Culture Shock...for real.

Well, after living here three months I think some culture shock things are finally hitting me. It's not that I'm lonely so much. He's really answered my requests in that area and I feel like I've connected with different groups of people, whether they are brothers and sisters, expats, or people in my community - that end of things has been great. It's really the little things that are getting to me now. Maybe it's because it's hotter now or lack of sleep. Or maybe I should just call a spade a spade and admit, "Hey! I'm in culture shock!" I guess I can only suppress my feelings for so long. Haha.

I don't feel that He's abandoned me by any means. He is answering specific requests everyday which is awesome to see. I've been meditating on this verse for the past three weeks:

Jms. 1:5-6
If any of you lacks wisdom, he should ask G.d, who gives generously to all without finding fault, and it will be given him. But when he asks he must believe and not doubt, because he who doubts is like a wave of the sea, blown and tossed by the sea.

I've recently realized that for some time now, maybe ever since I first knew Him, I've been that "wave of the sea". Sometimes I believed that maybe He would do it, but that's not what the word tells us to do - it's not a "sometimes" type situation! I wasn't truly believing with all that I am that He would do it every time. So this week I came to a breaking point where I was asking some very specific and mighty requests of Him confident that he would do it ...and He did. One morning last week, I had a long auto-ride ahead of me to go to meeting in another part of the city and I had pr.yed that I would have a chance to share with someone that day. Wouldn't you know it that my auto-driver was a J. Witness and he started sharing with me first. I brought the Word with me that day, so we were discussing the scriptures for close to an hour. It was actually somewhat of a funny sight. Here's this white girl in the back of an auto and her auto driver, swerving through traffic whilst reading the Word at the same time! Only in India!

This week, a friend told me a story of a sick woman he once visited. His friend pleaded with him to visit this woman who had been in the hospital for nine months and would most likely die soon. When he finally went to visit her she asked if she could pr.y for him. He was a bit taken aback (he had come to pr.y for her), but he agreed. After she was finished, he asked if he could pr.y for her, but her reply was "No! But you can pr. for the man in room 100- he has cancer, and the woman in room 101 she has a fever..." and on and on it went like that. "Who are you, ma'am?" he finally asked. She explained that she had become a bel.ever in college and married a Punjabi man who wouldn't let her read the word or meet with other bel.evers and by the grace of g.d, she was able to get sick, come to this hospital and share Him with those in the hospital everyday! Talk about being content in all circumstances. That was a good word that I desperately needed to hear this week.

I pr. that you'll be asking him bold, extraordinary, and specific pr. requests this week and truly believing that he will do it. I pr. that you will be content in whatever circumstances you face this week. Please pr. the same for me :)

Blessings,

C

P.S. This picture has nothing to do with anything. I just wanted to put up a nice picture for you to look at. This was taken at the Lamberton Conservatory in Highland Park, Rochester. Enjoy.

There are no lines.

Check out this youtube video. It describes some typical culture shock things that I've been going through since I've been here. It's even funnier to watch after living here because it's so true!

Enjoy!

C

Welcome to the wonderful world of Cricket

So when my friend invited me to a cricket game, I was like, "Yeah this will be a cool cultural experience. I know nothing about cricket, but when in Rome..." Little did I know that we had tickets to the Indian League Premier Cricket season kickoff complete with a live band, fireworks, a laser show, dancers on stilts, skydancers, techno dance music, Shah Rukh Khan (that's right all you Bollywood fans, I was in the same stadium as Shah Rukh Khan), AND...cheerleaders?...from America?? The Washington Redskins' cheerleaders were present for the festivities and cheered during the game. For all you who have no clue about cricket games, cheerleaders ARE NOT a normal part of the game. It was kind of scandalous, actually and the cheerleaders weren't really that good! I didn't really know what to think. My world's were colliding big time! Part of the experience felt like I was back in the States at the SuperBowl (but I think this show was probably better than any Super Bowl halftime show I've seen on TV). Then I looked around and realized I was surrounded by cricket fans and I had no idea what cricket was all about at all. By the end of the game, I pretty much figured out how the game works. Bangalore lost to Kolkata, but it was still an amazing experience! Check out my flickr account for more pictures.

-C

Post Office

Every week I do one brief writeup of some cultural experience I had during the week. This was one I wrote up a month or so ago. I hope it helps you to better understand what life is like here and I think you'll get some laughs out of it, too. Enjoy!


Physical Location
Inside the post office. The whole post office was located in one large room. When I first walked into the post office I saw a long counter with around 10 people standing on one side of the counter waiting for assistance. They weren't standing in a line, but were all standing up against the counter. On the other side of the counter there were four people waiting on the people on the other side of the counter. In the back, there were five or six people sorting mail or running mail from the front counter to the back of the room to be sorted. There was a small storage room in the back that looked like it stored mailing envelopes and supplies.

