Things you get used to (or don't)

1. Dirt : I never realized how dirty I could get in the course of a day. My feet are the worst, but then there's my elbow crease and sometimes i itch and discover black fingernails. I "shower" twice a day! Nothing makes it clearer about the amount of dirt I live with than when I wash my hands and face in Conakry and the water runs brown into the white sink. Hmm...
2. Cockroaches and Spiders: Gone is the girl who used to refuse to shower if there was a spider the size of a dustball. Gone is the girl who jumped on her bed in fright at the cockroach in the dorm room. This girl lives with behemoth spiders in her toilet. This girl puts off killing spiders unless they are larger than 2.5 inches and with fat legs. This girl only kills cockroaches that leave the bathroom. They keep to their business, I keep to mine.
3. Mice: i just throw things at them but let them be. The poison was a hassle and didnt work.
4. Cramped quarters : Contortions in a taxi? Appendages numb watching a soccer match? All par for the course.
5. Entrusting your life to others : In taxis, in the market, in getting around Conakry, in getting water. There's no choice. You ask for help and pray for goodness and, incredibly, you find it. I have been helped so often here by people with no stake in my future. 

Things you don't get used to (but i think thats ok)

1. The Heat : You just exist in it. Admit that it has you beaten. 
2. Being a different color : As fluent as I get in Susu, with my hair braided and my pagne tied right, I will always be Other. It's a good perspective to gain when you've been the group of privilige your whole life. (still am, but im in a minority position at least)
3. Some cultural expectations : No, I don't want to marry you. No, I don't care that i didn't use a ruler to draw the lines, please look at what I drew! No, I do not think it is OK to charge me a different price because I'm white.
4. Genders in French : I do not CARE if it is le or la. ITS JUST A THING!
5. Kids crying : For no reason or for good reason, I can't stand to hear kids crying. And there are a lot of kids here and they cry fairly often. Evolutionary behavior, I suppose, for me to hate it.