Reverse Culture Shock

I've been back in Canada for a bit over three weeks now, and I continually get asked if I had any culture shock when I went to Asia. My answer is always that I had more coming home! This is a phenomenon called Reverse Culture Stress, when someone has been in a culture other than their regular one for a long enough period that they feel unfamiliar, out-of-place or uncomfortable with their own culture. 

Riding in the truck during "Songkran"

Not everyone goes through Reverse Culture Stress when they've been away for seven weeks, but for me certain things stood out about Canadian culture that I hadn't really noticed much before. Things like:

Busyness

Our pace of life is so hectic. We rush to and fro, are booked every evening and things are expected to happen "right now". I was asked so many questions when I got home by people who wanted to know my schedule right away, and when we were doing this and that and I just wanted to shut down and take things one hour at a time! Not to say that people aren't busy where we were (the students in Hong Kong run to buy lunch every day because they are worried about missing class), but I had been out of "scheduling" mode for so long, I would only focus on one day at a time for seven weeks!

The busy Hong Kong streets

Individuality

It bugged me when I got back how individually-minded our culture is. Everyone needs their own car, and their own food, and their own house and their own stuff. In Asia I became so used to sharing meals with other people, sometimes without even using plates and cutlery! We would just use our hands, put the food on the table (not individual portions either!) and just eat together. Sharing is normal for their cultures. I had a group of friends in Beihei and I know there were three scooters, four friends and me. I had no idea which scooters belonged to who because they would always drive each other's scooters! In Thailand it was normal to lean against someone's pickup truck if you needed something to lean against, or to borrow someone's hose if you needed some water for your water gun during the water festival.

A river restaurant in Thailand

Fear

This one has bothered me many times before and I noticed it all anew when I got home. Canadians are so afraid of everything! Health, crime, strangers, all of it. It's becoming normal for people to not let their children play outside because they might get dirty or get kidnapped, or don't talk to strangers because they might snap at them. Overseas it felt so freeing to see a culture that was comfortable with each other. Strangers talked to each other, people ate wierd things (and didn't get sick from them), and there is a general level of trust between people that we are generally missing here. It always amazes me what we miss out when we let fear control our lives! But I've already written my thoughts on fear before, which you can read here.

Climbing Sticky Falls

There are many things that I appreciate about Canada (poutine, my family, clean air, the mountains), but I am seeing people, myself, my lifestyle and the culture as a whole through a new lens. I think it's good for everyone to re-evalute their perspective on things every once in a while to make sure they are living their life the way God intends. He even says "Do not conform to the pattern of this world, but be transformed by the renewing of your mind. Then you will be able to test and approve what God's will is-His good pleasing and perfect will" (Rom 12:2). This trip was a great way for me to do exactly what this verse is talking about, to take a step back from my Canadian world and come home with a renewed mind to seek God's will.

Back from the Far Side of the Sea!

I have been gone since March 8th in four different countries, meeting many people and doing everything from teaching English in a formal classroom setting, to cleaning out a very dirty Guard's House, to giving my testimony at church, to eating raw jellyfish tentacles!

But I always like to see things for myself, so here is a video I've made with some of my adventures.

If it does not load here, try clicking this link to watch or download a copy of it to your computer.

Pictures!

We were able to upload some pictures today! Finally got the cords working :)

The first night with my Hong Kong crew! Eating all-you-can-eat at a Japanese place. 

China friends at English Corner on the last night

A middle school in China that we were teaching at. A great spot to look out over all the students! 

Kayaking at Halong Bay for Team Days in Vietnam 

A Thai baby dedication this morning, at the home church where we were.

Prayer: Sickness

Still in Vietnam! Haven't been able to upload pictures and probably won't until we get home :( The disadvantages to not having a phone, but a real camera!

Today we went to see Ho Chi Minh's body, which is preservered in a very guarded building. Team days is a time where we get to relax a little, debrief about our time in China and Hong Kong and spend time together to refresh ourselves as a team in preparation for our longest and last phase of the journey.

