It’s interesting the contrast of my life in the U.S. and life here. I think the biggest challenge is accepting that I have to be dependent on other people. Back home, I would get up on my own time, fix my own breakfast, follow my own schedule, eat dinner on my own time, and spend my evening as I saw fit. I could also complete my schoolwork and my part-time job all by myself for the most part.
Coming here, I had to slowly realize that the success of my project and my time here was dependent on other people. I couldn’t move around the community without my coworkers. I couldn’t organize a training without my managers. If I didn’t get anything done during the day, it was because my coworkers couldn’t help me. At home, if I want a snack, I can’t get it myself because everything is cooked by hand. I can’t make myself breakfast, lunch, or dinner.
As a person, I don’t like to be dependent on other people. So probably the hardest part was giving people my clothes to wash, being served at home, and having other people fetch buckets of water for me.
But it's a good learning exercise: not only in being not so self-sufficient and hardcore independent, but also realizing that a project can't succeed just by my own effort. I've learned valuable lessons about getting other people to be motivated and personally part of a project.
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