NOTE: This blog post describes my own personal experience and is not a reality of everyone else's experience. Most of this is opinionated and open to discussion.
So it has been a little over a month in Pakistan and I wanted to talk to you about my experience: the pros, the cons and how it has been going so far. It’s November thankfully, so the weather is beautiful. I’m using the word beautiful because October was a mess. November has been a little less of a mess, I guess. The winter here is a little absurd. One moment, there’s fresh cool air, and the next it’s warm and you’re sweating. The air is definitely much dryer and the effects of that are visible on skin, and hair. The other contributor to this is actually the water. The water is not as clean, and I could notice the effects of this in the first few weeks. Okay, enough of the whole weather talk. The summer is definitely going to be a shock, but don’t forget the winter is also very different. I think this is natural with moving to any country, it will take time to adapt to the new environment.
Culture shock. It’s the big word that scares anyone when moving to any country. I don’t think I realized the level of culture shock until I actually came here and began living. Being a Canadian, I was brought up with very different values and cultural norms. Canada was all about pluralism. I come to Pakistan and I see one culture. One unified culture. A Pakistani culture. Of course there are many minority groups here with their own traditions, languages and cultures; however there exists one unified idea of being “Pakistani”. It’s a feeling you get when you’re a part of a family. Ironically, Pakistan also has a divide. A divide between who's better and whose not. Who’s rich and whose poor. Who’s Sunni and whose Shia. Who’s in the labour work class and whose educated. It’s the disparity here that shocks one the most here. It’s the cruelty of the upper class and their merciless behaviour with the poor. A neighborhood will have bungalows on one side and tents set up with dirty cloth and cardboard on the other side. There’s aspects of Pakistan that can’t be hidden, and disparity is one of them. In addition to this, there’s a gender gap everywhere (in clothing, mannerisms, job opportunities etc.). Cultural norms here have rules and regulations for how a man and a woman must be. There’s more pressure on females in this male dominated society. The lack of education and conservative mindset makes it a tough job to bring change within this thought. Then comes the western influence in the upper class whether that’s the obsession with English throughout the country, or the apparel of western democracies.
There’s definitely more trust issues here. I’m constantly warned of being aware of who I befriend in college, and in my own family. I don’t really know where this stems from, but I can say one thing: people will take advantage of you for their own needs. It’s natural, and it’s everywhere, however in Pakistan the story is different. There’s a corrupt system in place that prevents the lower class from succeeding. The rich get richer and the poor get poorer. Things have become extremely expensive, and a good lifestyle is affordable for a heavy price. The financial distress only makes the situation worse. The hypocrisy within people here in the system has created many trust issues. It’s getting hard to survive with so less, and it only feels like good people are no more. Even the health system has a myriad number of issues. The attitude of hospitals towards patient care is ridiculous. Nonetheless, it’s important to understand that complaining won’t really solve the problem. It’s going to take a long time before we can fix Pakistan’s broken system.
That being said, let’s talk about the vibrancy of the culture here - weddings. I don’t think I have ever been to such amazing weddings in my life. The weddings in Pakistan are next level. Yes, very extravagant, but also extremely fun. With family it makes it even more awesome.
My favourite part of Pakistan has to be the street food, and local markets. Rickshaws are amazing, let’s not deny that. The ride in a rickshaw makes you feel like you’re in a gondola on the ground. It’s a whole other experience walking through crowded marketplaces seeing all the local businesses trying to get your attention to buy their products. The clothing stores, the jewellery, the traditional art and the list goes on. When your shopping comes to a completion enjoy your time at food streets eating the most authentic desi food. It might not be as hygienic but it definitely tastes amazing! I would suggest giving Peshawari Ice Cream a try.
All I can say is that Pakistan is an adventurous place. It’s a place to discover so many cultures and traditions. It’s a place to explore good spicy food and chai. It’s a place where everyone comes together to drink tea after asr time. It’s home, and nothing feels better than when you’re at home.
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