the confidence to live outside

one's comfort zone. I am very timid and shy when it comes to living and behaving in another culture and I feel embarrassed that my tok pisin is not as developed as I would like it to be. Two other AVIs and probably a lot more that I am not aware of go out of their way to demonstrate an anthropological and cultural sensitivity at the interractive level. The closest I get to living out of my comfort zone is on the PMVs. I am comfortable doing that because it is a necessity for me to get around. I would like to go into a village - I went into Tumua - and stay with the people not as a curiosity but as people reaching out to each other. The links I have put up on my blog show some of the other ways that others have reached out. I do worry that I could be seen as arrogant when my behaviour is more a response from shyness. Further, what I write is meant to be a sympathy for the plight of the people who are dependent on the bona fides of their leaders but as you understand it was interpreted as being offensive. If I don't judge, why am I judged? Because I appear to be judging? This is why dialogue needs to occur - in order that we can unravel our misunderstandings. I am a guest in your country. I cannot do host type things.