I recently returned to America after my third season overseas and most people I see naturally want to know what it's like to live in Azerbaijan. There's a lot I can tell them about the city of Baku, the level of volleyball or the food. But sometimes it's hard to describe to people what it's like to actually go live and play in a foreign country as opposed to just traveling and seeing the sights. So I thought about how I could sum up that part of the experience and I realized that-- thanks to language barriers, cultural differences and a whole host of variation in perspectives-- life overseas is mostly just a series of unanswered questions.
I thought I'd share some of my questions with you that constantly go unanswered. And if you have the answers to any, by all means, let me know...
Common questions from a confused American
Is this taxi going to take me where I want to go?
When are you allowed to park on the sidewalk and how do they know?
In countries where they drive on the left side of the road, if I'm crossing the street do I walk to the left or the right? (because honestly the locals aren't making it clear)
Why is smoking still a thing?
Why aren't dryers a thing?
Follow-up: Did you know if you didn't buy cigarettes you could save all that money and buy a dryer with it?
Pizza Hat? Is this a rip-off of Pizza Hut? Do they think people will confuse it for the real one? DO people confuse it for the real one? Or are they trying to be a totally different company? And if so, can someone explain to me the connection between pizza and hats?
Finally, the two most common questions overseas:
1) What is happening right now?
2) Why? Just...why?
I ask myself both of these questions multiple times daily, which I concede is pointless because they consistently go unanswered...
Pretty much, what I'm telling you is that life overseas means reconciling yourself with the fact that you will never really know what is going on. And that's ok. Sometimes in life you just have to sit back and let that taxi take you wherever it's going to go (because the driver isn't going to understand you when you correct him anyway).
I thought I'd share some of my questions with you that constantly go unanswered. And if you have the answers to any, by all means, let me know...
Common questions from a confused American
Is this taxi going to take me where I want to go?
When are you allowed to park on the sidewalk and how do they know?
In countries where they drive on the left side of the road, if I'm crossing the street do I walk to the left or the right? (because honestly the locals aren't making it clear)
Why is smoking still a thing?
Why aren't dryers a thing?
Follow-up: Did you know if you didn't buy cigarettes you could save all that money and buy a dryer with it?Pizza Hat? Is this a rip-off of Pizza Hut? Do they think people will confuse it for the real one? DO people confuse it for the real one? Or are they trying to be a totally different company? And if so, can someone explain to me the connection between pizza and hats?
Finally, the two most common questions overseas:
1) What is happening right now?
2) Why? Just...why?
I ask myself both of these questions multiple times daily, which I concede is pointless because they consistently go unanswered...
Pretty much, what I'm telling you is that life overseas means reconciling yourself with the fact that you will never really know what is going on. And that's ok. Sometimes in life you just have to sit back and let that taxi take you wherever it's going to go (because the driver isn't going to understand you when you correct him anyway).
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