The New Old Sarah

Sooo...I've been thinking.  For y'all that I haven't seen in like forever, you're probably wondering if I'm the same person that I was when I left home back in October.  You know, since I've been encountering shongalolos and sketchy police stations, running 10ks, speaking Afrikaans, and driving on the wrong side of the road.  All things that I would have obviously avoided doing in America.

The answer is, I don't know!  It's hard for me to tell, since I'm still myself to myself, if you know what I mean.  But I have noticed a few small differences in my tastes and ideas, which are either a result of my more mature age (I'm 22 + 5 months, instead of 22 + 1 month) or my travels thus far.  Let's see if the new Marg or the old Marg wins out...

NEW
I now drink coffee.  Ironic, right?  Finally in the Motherland where drinking copious amounts of tea is socially acceptable, and I suddenly starting liking coffee for the first time in my life.

I don't have a sock, shorts, or sleeve tan, and it's the middle of summer.  Woo hoo!  First time EVER.  I'm not exaggerating.

I bake rusks 50x more often than chocolate chip cookies.

I'm more up to date with the ANC's latest drama than what's happening on Keeping Up With the Kardashians.  (The ANC is SA's current ruling political party)

I never know what the date is.

I think about my future once every few days rather than 50 times a day, and stopped paying attention to my grad school applications about 2 months ago.  If Johns Hopkins posted that everyone was getting a BMW and a free education, I probably wouldn't have noticed.

My reading material mostly consists of James Patterson/John Grisham-type books.

I kill mosquitos with my bare hands.  Practice makes perfect!

My hair has gotten so long it keeps getting caught under my arm when I turn around.  If that makes sense.

My wardrobe consists of 10 outfits.  None of which include wearing khaki shorts, a polo, and running shoes together.  Which is definitely for the better.

My idea of a late night is 11 pm.

The air is so moist here by the ocean, I've given up with keeping my hair in line and last week decided to take the dreadlocks route.

I write a blog about myself.  My life was never interesting enough before.


OLD
I still go to the grocery store almost every day.  I can't help it.  Grocery stores, no matter what country I'm in, have some sort of magnetic pull that I unconsciously can't resist.

I'm as incapable of running in South Africa as I was in America.  My calves don't prefer the Motherland, apparently.

Country music remains unchallenged as my favorite, and I still remember all the words to my Dixie Chicks songs.

I still check uclabruins.com and latimes.com almost every day to stay up to date on the latest athletics news.  Go Bruins!

I still don't like mushrooms, olives, or raw tomatoes.

I'm still incapable of making decisions.  Traveling around by myself and living a semi-adult life has done nothing to change that unfortunately.  Should make the next few months veeery interesting.

I'm still terrified of sharks.  Swimming in what is probably close proximity to them has done nothing to dampen this exaggerated fear.  Every time I'm diving under a wave, the image of a shark biting my head off flashes briefly through my head.

I still spend about 30% of my time in the kitchen: either cooking, loitering, or eating.


So that's all I got.  I mean, there obviously many other things that are still the same, like my shoe size, favorite color, and sausage fingers, for example.  But I'm omitting that stuff for brevity's sake.  Let's see, I suppose it's about even, but maybe I thought of a few more new things than old.  That's good though, that's the goal of a trip like this, right?  But anyway, I'd say it's safe to say that you'd recognize me when you next saw me.  I haven't completely morphed into one of those perpetual travelers who after being away for a long time ends up with a permanently pensive, all-knowing gaze, wear only earth-toned clothing, and are able to fit all of their clothes and souvenirs in 1 bag.  That last one will definitely not be me, that's for sure.  But this is an analysis coming from myself, which is probably not the most accurate method of going about things.  I guess you'll just have to wait a few more months to see!

I was kidding about the dreadlocks by the way.  That is one thing that would NEVER happen in a billion million years, and if you thought I was serious...then I dunno.  We probably need to chat more.

Till next time!
Totsiens