Culture Shock

The same night of our hike to Pico Basile, we went to dinner at the Exxon Mobil for Equatorial Guinea manager’s house. We were to dress nicely since we were guests so we dressed as properly as we could ( I hate formal-wear though so wearing a dress really took the life out me jushies). We drove there and from the gates and the security, you knew that we were entering a whole new world, universe even. We got checked in by the guards and had a security guard come into the van and escort us to the correct house. As we drove down the lamp-lit streets of the compound, it almost seemed like we had been transported to the American suburbs. The houses all had their driveways, little porches, and the mounted basketball hoops above their garages. The only thing that seemed missing were the white picket fences. Already, I was feeling out of my element and from the looks on the others’ faces, they all seemed to feel the same way. We finally pulled up the house and wow, just wow. Where were we? Literally, it was the kind of house that you see on HGTV or something, where they sell houses for a million dollars. By that point, I really didn’t want to leave the car, but I couldn’t just hide out. That would not only be rude but I also didn’t think I would be allowed for security reasons. All the lights were on and as we were walking, you could make out all the people inside mingling with their drink of choice. I could feel my anxiety just bubbling in my throat and it seemed like I might just explode. We opened the door and went in and I feel the eyes just assessing us, almost as if they were trying to see if we were worthy of their presence. Of course, this is all just my paranoia manifesting into my inner thoughts but at the same time, it’s hard not to feel out of place and judged when you’re surrounded by oil money millionaires. We all introduced ourselves as we walked around the room and after, our whole group, retreated to the kitchen where I busied myself with a bottle of Heineken. The whole night was just filled with the same questions and answers.

Them: Where are you from? Me: Guam (accompanied by a strained smile) Them: Wow, that’s so interesting! Me: Yea, home is pretty beautiful *strained smile* Them: What do you study? Me: Biology. Them: Neat! Well what do you want to do when you grow up? Me: I want to be an entomologist and do research with millipedes and ants! *genuine smile* Them: Ohhhhhhhhh, that’s uh, interesting! *questionable smile* Why do entomology when you could do something better? Like be a doctor? You’re Asian, you must be really good at math and study hard, I’m sure you could do it! Me: …. I need another drink….

What a night, huh? At one point, the topic of Hurricane Harvey came up as most of the people in the room were from Houston, Texas. One man just lowkey puts out there, “Oh yea, luckily, my mansion was on elevated ground so no damage on my property. My neighbor though wasn’t so lucky and his Ferrari was going to get damaged so I made a deal with him. Let my son drive your Ferrari once in a while and you can leave it in my garage!” *Everyone laughing as if this is all normal* Don’t get me wrong, I was really happy to know that his family and his house were safe but seriously man, have you kept up with the news at all? The part where there are literally people who have no houses to go back to and here you are making a serious situation into a joke to get some weak laughs from your “friends”?

And so the night dragged on, and my only saving grace was another study abroad student who was as equally confused and as dumbfounded by this experience as I was. After giving up on having conversations with them, we escaped to the patio, where they had yet another 2 TVs (they have three inside alone), and we just sat and talked about how ridiculous this was. How these people are living in a 3rd world country and yet have decided to put together this fake American suburban home filled with “exotic” Equatoguinean trinkets and furnishings. How could you possibly justify 5 TVs in a house where only 2 people live and on another level, how can you sleep at night knowing that you are surrounded by all this unnecessary wealth, and just 600ft away, where that gate begins, there are families who can’t even afford basic necessities like clean water and enough food to last the rest of the week. The whole situation of it just seemed so unfair to me. Then again, who am I to talk right? Here I am, lucky enough to afford an education, where I have access to clean water, a comfortable bed every night, and the luxury of wifi. Here I am typing all these thoughts into a laptop? How am I any different? These are thoughts that haunted me throughout the night and even once I had returned to the house. But after much mulling, my awareness of the situation must surely count for something, right? The fact that I can recognize how ridiculous it was? That’s what I thought to reassure myself but in all honesty, I can’t say I’ll ever remain rest assured, and I don’t think that’s a bad thing. To strive to be more aware? I don’t think that’s all I’m capable of doing but at the moment, I feel that’s all I can do for now. Long term though, as I mentioned to a friend that night, I hope I never get to a point in my life where I lose sight of my humanity and my awareness for the lives of people beyond my own.