Heroes and Babies

For now, in our preparation we are "heros".  I sense it all around me, the admiring words extended, the encouraging expressions full of excitement and "wow"... Ya know, we have the courage and what have ya to get out there and go do this thing in Kenya. Something that many folks only dream of being in the position to do...

However, in 2 short months when we arrive in Africa, we step off that plane and smell the diesel of Nairobi's traffic, hear the Swahili  and try to understand the Kenyan English, and see the big smiles in the dark faces, we'll be as heroic as babies- simply having the courage to exist and take it all in; to receive. We'll be back to square one when it comes to living.

All my life since 8 months of age I've been exposed to Latin cultures of the Americas; Central and South,  to Spanish. Suddenly this will not be. My mind will automatically think, "You don't understand English, let me try my Spanish!" This won't work anymore. I will need a hunger for humble pie; "please sir can I have another"! I will need to open wide the path to laughter allowing it to bubble up and to plug the path to self-pity, self-pride, humiliation so that it is not allowed in when I have no clue what I'm doing and still have to try something, when I don't know how to greet or speak, or when I forget and eat with my left hand, when I feel the weight of being an "outsider".

In the books MCC has sent us for reading prior to our orientation, I'm reminded of the characteristics of my culture and how my "natural" instincts are going to clash with my new surroundings- my time orientation, my directness, my efficiency, my need for privacy, for alone time.   The challenge will be to operate as best I can in the foreign culture, appreciating and respecting it while still carving out a little room for a few of my own cultural needs that are home to me. Another thing I'm aware of is the influence that cross-cultural experiences have had in both Doug and my lives already- him growing up in Peru, me spending time as a child in Belize and then each of our work and travels over seas over the years. We won't be shocked by what we experience, but we will need to adjust to it in a deeper level of ourselves with endurance because we'll be there for 3 years.