Please pray for our team, as there seems to be some sort of 12 hour stomach bug going around. We seem to be tag teaming it and more than half of our team has gotten it already. I'm one of the safe ones so far but it's just a game of waiting right now. Tomorrow is a travel day, so please pray that we are all strong and healthy by then and that no one else gets sick, as we also have to lug around our giant bags!

I am at the point where half of me wants to stay overseas and keep on doing missions and half of me wants to go home and see loved ones again! There is definitely excitement for starting out for Thailand first thing tomorrow morning, and I am looking forward to seeing all the things that our Team Leader has prepared in advanced for us to do :)

There are so many idols and little ancestor temples here. It is wierd to see in an everyday, modern setting. Even in the hostel we're in there's a little shrine that people put out new food and "spirit money" every day to make sure that the building is blessed.

(Our cruise at Halong Bay during Team Days)

Good Morning, Vietnam!

Hey everyone!

It's been a while but you know how it is... No Facebook or Gmail or Blogger allowed in China... 

We are on our team days now, a chance to relax a bit and recharge with each other before beginning our longest phase in Thailand.

I am having a wonderful time and making some good memories. I have made some amazing friends in China and have many funny and cool stories to share when I get home!
  
Still trying to figure out how to upload photos but there will be some when I get home!!

Update: Hong Kong

We are here!

I have spent three days teaching English at a school in Hong Kong and getting to know the students. They have been so welcoming and some of them have been real gems! We have gotten along well and the door has been opened for some wonderful conversations.

Teaching has been tons of fun and we have been able to teach good values and moral lessons, along with getting the students to practice their English. By using tons of activities and games we have gotten the students excited about learning English and have also had fun with them and helped them to relax right before their major exam times. Exams are a big deal in Hong Kong and one of the social issues the students have talked to us about are the student suicides that happen around this time. The pressure is just so strong from society, their teachers and their parents that it is easier for them to give up. The students and the majority of people we have talked to are upset about it, but they don't know what the solution is, apart from a major academic change.

The weather here has been cold, believe it or not! When we first arrived it felt much colder than Edmonton, and none of us were prepared for it. I have been wearing my hoodie and rain coat together nearly every day!

The crowds weren't quite as bad as I imagined they would be, but over time the amount of people starts to wear on you. We rode the train around rush hour a few times and had to really "shove in" at the doors in order to fit. I think we have spent over 15 hours on the MTR (the subway) since we arrived, but their system is so easy to navigate because it's all in English and it's all color-coded!

Right now we are volunteering at an NGO doing very hard physical labor. It is exhausting but it is a great feeling to help them out a bit. At the end of the day we definitely sleep well! They have recently moved over to an old military base and they have many buildings that need cleaning. We spent the day yesterday moving furniture out of the Guard House and scrubbing it down. The building was very neat and had a prison door in one room with bars on the window and another room with ammunition storage and a gun rack! 

On Sunday we will be grabbing our huge backpacks, our day packs and our team bags and boarding the train to China for Phase 2!

I don't know when I will be able to write next or be able to post pictures, but I am looking forward to it!

I miss you and love you and can't wait to tell you more over the summer!

Prep: Heading out!

This is it, I'm off soon! By the time you read this, I should be boarding the plane. I'm apologizing in advance if I am not able to blog much while I'm away as we will have limited time and access to internet. But you can check out these links to stay in touch with the the crew while we're away:

The Vanguard College Facebook Goup

https://www.facebook.com/groups/2254693725/

The Vanguard School of World Discipleship Facebook Page

https://www.facebook.com/swdvanguard/

 

Vanguard College on Twitter

https://twitter.com/vanguardcollege

 

The Vanguard College Website

http://www.vanguardcollege.com/

Thank you so much for keeping our team in your prayers while you're away. I will miss you!

Tomorrow!

Here it is! in 24 hours I will be at the airport to head off on this big adventure. We've been preparing since September, but it still hasn't solidified for me yet. 

