Cultural Adjustment

In our World Missions training back in July, we attended an excellent seminar presented by Ben and Bev Becksvoot on adjusting culturally.

They came up with 4 easy-to-remember stages in the adjustment to a new culture:

1.  Initial euphoria:  It's just swell!
2.  Irritability/Hostility:  It's just hell!
3.  Gradual adjustment:  It's beginning to gel.
4.  Adaptation to the situation:  Now it is well.

A lot of literature mentions that entry into this second stage may happen at about the 3 month mark. They were right; these days I'm solidly into feeling like things here are more hell than swell.  I'm just sick of the traffic, the heat, the complete indifference to time and the fact that nothing works the first time (or the second time).  I'm tired of standing out in a crowd and being called "mzungu" (foreigner).

While this is a normal stage to go through, the danger is when one starts to find the culture wrong, not merely different or difficult.  I find myself wishing to apply my American efficiency to many situations to "fix" Tanzania.  However, Tanzania isn't necessarily broken...it's just different.

Thankfully, the seminar provided a lot of ways to start adjusting culturally:
* Steer clear of an over-focus on your own perspective and way of thinking.
* Be committed to joy.
* Work to increase your tolerance of shades of gray.
* Pay more attention to managing yourself rather than to managing the situation or other people.
* Cultivate 3 skills that make a difference:  the ability to fail, the ability to laugh; flexibility/adaptability

This one is hard for me:  "...you will always be a 'newcomer.'  Learn to accept this fact and appreciate it.  Don't deny your background and cultural heritage; it makes you who you are.  You should neither suppress nor enshrine those memories of home."

The end goal in adjusting cross-culturally is to love and appreciate both cultures and to experience things from others' point of view without judgment.  I Corinthians 9:22-23 expresses this beautifully in a translation from The Message:

"Even though I am free of the demands and expectations of everyone, I have voluntarily become a servant to any and all in order to reach a wide range of people...I didn't take on their way of life.  I kept my bearings in Christ-- but I entered their world and tried to experience things from their point of view." 

Please pray with me as I work through this cultural adjustment!