What's Normal?

There was a book that came out several years ago called “Normal is a Setting on Your Dryer.” That really is very true! The things that have become “normal” to us here would be considered very bizarre at home.
Yesterday on the way to church we had to wait for a herd of about ten cattle. They have huge horns that would really hurt you or your vehicle if they decided to use them on you. There were two men using sticks to herd them along a fairly busy street. We just waited for them to get by and we carried on our way to church. Neither of us even commented on it- Normal!
After church we came home to find our neighbour’s goats grazing in the lot right behind our apartment. All afternoon we could hear the goats (all seven of them) “chatting” with each other. Normal!
Traffic that once seemed very ridiculous to us has also become normal. Cars and trucks intermingled with bodas (that scratch your vehicle as they go by), bicycles, and pedestrians. No clear cut lanes- just make your own way. What once seemed like chaos has now become normal to us. Scary! Greg will not be allowed to drive when we arrive back in Canada- he would have 50 traffic tickets in the first day. He will have to be a passenger for a while until he gets the Uganda driving feeling out of his system!
We went shopping yesterday and forgot that we were running low on toilet paper. We both laughed and said, “We can pick it up tomorrow on the way home from work.” In Canada when you say that, it means that you will stop at a store on the way to your home. In Uganda, it means that while you are sitting stuck in traffic, somebody will come buy selling toilet paper and you can make a deal right through your car window. Unfortunately, we didn’t get stuck in traffic by the toilet paper guy today so we will have to try again tomorrow. Normal!
For those of you who have never been to Uganda, you can buy just about anything while you are sitting in traffic: newspapers, phone cards, shoes, fly swatters, booster cables, car floor mats, mosquito nets, floating rings and animals (kids’ pool toys), toilet paper, steering wheel covers, belts, ties, hats, pretty much any clothing, umbrellas, all kinds of fruit, eggs, sunglasses, toys, peanuts, maps, pictures of the pope- really, anything someone can carry, you can buy in the traffic jam.
Goats, cattle, chickens, naked kids, people selling stuff have all become familiar and “normal” sites for us now. Often we really don’t even notice anymore. However, we have family coming from Canada in nine days and none of this will be normal for them- as they point things out and comment on them, we will start to notice them again!