Becoming a Local

It's amazing how being in a place for an extended period of time changes your status from a tourist to a local. I've been here for a month and I'm truly starting to experience how that feels and it feels great.

Tourist: foreign visitors who come to see popular sites and attractions... but are often side-tracked by even simpler things... (a telephone pole, a school bus, a bird, a sandwich) signs of their attraction towards native features: accessive photographing, pointing of fingers

A Local: a person who lives in a place frequently visted by tourists, knows all the local spots (cafes, clubs, restaurants, a person who gets asked by tourists for directions and is annoyed considerably by them

*Thank you urbandictionary.com for the definitions.*

Today I began to see and feel how I fell into the latter. Taking the team through the market today, I was showered with gifts and people were calling my name and I was getting great deals. The owner of the cafe I frequent knows me now and market vendors don't hound me in the least. My friends in the market help me and we can talk about life and family and there's no feelings of resentment or that I don't really care. I hate that it's taken me a month to completely get to this point considering I leave in a week. But I do feel like it'll be different when I come back in November. Like they'll remember and maybe still not treat me so different. I finally feel like I'm sinking into their culture and their lives and I'm loving it.

Daily Shout Outs

• Matt- 1 week! Almost there!
• Mom and Dad- Missing ya'll!
• All my family and friends- I'll be coming home to ya'll soon! Get pumped!