Day 144 - Ripe for the Picking

December 2, 2012 (Sam)

      I can finally pick my nose in public. It’s something I’ve been wanting to be able to do since I was a kid, and I’ve finally found a country where it’s socially acceptable.

      One of the reasons that I love traveling the most is that I’m able to experience different cultures, and I love being able to learn from our differences. This exposure has helped me be able to evaluate my own social upbringing and develop my own beliefs about what I think is really prudent instruction, and what, that we do, is really just ridiculous, culturally-ingrained habit. Like the fact that our culture tells us that picking our nose in public is socially unacceptable. If you really think about it, what’s so gross about picking your nose? Boogers are just dried nasal mucus, and let’s be honest, when they’re stuck up there sometimes they can get really uncomfortable. So picking them out is the rational thing to do! Yet our society has deemed this act to be gross and inappropriate, especially when in a public setting. Well, for all you repressed nose-pickers out there, I have the solution for you: move to Kenya. Public picking is not judged here; in fact, it seems to be encouraged.

      At first it was a shock. We’d be in the middle of a conversation with someone, and all of the sudden they’d have their index finger halfway up their nasal passageway, digging around like they were trying to locate a secret decoder ring inside a box of Kix. But over time, I’ve come to tolerate, if not embrace the custom.

      To juxtapose this culturally acceptable practice though, is the cultural embarrassment associated with using a toothpick. Kenyans go to considerable lengths to shield this apparently disgraceful practice from others, always being sure to cover their mouth and “toothpick hand” with their other hand, sometimes even turning and ducking their heads as they harvest the remnants of lunch from between their teeth. No, you will never catch someone exposing their grill while using a toothpick here. But don’t be surprised if you see someone extract a sticky green blob from their nose with their finger and then expect you to shake their hand. And you better not refuse either. That would just be rude.