How do you eat an orange?
How do you eat an orange? You probably eat them in the way I always loathed. Step one: punch through either the top or the bottom. Step two: wedge your thumb sufficiently underneath the rind to prepare for the third step, which is continuing to leverage your thumb between the hard rind and the soft, easily puncturable flesh. It’s here that I would generally fail to gain enough momentum to peel the orange in large strips. Instead, my fingers would be drench and covered in the orange I was supposed to be eating already. By the time you’ve peeled the whole kit and caboodle, you must face the pile of rind bits and a pulverized heap of citrus. Step four: divide into manageable pieces without drenching your hands in orange juice again. And step five: avoid the seeds while eating.
You’re probably thinking that I’m just a terrible orange peeler, and you’re correct. (No amount of time in Macalester admissions could fix that.)
Many of the Beninese that I’ve met eat oranges differently. Optional first step: peel the outer rind with a knife. Next, bite off one end. Finally, suck out the orange juice with the help of your hands pushing on orange like a bottle of toothpaste. That’s two, maybe three steps, and I will never eat an orange the first way again.
The stylistic choices of orange consumption are one example of the kind of adjustments I’ve made since leaving home one month ago. My average day begins at 6:00 with a quick prayer, greeting my host family members (A fɔn ganji à? A do kpodé à?), a bucket shower, preparing my notebooks for the day, and eating a breakfast consisting of an omelet sandwich and a cup of moringa tea. I bike to the neighboring village where I either have language classes there or head into town or to another village for technical, health, or administrative sessions. In town, the morning has a half hour break at ten when trainees frequent the nearby mama stands for fried dough and other snacks. Lunch is usually a rice or couscous based dish. I either head home for dinner or spend the evening, as scheduled, at the training center. Finally, I spend the evening hanging out with fellow trainees (if at the training center) or joking around or watching Beninese TV with my host family. My favorite program so far is “A Capella,” a public singing competition in Benin like American Idol. It took me a couple of episodes to realize that, like peer programs in the West, producers love featuring terrible singers. In Peace Corps, we call that DIVE-ing, where we must Describe, Interpret, Verify, and Evaluate to practice cultural relativism. The joke is that it’s much better than DIE-ing...
Like orange eating, normal parts of my everyday life require intentional or subconscious adjustment. From bucket showers to eating tons of carbs, habits are necessary and easy to pick up. The next step for me is developing additional habits like regular exercise (I did just receive a Peace Corps-issued mountain bike!) and spending leisure time reading and doing other restorative activities to counter busy, stressful days. Like eating an orange, I may pick up these habits from other Beninese or it may take multiple steps or switching methods to find what works. I am nonetheless enjoying the learning experience and trying out new things as a trainee. Plus, it’s orange season, and they’re not going to eat themselves.
You’re probably thinking that I’m just a terrible orange peeler, and you’re correct. (No amount of time in Macalester admissions could fix that.)
Many of the Beninese that I’ve met eat oranges differently. Optional first step: peel the outer rind with a knife. Next, bite off one end. Finally, suck out the orange juice with the help of your hands pushing on orange like a bottle of toothpaste. That’s two, maybe three steps, and I will never eat an orange the first way again.
The stylistic choices of orange consumption are one example of the kind of adjustments I’ve made since leaving home one month ago. My average day begins at 6:00 with a quick prayer, greeting my host family members (A fɔn ganji à? A do kpodé à?), a bucket shower, preparing my notebooks for the day, and eating a breakfast consisting of an omelet sandwich and a cup of moringa tea. I bike to the neighboring village where I either have language classes there or head into town or to another village for technical, health, or administrative sessions. In town, the morning has a half hour break at ten when trainees frequent the nearby mama stands for fried dough and other snacks. Lunch is usually a rice or couscous based dish. I either head home for dinner or spend the evening, as scheduled, at the training center. Finally, I spend the evening hanging out with fellow trainees (if at the training center) or joking around or watching Beninese TV with my host family. My favorite program so far is “A Capella,” a public singing competition in Benin like American Idol. It took me a couple of episodes to realize that, like peer programs in the West, producers love featuring terrible singers. In Peace Corps, we call that DIVE-ing, where we must Describe, Interpret, Verify, and Evaluate to practice cultural relativism. The joke is that it’s much better than DIE-ing...
Like orange eating, normal parts of my everyday life require intentional or subconscious adjustment. From bucket showers to eating tons of carbs, habits are necessary and easy to pick up. The next step for me is developing additional habits like regular exercise (I did just receive a Peace Corps-issued mountain bike!) and spending leisure time reading and doing other restorative activities to counter busy, stressful days. Like eating an orange, I may pick up these habits from other Beninese or it may take multiple steps or switching methods to find what works. I am nonetheless enjoying the learning experience and trying out new things as a trainee. Plus, it’s orange season, and they’re not going to eat themselves.
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