One thing I've been learning about in class and will be able to experience first-hand is the whole process of Culture Stress. It's not the same extent as Culture Shock, and is experienced by many people in many circumstances. Whether you are moving to a new city in Canada, working in a new field, serving in a new church or travelling around the world, you can experience culture stress.

There are four steps to Culture Stress, and they can often repeat! Or you can be stuck on one for longer than the average person:

Honeymoon

 

This is when you are in love with the new culture. There are new, fascinating things and you can't get over how great the people or the new things are. At the moment you feel like you could live in that environment with no problems and nothing bad could happen!

Frustration

Things annoy you about the new culture and you can become grumpy and irritable at the smallest of things. You begin to see people in the new culture as inferior to people from your own culture or their traditions are inferior to your own. All you want is to surround yourself with things from your own culture and go back to the way things were. It is hard to function in everyday life, buying things, eating and getting around and you are often caught offguard with social cues and traditions.

Recovery

You've started to get over the problems you've had with a culture and started relaxing again. You can find humor in things again and begin wanting to make relationships. You begin learning many of the cultural cues and it's not as hard to get by in everyday life.

Adaptation

You are pretty much a local in this stage! There are very few barriers in your communication and you are not often caught off guard anymore by cultural differences. After this point, it may even be harder for you to adapt back into your "old" culture as you will see new flaws in it and things will annoy you about it, causing "Reverse Culture Stress".

Attitudes that Minimize Culture Stress

humble
compassionate
patient
willing to learn
flexible
respectful
brave
servitude

Attitudes that Maximize Culture Stress

ignorance
superiority
pessimisstic
stubborn
sarcastic
unwilling to change

Where in Asia will Laura be staying?

I finally have an idea of where we'll be staying in Asia! It'll be very different everywhere I am so I am looking forward to the different experiences.

1. College Dormitories
In Hong Kong we will be sleeping at a college in one of the dorm rooms. The two Hong Kong teams will be staying together so we'll have a chance to encourage and debrief with each other every night. I'm not certain what dormitories look like in Asia, but this is what Google promises! (probably without the college boys... I hope...)

2. Homeless Shelter

After our teaching in Hong Kong we will be volunteering at a homeless shelter. Part of this experience is staying there. I'm guessing this will be in a motel style room. Another part of this experience is a blind simulation and an AIDs simulation where they see up scenarios for us to roleplay a day in the life of a blind person or an AIDs victim.

3. A Teacher's Apartment

We are staying in one of the teacher's apartment's during our second phase. The "beds" here are aparrantly much more like mats, but it is close to the school and we will be a little family. It will be neat to see where an average middle-class Chinese person lives.

4. Homestay

This is perhaps the most interesting place to be staying. I will be staying with a Chinese family who likely doesn't speak much English. It will be one of the student's families and I will eat dinner and breakfast with them every day. 

5. A Global Worker's House

In Thailand we will be staying in a global worker's house! It is air conditioned too! Plus there is a cafe they run across the street and we will get coffee every day! Did I mention that I am really looking forward to Thailand?

 

Pray: Specifics

It's beginning to feel real! Our classroom has been turned into a supply room as we finalize our shopping lists, lesson plans and other planning today and tomorrow. By tomorrow, we should have everything we need ready to go!

Room 210 is now a supply room!

There are a few things that still need to fall into place before the trip. Your prayer is greatly appreciated! Here are some things you can pray for:

Phase 1

• Sermon preparation
• Lesson preparation
• Team dynamics

Phase 2

• Find a translator
• Permission for a Beach Day with students
• Safety and protection from spiritual oppression

Phase 3

• Lesson preparation
• Easily make friends with students
• Strength and energy

Phase 4

• Team leadership. Our team leader for this phase is now staying in Canada so we are shuffling around a bit.
• Good connections with the kids as we'll be here the longest.
• Health for our host from previous years who won't be able to visit us due to medical issues.

Davina, King Space and the General of the Galaxy

In one of our phases of this trip, we will be putting on an English conversation evening every weeknight. The biggest of the responsibilities assigned for that was to write a skit for us to perform for 20 minutes every night we're there. And guess who the playwright is? That's right, your truly!

