How do you drink water?

When I lived in Vietnam, my family boiled water in a big pan before pour it into a pitch, officially making it drinkable. So I formed the habit of not drinking water straight from its source, which in Third-World country like Vietnam, infested with all kinds of stuffs.

I migrated to the United States of America, bringing my drinking-water habit with me to the new home, First-World country that is. Though they don’t boil water, they bought filtered water by the gallons from chain-market stores or water in bottles. Later on, to be fancy, they plugged the expensive filter around the sink faucet and filled their glasses with tap-water, now was purified. There was one time when my uncle forgot to buy water. My mom and I, being new comers to the society without any means of transportation to the store to get us some processed water, refused to drink tap water and got our alternate liquid supply from orange juice and milk. Sure we could have boiled the water and drank it, but we had this dilemma that in place like America, they did not boil their water. You see, even in a small house with two people dealing with a minor issue such as drinking water, though subtle, First-World and Third-World habits clashed. I would not boil water because it was not a First-World’s practice. I would not drink tap water because the water was deemed to be filthy under Third-World view.

Nonetheless, my habit of not drinking water directly from its source remained intact, and my belief that tap water was filthy was an infallible one.

I’m in my mid 20s when I came to Zagreb, Croatia to visit my friends. On the way home from the airport, spotting some fountain at the park, Marko told me, “Our water here is fresh, you don’t have to buy water at the store, just drink from the tap.” I was already informed about the freshness of water in the Balkans, so without a doubt, I believed him. However, a similar situation to that happened ten years ago resurfaced: I was ridiculously thirst for water. I adapted to practices of the new environment, at the same time upholding my former beliefs. I did not buy water bottles from shops as the Croatians; I did not boil my water as learnt from living in America; and I did not myself get my water from the tap unless somebody in the family poured it for me, a behavior prompted by an long-ago belief and habit I acquired in Vietnam.

I live in Sarajevo, Bosnia now. Similar to its neighbor Croatia, waster in Bosnia is fresh, and people here don’t buy water from the store. Yesterday, I filled my bottle with tap water and drank it while reading my book. I have to admit that there was split second pause before the water stream left the bottle and entered my mouth, as I was conscious that I was drinking tap water. Perhaps in a few months, I will drink tap water like a true Balkan and wsave a lot of money would-have-been-used-to-buy-water in the process.