Participants
The people behind the counter are waiting on the customers on the other side of the counter. There is one leader waiting on people behind the counter. There are runners who are taking the mail from the counter to the back to be sorted. There are people in the back sorting the mail.

Goals
My goal was to mail a package to another [location in my city]. This was my second attempt at mailing something from this post office. I had visited the p.o. the previous day, but the man told me they were closed. I went in expecting that it would be crowded without lines and it would be more of a "free-for-all". I'm glad that it wasn't more crowded because I think it might have been more confusing. At first, I guess I tried to form my own line. I was the only person forming a second row behind the people standing at the counter waiting for service. I quickly realized that I would need to push my way into a spot at the counter to be waited on. I did this, but I didn't say anything because I was waiting for them to get done with the other people they were waiting on first. Then I realized I had to get pushy and interrupt for them to wait on me. One p.o. worker kept staring at me and even asked me what I needed, but wouldn't help me (maybe she couldn't understand me?). A man finally waited on me and then gave my package to the lady who didn't want to help me earlier. She told me how many rupees the package would be, I paid her and she gave me three stamps. I started to walk away from the counter and realized I had no idea what to do with the package once I affixed the stamps, so I asked a young girl who was waiting for service at the counter. It took awhile fo her to understand what I was asking, but she finally told me I simply needed to glue the stamps and hand it back to the p.o. workers. I glued the stamps and then forgot that I needed to be pushy to get service again, but the young girl who had helped me intervened on my behalf and got the p.o. worker's attention. I handed my package over, thanked the young girl and left.

Feelings
I was a little confused at first, but overall I felt confident and went into the event prepared for anything. I'm glad I was able to locate the p.o. and get help from the young girl. I got a little frustrated at myself for being too timid. I was reminded that I need to be pushy and more assertive to get things done here - that's a struggle for me, but I'm still working at it!

Questions/Activities for future exploration
How can I be assertive and "pushy" without coming off as a rude Westerner?

Save Tibet.

Took these snaps this weekend while I was in the city. I've heard mixed opinions on the situation in Tibet from the States. Last week I read that Clinton and Obama were protesting the Olympics (can anyone verify this information?).

What are you thoughts on the situation in Tibet?

In the News.

Identity.

Recently, I've been suffering from an identity crisis, well ever since I started living in South Asia, actually. This past week I traveled to another city and attended a meeting with several people from all over the country. Most attendees were nationals, a few were expats, like myself. During the meeting I was asked to give a short presentation introducing myself and my work in South Asia. I literally had to stop and ask myself, "Who am I to this group of people?". I'm certainly not the girl who once drove down country roads, windows down, music blaring, singing her lungs out. I no longer don a heavy winter coat and scarf and pray for sunshine 9 months out of the year (but I do miss you, RIT!). So who I am? These are some immediate (and slightly ridiculous) thoughts that came to mind:

Main American say hun. (I am from America.) <---this is a really important phrase to know here. I probably get asked where I'm from 15+ times a week. Some of my friends who have been here longer have grown tired of that question, so they've started speaking in British accents when they're in the city. No one asks them where they're from anymore. Sometimes I daydream about making up some weird accent or telling people I'm from Nigeria or Nova Scotia just to see their reaction, but I never go through with it.

Main Urdu/Hindi seekrahi hun. (I'm learning Urdu/Hindi.)

*Ok, English from here on out because that's about all I know and it's not as fun when you're reading it in Roman script.

I am a woman in a man's world. In a room of one-hundred Indian men, I am the only woman.

I often speak in broken English with an Indian accent.

I am slowly going deaf from all the noise here. I'm glad I know sign language because I may need it when I return home.

I am a student.

I am a follower of Isa Masih.

I am a daughter.

I am blessed and sometimes can't believe that I was born in America. How do I have it so good? Sometimes I don't understand why it wasn't me that was born on the streets here.

I am "Madaam".

I am sometimes mistaken for an Israeli or Iranian (?!).

I am not supposed to go anywhere alone after 8pm.

I am an artist.

I eat non-veg.

I feel that I have lost some of my independence.

I drink the water (haha).

I wear more "dresses" than I ever have in my life.

I bobble my head and grunt "huh" to indicate "yes".

I am a Northerner. I am a Midwesterner.

I am now a "Southerner" of this land.

I eat ketchup on everything (because that's what you do in S. Asia).

I buy food at the store only to find out it's not what I thought I was buying at all. (The first week I lived here I bought what I thought was spaghetti noodles and even cooked them for dinner. I later found out that you're supposed to fry them in oil and have then as a snack. It wasn't spaghetti at all!).

I'm developing A.D.D.

I take my shoes off outside the door.

I am an introvert learning to be an aggressive extrovert (when necessary).

I enjoy listening to Bollywood music.

I will never understand cricket.

Sometimes I eat dinner at 10:30pm.

I'm late to everything, which is actually on time here.

I have dreams about Wal-Mart and laying in fields of green grass.

The end.