No More Stimulus Overload

If you can't entertain yourself, do not, under any circumstances, move to Africa. In the US, we are constantly bombarded with media, technology, and things to keep us entertained. That is almost completely lacking here. Most people, including me, do not have televisions. If you do have a TV you get one channel. ONE!! I still can't get over that. At home, we can't find anything to watch on 700 channels. Here, if you don't like the soap opera that's on then you're out of luck. You can get satellite TV, but that is so expensive and you only get 4-8 channels. There is also no internet unless you go to an internet cafe or have it at work. I generally go to a restaurant that has wireless every night, but some people buy a little chip so that they can have wireless where ever they go. I, along with most of the country, couldn't afford it. Cell phones are interesting. Everone here has 2 or more cell phones. There are several cell phone companies but their phones can't communicate with each other unless you buy a special, more expensive phone. Also, phones only work in about 10 mile radius of where you buy it. Even though it's a small country, people need to communite farther than 10 miles often. People get around this buy just carrying lots of phones.

There are no video games, no movie theaters, very few newspapers and magazines, no big shopping malls or city parks. Most people don't have cars so they generally don't move that far from their home and work. In short, there's just not much entertainment here. There is a beach, which I love! But it's a VERY different atmosphere than the beaches that I'm used to. At home, you go to the beach to relax, lay out, read or take a stoll and take in the beauty. Not so here. The beach looks like a fitness gym that is jam packed. Every afternoon the beach is packed with people doing push-ups, sit-ups, running, cardio and other excersises I don't know the words for. One time I brough my beach towel and sat down and 3 people asked if I was hurt. I try to go to the beach every afternoon, but I always walk at a brisk pace and try to fit in a little bit.

In general, people spend most of their time just sitting around. Everywhere you look there are men and women sitting in circles and chatting for hours on end. There are men and women who sit outside their house or business all day, every day. I'm still not used to spending all day talking to someone all day, although I'm getting better at it, so I spend a lot of my time reading. Many people here cannot read, so usually their only form of entertainment is being with other people whether that's chtting, playing soccer or making music. I really enjoy that espect, I think Westerners have lost a lot of social support because we don't have enough face to face time with people around us.