Before long, the brown ground turned bright green everywhere. Every front yard became like the soccer fields back home. Large lawns in front of even small houses appeared to be the pride of people. He took curious pleasure in noticing the time folks spent mowing the grass, making sure that the turf was an even green shade and without the small yellow flowers that appeared everywhere from one day to the next.
This, again, was something new to him. He found dandelions, as people called them, beautiful signs of a reviving nature after long winters. Particularly interesting was their transformation into small fluffy balls that disintegrated into the air with a simple touch. For most, however, these beauties were just annoying weeds, and they went to great length to make them disappear.
-“These are very curious practices,” he thought as he walked around the neighbourhood.
He saw neighbours regularly cutting grass, digging up the yellow flowers, and making sure that no one stepped over or walked on the lawns. Coming from a barren and crowded land, he concluded that this was a curious way to use their free time.
-“The size of the front yard of one home probably would house four or six tents like the ones I saw at the camp,” he told himself.
♋
Spring progressed quickly as the days got warmer, closer to the temperatures he was accustomed. In addition, he observed that the attire of people changed radically in a matter of days. Earlier wearing heavy coats, scarves, hat and gloves, which made everyone unrecognizable, now almost everyone had adopted a minimalist dress code, no matter the age or body size.
The season was definitely a time for celebration as people began engaging in behaviours repressed for months. For many, life moved from comfortable indoors activities to an equally comfortable life outside, surrounded by fancy furniture, gigantic umbrellas, and heavy-duty cooking stoves.
A main surprise came when one neighbour invited him to go camping as a way of familiarizing him with the new way of life. At the beginning, Amani was not sure what the activity entailed and because of that, he could not fully grasp the enthusiasm that everyone showed. Nevertheless, open to new experiences, he happily agreed.
When the day for the trip arrived, his neighbour told him to pack comfortable outdoor clothes and not to worry, as everything else would be provided for him and his son. In the car with the neighbour’s family, they drove for some time until they arrived at a park. It was a clean forest facing a clear lake. As they arrived at the assigned site, Amani observed tents all around, hiding behind large bushes while smoke and loud music revealed their presence.
He found the whole experience curious, to say the least. It began by putting up a tent, then cooking on a fire pit, singing and drinking around the fire, and finally sleeping on the ground. Ironically, it brought back his previous camp experience, but this time with better utensils, electricity, running water and bathrooms facilities nearby.
-“There is no question,” he thought, “that here, living only in comfort awakes in one a strange desire experience a more rough rough life.”
♋
