First World Sports and First World Pains

My trip to Americaland is drawing to a close. I've eaten my way through the month and checked off my bucket list. I even got to see the majority of the friends that I wanted to see (although there are so many to see that it just isn't possible).

Despite the fact that my trip wasn't what it was originally meant to be, I must say that I've had a really great time. I've taken care of some unfinished business as well such as graduate school research. But, I keep thinking about everything I need to get done in Burkina. I feel like I have been gone forever.

Sunday we had a little game time with my older brother and bestie/sister-in-law. We also decided to go on a random geocaching trip through my home town. I've heard stories about geocaching, but never realized that this first-world nerd sport was so exciting. The thrill was probably mostly due to the fact that there were so many "muggles" around and because it was night time. I wasn't sure if I was creeping other people out or if I should be creeped out under the circumstances.

Our first cache was foiled because there was some event at the location. We had to move on to another location which was foiled because it required a tool to access the cache. Despite our initial setbacks we stopped by one more which was a long one of the busiest streets in town. We creeped until we found what we were looking for.

Using my older brother's phone we discovered that there are more than 100 within biking distance of my parents' house. I can't believe that my little hometown would have so many geocachers coming through. The frivolity of it makes it seem like such a "first world" activity to be doing, although I have heard of some Peace Corps friends that are caching in their host countries.

In other news my little brother turned me onto the term "first world pain" or "first world problem," although my friend from University, Amber, and I tried to come up with alternatives. "Western" seems to be as problematic. "Occidental" confusing. "Global North" cumbersome. At any rate, they are those things that only people in the first/occidental/western world would complain about. For instance, "I ate too much" or "There are too many meals to choose from!" would be complaints that you only hear in the "Global North." Maybe complaints like "I can't choose what to wear!" or "My shoes don't go with my outfit!" might sound odd to people who wear whatever has the fewest holes in it.

I'm not saying that problems in the U.S. are not as important as problems in Burkina, but in some ways a lot of them aren't. It really changes your perspective about eating too much or obesity when you've seen children who are dying from malnutrition. I've certainly complained about eating too much several times on this trip and the cognitive dissonance is nearly painful.

At any rate, I'll be kissing my first world problems goodbye when I hop plane tomorrow. I am heading to the Malaria Boot Camp in Senegal before making my way back to the Faso. Maybe ten months will be enough to work out some of the damage this trip has done to my concept of reality.