changed.
Instead, I have been enjoying the contrasts. I can lay in a bath, instead of sitting in a large bucket of water that has taken me an hour to boil. I spend an insane amount of money on gym membership to try and work off all the rich food I'm eating, instead of losing weight by sweating and having a diet of rice, eggplant and stringy chicken. I work 37.5 hours a week and accumulate time in lieu when I work over, instead of working most waking hours, most days of the week. I sit in a quiet office in a high rise surrounded by computers and people, instead of sitting in a office bombarded by the noise of local video and music shops, with children, dogs and chickens wandering by the door.
Life in Pader though has presumably continued as 'normal'. For instance, I learnt today that an Italian colleague has just died of cerebral malaria after his conditions were misdiagnosed. And the LRA are still stalling and making ridiculous demands, this time claiming they need $2 million to hold consultations with local people on traditional justice and travel around the world to research other traditional justice systems. To Argentina, South Africa and Sierra Leone. It's a hard life these benevolent people lead.
The sedate is good, but I'm looking forward to my next fix of working overseas. Which will be visiting Kolkata and Delhi in September and October. It's going to be a sensory overload. Two cities, full of life, each with fifteen million people, millions living in slums, a couple of hundred thousand children living on the streets, thousands of children being exploited and abused as child sex workers. That'll surely alleviate my writer's block.
Instead, I have been enjoying the contrasts. I can lay in a bath, instead of sitting in a large bucket of water that has taken me an hour to boil. I spend an insane amount of money on gym membership to try and work off all the rich food I'm eating, instead of losing weight by sweating and having a diet of rice, eggplant and stringy chicken. I work 37.5 hours a week and accumulate time in lieu when I work over, instead of working most waking hours, most days of the week. I sit in a quiet office in a high rise surrounded by computers and people, instead of sitting in a office bombarded by the noise of local video and music shops, with children, dogs and chickens wandering by the door.
Life in Pader though has presumably continued as 'normal'. For instance, I learnt today that an Italian colleague has just died of cerebral malaria after his conditions were misdiagnosed. And the LRA are still stalling and making ridiculous demands, this time claiming they need $2 million to hold consultations with local people on traditional justice and travel around the world to research other traditional justice systems. To Argentina, South Africa and Sierra Leone. It's a hard life these benevolent people lead.
The sedate is good, but I'm looking forward to my next fix of working overseas. Which will be visiting Kolkata and Delhi in September and October. It's going to be a sensory overload. Two cities, full of life, each with fifteen million people, millions living in slums, a couple of hundred thousand children living on the streets, thousands of children being exploited and abused as child sex workers. That'll surely alleviate my writer's block.
No comments:
Post a Comment