culture shock

"Culture shock is the personal disorientation a person may feel when experiencing an unfamiliar way of life due to immigration or a visit to a new country, or to a move between social environments...Culture shock can be described as consisting of at least one of five distinct phases: Honeymoon, Negotiation, Adjustment, Mastery and Reverse.

"The Honeymoon: the visitor experiences a love for the new food, the pace of life, and the locals' habits. During the first few weeks, most people are fascinated by the new culture. This period is full of observations and new discoveries...

"The Negotiation: differences between the old and new culture become apparent and may create anxiety. Excitement may eventually give way to unpleasant feelings of frustration and anger as one continues to experience unfavorable events....

"Adjustment: after some time, one grows accustomed to the new culture and develops routines. One knows what to expect in most situations and the host country no longer feels all that new. One becomes concerned with basic living again, and things become more "normal". One starts to develop problem-solving skills for dealing with the culture and begins to accept the culture's ways with a positive attitude. The culture begins to make sense."  Wikipedia

  Maybe I haven't experienced culture shock on a grand "normalized" scale, but I've definitely been experiencing it on a smaller scale. Just in the past week I've gone through sadness at leaving home and excitement at leaving home, anxiety over traveling so far and elation over traveling so far, desire to be immersed in a new culture and yearning to be returned to my own. The best I can describe it is to say it's been an experience of extremes. One minute I'm loving what's going on or what I'm doing/eating/experiencing. The next minute I'm sad because I miss home or I wish certain people were here. And a few minutes after that, I'm back to loving whatever it is that's going on in the moment. It's weird and I don't think I've gone through something like this since being at Walt Disney World for my college program.

The most recent one: Today is Sunday. The shop is open for a few hours in the morning, and I went in to work. My awesome supervisor gave me a map the other day showing me how to walk from my host family's home to the shop. This morning, I felt confident enough in my bearings to try walking...and I made it! When I say it was a boost to my Empowerment Meter, I'm really not joking. I was feeling pretty good about myself.  Honeymoon Phase.

Kate was at work today, and we had a jolly old time of it. For the first time, I felt completely comfortable in the environment at the cafe (and my poor supervisor got her first taste of Ashley-is-comfortable-and-unwinds-her-craziness, which the kids at Hollywood 14 know very well). Kate drove me home, and I was having a great afternoon. The kids were watching How to Train Your Dragon, which is one of my absolute favorite movies of all time. I was having a textbook, grand scale, all-is-right-with-the-world episode of the Honeymoon Phase.

Then we went to the church service at the cafe. When I say it was unlike anything I've ever experienced before, I'm not exaggerating. A group of 13 of us (total--kids included) sat in a circle in chairs. Most of the people in the group are older. (There were only two of us who were between the ages of 13 and 30.) We went through a quick kids' lesson and then our leader put on some music via an iPod. A quick read-through of a passage of Scripture and a time of prayer, and then we had a fantastic potluck dinner. It was good, but it was crazy-different from anything I've ever experienced. I started feeling that old "Man, I wish my friends were here" thing. The vibe from the group was very passionate about the community around us, but I've never had discussion quite like that before. I had the whole Negotiation Phase feeling, where I was comparing it to other groups I've been involved in.

After church, Mark and Karen took me and the other younger girl to a Bible study at Flick and Glenn's home. We read through John 7 and had a deep discussion about what Jesus was trying to accomplish and why He went about it the way He did. The faith maturity of the individuals in the group was vastly varied and provided some awesome conversation that I'll be chewing on for a few days (at least). Best of all, 6 of the 9 of us were under 25 years old! Finally, I got some quality time with more than one Christian college-age person at a time. I definitely slid back over into the Honeymoon.

It's been a struggle back and forth like this all week. Meeting awesome new friends in Sydney, have to say goodbye two days later. Sightseeing on the beach with said friends one day, working in a neighborhood cafe with total strangers two days later. Being around older people all day, hanging out with a young person or two in the evening. Getting amazing Facebook messages from best friends at home, being depressed about the changes in my youth group and the fact that I can't be there to help. It's crazy how much I've been through in just this short period of time--I mean, I've barely been in Australia for a week, and already I've done so much and met so many people!

Surely God is doing something big through this. Culture shock isn't easy, but at least I have one solid Rock to stand on.