This post was submitted by Ivy Tech student and ASB participant Ejaaz M.

It was definitely a cultural shock when first arriving to Calnali; two minute showers, disposing your used toilet paper not in the toilet but in the trash can, brushing your teeth with bottled water and much more interesting customs which caused me to feel a little disorientated and displaced. In spite of those ways that I had to cope with for merely a week, seeing how most locals lived gave me a sense of gratefulness. An example was when the group and I helped build an outhouse for a family that lived in a shack that had a tarpaulin for a roof. After realizing how nice it was to at least have a bathroom and a durable roof over my head, it made me enjoy the customs that bothered me in Calnali and even in America.