This is not me. This is David Tennant. But I like him, and playwrighting reminds me of William Shakespeare, and when I typed his name into Google this image came up, and he's wearing a crown and holding a flute, which ties in to my play (well, technically it's a recorder but in this play, we will be pretending that a recorder is a flute for the sake of simplicitiy and because I am the main character and I don't know how to play a flute, but I do know how to play a recorder), so now you understand why this picture is here in the first place.

We want to cover five themes while we're there:

1. Self-Esteem
2. Overcoming Obstacles
3. Temptations
4. Honor
5. Leadership

And so I set about writing a play.

And then I thought about ways to make it interesting.

And funny.

And still tie in to the original story I was thinking of.

So I came up with Davina and the Garguon! A story of a small, unskilled girl who defeats a great monster only using a few spitballs and her straw!!

This was perfect for the theme of Overcoming Obstacles!! And there could be more in the Davina saga...

Fundraising Update

We're close! The fundraising deadline is coming up on Monday, fast approaching.

I need $100 more funds to complete, God has been faithful up until now, and I am still trusting that He will finish it off strong.

Unfortunately, with the way our current Canadian dollar is, the trip is going to cost an extra $200 per student. The school is strongly urging us to raise these funds if it is possible, so if you are able to give at this time a little bit more, it would be extremely appreciated.

If you feel that this is a way in which you'd like to support this trip, please click here, or give me a call at (403) 918-9229.

Thank you so much for your support so far! I can't wait to tell you all about it in a few months :)

Prep: Heat, Humidity and Hair

As I begin thinking more about this trip, one thing keeps coming to mind... The extreme heat our team be living in! The hottest months in Thailand are April and May, which is when I will be there. Coming from Northern Edmonton's winter, this is going to be quite the climate shock. Not only will it be hot, but it will also be quite humid. This come into play when deciding what to pack. 

What will I do with my hair?

Any suggestions? Currently these are my top decisions:

1. Keep it back in a bun/ponytail/headband

2. Cut it short so it's off my shoulders but long enough to put in a small ponytail

3. Cut it so short that it won't bother my neck at all!

Let me know what you think, what you would do and what you have done in the heat and humidity before. I'd love to hear your opinions :)

Pray: March

If you are the type of prayer warrior who marks your calendar, I would specifically like to request prayer from you on these days:

March 20-23

March 27-30

These days will be the first few days adjusting to new places where we will be teaching and I will definitely require prayer to help me through them! 

The first location we will be teaching in a community that is known for disruptive classrooms, and we may be teaching alone. One girl on my team had a cockroach thrown at her last year while she was teaching! I'm told that this place can be very rewarding, but can also be difficult, especially the first few days! 

Please pray for: 

• My patience
• My strength
• The students' obedience 
• The students' good behaviour.

The second location we are teaching again, but in a much more formal setting. These will be very long days, and often by ourselves. There is a fairly strict dress code and the classrooms are often very reserved and hard to get to know well. 

Please pray for:

• My strength
• My energy
• The students' engagement
• That relationships will be built quickly

Thank you so much, your prayers are greatly appreciated! Please give me a call if you'd like more details on these places or the others I will be visiting.

Also, if you are feeling inclined to give financially to this trip, please click the link below for instruction. If you cannot figure out the instructions, the link doesn't work or you simply are too lazy and would still like to give, please give me a call and I can fill it out for you with your information :) 

https://drive.google.com/file/d/0B7ROtmX3JwUnNlpyX2VsRWlvN0E/view

Prep: Where in SE Asia will Laura be?

I've gotten a list of the potential places I'll be visiting in Asia! These may change, but here is the potential itinerary:

Phase 1

Hong Kong

 

This phase will be spent at an all-girls school, mostly teaching English. Hong Kong has the highest density of people on all of planet Earth! Picture the crowds at Calgary Stampede after the grandstand show is over, but with even more people! And this is all times of day! Even though I'm not the biggest fan of crowds, I'm sure I'll get used to it pretty quickly, and I am very excited to see this place and build relationships with some of the millions of people in this place!

