Watch the Walk

This was my first Christmas away from home and I totally expected the worst: miserable homesickness, lame celebrations, loneliness, and maybe some food poisoning thrown in for good measure. I'm now here to say that it was far better than I asked or expected. But for your perusal, here's a bit of what Christmas looked like here: Christmas baking: as a team, we alternated which house with an oven to use for baking each day. I'll have you know that we successfully navigated many substitutions or alterations in the recipes to fit with the food items available here. One example would be peanut cookies-- we started by roasting and peeling the paper off several cups of peanuts! Jess even made lasagna, but she had to start by making ricotta cheese and lasagna noodles. Despite the challenges, we produced a lot of amazing food! Lessons in carols: on Christmas Eve we got together and sang carols, interspersed with Scripture readings. It was a beautiful time of remembering ...

I'm experimenting with a new form of blogging: handwritten. So here it goes:

Hi everyone, It's been awhile since I last updated, so here's a bit of news to start off with: -- homestay went well. I learned a lot of language bits and pieces then, but now have to assimilate it into my general vocabulary. The family I stayed with was super hospitable, and they made sure that I experienced a lot during my time there. We climbed a hill, had a picnic, visited a mineral spring, got water from a fresh water spring, cooked, made flower necklaces, visited a bakery and an aluminum pot making place, and a variety of other things. -- I'm now settled into my home with Jess. It's a second story suite, with rooftop access. We have water issues, which you can read more about on Jess' blog. -- language learning is now my full-time job. I'm working with language helpers to acquire phrases and vocabulary, then practicing in the community. It's a fun challenge, and some people have started greeting me by name. Now let me tell you about our burn barrel. Se...

This is going to be a super short update also. You can read a little about my homestay experience here . I have another couple posts coming shortly.

After a week in the islands, here are a few reflections, notes, and random thoughts : - sweat has become the new normal. It's not a question of whether you sweat, but how much. - the contrast here between beauty and dirty poverty is dramatic. The ocean and palm trees are beautiful, but the garbage along the coast isn't. - islanders are very friendly. Each day as we go on language walks it's amazing to see the happy reactions. May I always be excited to see new people. - with more physical challenges, I recognize anew my need for the father's daily support. - cold showers are no sacrifice - rundown roads serve as decent substitutes for speed limits. - I'm super grateful for my team. The whole "when one is down another picks him up" bit is really neat. This week we'll be living in host homes to better learn the local culture and bond with our new people. I'd appreciate being lifted before the father, as I expect it will be physically and emotionally ...

My sister and I successfully surprised our parents with bringing her and baby Joseph for a visit before I leave. There's lots to the story, but I'll tell it in brief. Hehe. The setup: I told my parents that I needed to catch up with a friend after a meeting on Wednesday night. "You know how things go with Kami... it'll probably be late," I said. I did go catch up with Kami. I picked up a carseat from her, visited for a little while, then headed for the airport at 10:30 PM. Arriving at the airport about 1 AM, I met my sister and nephew, situated them in the car, and proceeded to drive through incredibly dense fog all the way home. Joseph alternated between sleeping (post-feeding) and wailing (any time he was returned to the carseat while awake). It was during one of those stops that I posted this status update :  We arrived home at 5:15 AM, and Joseph was asleep. So we parked, brought things inside, and situated R and J in the boys' room upstairs. Papa heard us...

Aside from the physical tasks related to getting ready for Africa, there's also the mental/spir'tual side of things. And a big part of this is being ready for culture shock. Culture shock : the emotional, psychological, and physical impact of learning to live in a new culture, that threatens unconscious assumptions and challenges a person's ability to flex to a new way of life.  The following is a list of various "symptoms" of culture shock. Take note though, it's not an exhaustive list: - Homesickness - Boredom - Withdrawal (excessive reading, excessive use of electronics, only wanting time with other Westerners) - Excessive sleep - Excessive eating - Irritability - Exaggerated cleanliness - Relational tension - Chauvinism - Stereotyping nationals - Hostility toward nationals - Loss of ability to work well - Unexplained weeping - Psychosomatic illnesses As you can see, it tends to manifest itself in various forms. From personal experience, I tend to withdraw,...