Culture Shock

I absolutely love it here in Ukraine but I have experienced some culture shock. For those of you who have studied (or experienced) it you’d probably recognize some of the stages.

It usually starts with…well, shock. Initial exposure to a very different culture tends to shock the system quite a bit (alright, had that one). The next stage is often referred to as the “honeymoon� stage. Everything is beautiful and perfect; an overly-romanticized perspective seen through rose-colored glasses (checkmark number two). Eventually, the honeymoon must end…and it has. Of course, this is not a bad thing and must happen for me to really settle here. It’s not that I’m unhappy; I just am beginning to really miss certain aspects of my former life.

So, as a therapeutic exercise I thought I’d share some of those things with you!

1) Subway, Dairy Queen, Denny’s, Half-price appetizers at Applebee’s, Cub Foods, Papa Murphy’s, and a dozen other food related enterprises!

2) Driving…quick transportation to anywhere I want.

3) Costco: shopping on Saturday afternoons, picking at the samples and then topping it off with any combination of their Pizza, Hot Dogs, Chicken Bake, Smoothie, Churro, etc.

4) Netflix, oh such a good deal!

5) TELEVISION – TELEVISION – TELEVISION (Simpsons, American Idol, Survivor and any number of random sitcoms…and the news, I have no idea what’s going on in the world!).

6) English…enough said.

7) Dairy products that smell and taste “normal�!

Bethany Church: services in English, worship that I can understand and of course most of all – our Minnesota family.

9) Hopkins Theater: $2 movies…can’t beat it.

10) Playing games at the Winger’s house every Thursday night (Carcassonne, Puerto Rico, Kuduuk, etc, etc, etc.).

11) Hanging with the Hills, chats with Tara and cuppa after cuppa after cuppa.

12) Visiting with the Krauses (when we weren’t actually living there).

13) Jess-minda Swopé

14) AFC: I miss my talks with Furry, gabbing at the front desk with Amy, discussing “my shows� with Alesch and Gena, Ellen’s daily 3:00pm visits, chatting with Peggy, grossing out Sproull, and oh who could forget the leftovers (wow – productivity must have skyrocketed after I left!).

15) Going to Thunder Bay to visit Jew-Lee!

16) Ottawa with my family: swimming at my sister’s with the kids, L-Dawg (it’s weird seeing you in the Ottawa section), Chinese food from Maple Court, Swiss Chalet, Ketchup chips, Tim Horton’s (Coffee, Iced-Caps, Boston Creams, Everything Bagels, etc.), popping popcorn and watching movies with my family.

17) Eureka CA: going to Hometown with the Scotts, hanging at Liz’s, playing Shanghai, spending hours online at the coffee shop in old town with my bottomless cup of coffee, Jalisco’s, Obentos…(Brenda – there are even times when I think I miss the quilt store!).

Okay, I might as well wrap that list up now that you’ve seen I have a severe eating disorder and am “overly-social�…and before it becomes anymore of a yearbook entry.

BUT…if I weren’t here I would be missing so much:

1) Learning Russian (could come in handy some day).

2) Teaching Hebrew (a wonderful opportunity to develop my gifts).

3) Sitting in on these amazing lectures that are helping me understand my passion and future in Jewish ministry.

4) I’m finally doing the last requirement for my BA and the end is in sight!

5) I’ve met several wonderful people who really do bless me daily.

6) Shopping in the bazaars

7) The babushkas…you haven’t lived until you’ve bought walnuts from a babushka!

Taking the metro (subway) wherever I want.

9) Going downtown on the weekends when they close down the main street to traffic and all the vendors come out to play.

10) The opportunity to grow by willingly giving up so many of my comforts and desires.

11) And of course the biggest one of all, if I weren’t here I wouldn’t be exactly where God wants me to be.

Truly the Lord gives and He takes away…amd it is a beautiful balance only He can hold. So, the “honeymoon� may be over but just as in marriage that doesn’t mean the fun is gone. No, as the fuzzy feelings and misplaced ideals fade into the background a beautiful reality is left in its wake: one founded on strength, perseverance, sacrifice and humility. Whether we are discussing marriage to my wife or my life in this nation – it is a place I can call home.

So yes dear friends, the honeymoon may be over…but the journey has just begun!