Brain mumbles

Well, my bag’s more or less packed now apart from the odd toothbrush and so on, but I’ll be honest, I’m not exactly feeling prepared. I’ve been very lucky in that I’ve travelled all over the world, but this is the first time that I don’t really have any idea about the culture I’m about to dive into. Here are a few of the big questions that are going round in my head before I set off:

As a liberal feministy type lady-person, how do I react if I find myself (or see someone else) in a situation that I’m not ok with? I don’t mean the big stuff; I’m talking about not being included in a handshake or something like that. Now, UK-dwelling me wouldn’t take that crap from anyone and would insist on an explanation and apology, but how far should ‘cultural differences’ temper that reaction? Do I let it go, because ‘that’s the way it is’ or do I cause a minor cultural incident? After all, I’m not going in order to try and create a feminist revolution because a) that’s not my place, and b) ladies like the Lucknow Red Brigade (http://red-brigades.blogspot.co.uk/) and many other organisations (I won’t give you a lecture on the history of Indian feminism here, tempting as it is) are doing a top-notch job - Go Team! But still... everyday sexism is not ok... Hm.

Then there’s personal space. I love working with people, I wouldn’t be going to do this if I didn’t, I also need my me time. Just to be on my own, read, write, whatever it is, just doing it away from other human beings. How do I explain that without being rude? Or do I just try and swallow my ‘piss off, world’ days and try not to explode? And with that goes independence. At 22, having lived away from home for 4 years, I’d consider myself a pretty competent human being at the whole ‘life’ thing. I don’t need my room tidying, or my socks washing and I love being at the helm in the kitchen. But I’m going to be a guest in somebody’s home for quite some time... so, I think I should probably ask to help out when there’s cooking or washing being done or whatever and hope that that gets taken the right way.

Well, I guess all this stuff will become clear in the coming weeks and months, I’ll let you know what I find out.