Living in the developing world

One of my favourite things about living in the developing world is that you meet really interesting people. It's not your average person who decides to go and work in Nepal or Bangladesh and the stories people have to tell about their work or their lives are so interesting.  We have come to the conclusion that there are a few requirements that are necessary to live and work happily here...

1. A higher purpose - There seem to be two main higher purposes that allow people to accept the inconveniences of the third world. One is religion and the other is tax. Many people who seem to stay here for a long time are either driven by a desire to change the world and really help the people here, or they are driven by the lure of earning tax free income and getting a big pension pot.  This year I have learnt that my higher purpose is not quite high enough, and living solely for money doesn't do it for me either.

2. Emotional maturity/Zen mindset - It turns out that I don't have enough of either of these! It is very hard to get your mind around cultural differences. I have mentioned before the beeping horns and the spitting. If in NZ or the UK, someone spat at your feet it would be offensive, and beeping your horn all the time is rude - especially at pedestrians. In Nepal, neither of these things are considered rude. There is no animosity behind either of these actions and it is not helpful to get irritated or think people are rude because they beep and spit at you. I'm not very good at this.
Another thing that helps is what a friend called the Zen experience of taking public transport. As you hurtle down a narrow road on a rickety bus with a river on one side and a cliff on the other, it is more helpful to be able to sit back and think 'if my time has come, it has come.' I can't do this and find myself continually thinking about whether I should get off and walk and how I don't want to die.

3. The right time of life - The best time to come seems to be when you are younger and not ready to settle down or when you are older/have a base in your home country.  It is not a good time to come when you have stuff in storage and keep saying things like 'We have a potato masher in a box, I don't want to buy another one' and then get irritated because you are trying to cook in one pot and you can't have mashed potatoes when you want them.
Getting all your stuff shipped out with you also helps with this, and helps you to feel like you actually live here. Our flats, especially the one in Bangladesh look a bit like we are ready to leave at any second. We didn't live out of a suitcase but we didn't want to buy much either.

4. Security - It all depends what you compare it to. When we arrived in Nepal we thought it was great. Compared to Bangladesh, there was hardly any pollution, the traffic flowed, no one stared at me, there were restaurants and western food.  After the rose-tinted glasses fell off, it's quite obvious that Kathmandu is very polluted and crowded and people still stare. But many expats come to Kathmandu from war zones.  You can't take your family on a posting to Iraq, so Kathmandu is full of expat families with young kids who love it here because they can walk around outside and be free.

Maybe in another 10 years I will be ready to give the developing world another go. For the moment, I feel I've had enough life changing experiences to keep me going for a little while.