Phase 2 & 3

China

 

Clean air is something we often take for granted in Canada! Our crisp and clear winter air is uncommon in many countries, and I'm sure I will experience first-hand some major air pollution. Another thing I'm sure I will experience is what it's like to be a minority! I've walked into T&T Market before or downtown in "China Town" but going to China is a whole other ballgame. Strangers stare at you everywhere and will even take your picture wherever you go! For phase 2 we will be teaching English to students during the day and building relationships with people in the evenings. Phase 3 will be similar as we travel through China a bit, teaching more and learning a bit more of the Chinese culture.

Phase 4

Vietnam

 

Phase 4 are team days, where all of our groups will be back together. We will be in Vietnam, where the true lovers of motorcycles live! As seen is the picture above, it is one of the major modes of transportation there. I have always loved Vietnamese Coffee, but am looking forward to learning much more about the Vietnamese culture than that!

Phase 5

Thailand

 

The final leg of my journey will be in Thailand, where I will be spending over two weeks! We will be doing some after-school care and work with university students with an organization that has been established in Thailand since the 2004 Tsunami. In fact, it is the only one that has remained with the Thai people since that disaster.


And yes... I MIGHT be able to ride an elephant!


As I said previously, this itinerary is just a rough draft, and may change at the drop of a hat! If you would like more information on any of the places feel free to shoot me a text at (403) 918-9229 or send me an email at refinedcanines@gmail.com. Again, thank you so much for your support!

Fundraising Goal

Finally I figured out how to include a graph on this blog! It's just an image file but I will manually be able to update it as funding comes in... 

Speaking of which, I could use your help! I know times are hard, especially after Christmas but I would appreciate any amount you can scrape together for this trip. The deadline for fundraising is February 8th and I have raised 52% so far. Thank you so much if you have donated already! I am enormously grateful for your generosity. 

Nobody likes asking people for money, so that is all I will say on the subject. Well, after I say that if you are not in a position to give right now, your prayers are also very much needed and appreciated! Thank you again!

For more information on how to donate, simply click the link below:

https://drive.google.com/file/d/0B7ROtmX3JwUnNlpyX2VsRWlvN0E/view

Or you can always contact me at refinedcanines@gmail.com if you have any questions about any of the process. 

The Beginning

Hello All!

Welcome to my new Missions blog! This year has been the first at Vanguard College in the Mission program, my training ground for overseas work.

This Fall I jumped into a mini van full of some awesome teammates to go on my first short-term mission trip to the Downtown East Side of Vancouver. We had the opportunity to see how different non-for-profit organizations are run as well as looking at different approaches to ministry. Beyond seeing all the behind-the-scenes of the way things function, we also got to interact in the heart of the DTES and speak into people's lives. God did some amazing work on the trip, as our team spent ten days on the streets, with some crazy stories to tell after!

My favorite moment was as I was waiting alone for my team to pick me up at Carnegie Hall I started chatting with a man who sat down. He was sober, but it was fairly obvious that he had gone through severe alcohol and/or drug addiction. We began speaking about God's word and he told me he'd been attending a weekly bible study in the area. We both pulled out our bibles and he shared what he'd been learning in the Word recently and I shared a few verses with him. It was a short and very unconventional bible study, but amazing to see how God wasn't only carrying out His work through the organizations on the Downtown East Side, but through the people who live there!

This semester I am gearing up for the Spring trip to Southeast Asia. I will be visiting Thailand, Vietnam, China and Hong Kong and in preparation I have begun this blog! I hope it can serve these multiple purposes:

• Keep you in the loop on my trip preparations
• Updates during the trip
• Giving specific prayer requests 
• Tracking fundraising processes
• Detailed stories and ideas when I come home

If you would like more information on this trip, Vancouver, future trips planned or my life in general, please shoot me an email at refinedcanines@gmail.com