Things we're learning...
To be humble and teachable...
Bumbling around in a foreign country has definitely given us more sympathy for the way our international students feel at ISU when they first arrive. EVERYTHING is in a different language... you search frantically on each sign for a scrap of the language you speak in your native tongue; knowing that even when you find some, you're still going to have to decipher it, as the word for word translation will probably be slightly off (and most likely a hilarious version of the phrase they actually mean to say!)
To slow down when we communicate...
People talk too fast in their own language! The few words you know in the foreign language, you keep repeating over and over and hope they will come down to your level of simplistic communication so you can understand what the other is trying to get across!!
"Wait; it's not okay to park here? You want me to park there. No, you think that's a better place or view of the ocean. I'm really okay parking here...unless, it's not okay ... unless I'm going to get a ticket or you're going to turn me into the police if I park here..."
Struggling through a conversation, grasping at clarity and trying to understand, often leaves you weary and feeling like an idiot.
"I'm really smarter than this, people. I'm fairly eloquent in my native tongue. It doesn't take me this long to ask for a bottle of water.... really." Language barrier has a humbling experience.
That we're not really that important & don't have the right to be wherever we want...
In the States if you come even close to hitting a pedestrian, you will probably get pulled over by the police, given a stern talking-to, or maybe even a ticket or arrest. When driving back home, we're constantly hitting the breaks or waiting for someone to take their sweet time walking the cross walk.
Here, pedestrians aren't king: they don't have the right of way in anything! If you even slightly look like you're going to step out in front of them, drivers will lay on their horn and whip their vehicle around you with a look of disgust or annoyance.
If you're walking behind their vehicle in a parking lot and they start to back out, you'd better get out of the way, because they're not going to stop to backing out! (...and yes; they did see you walking there!) "You're not that special, people, and I've got places to be," they seem to be thinking... "so get out of my way!"
I have to say that this part of the culture Luke appears to enjoy immensely! He's been sneaking around through the narrow streets veering around cars and getting from point A to B with the finesse of a far more experienced international driver! I admit my mind has wandered sometimes as I sit in the passenger seat... secretly imagining we're in a Bourne movie on some exotic foreign location. (Thanks, Luke, for upping the romanticism of this trip!!)
To admire and give God glory for His handiwork in other nations...
God is SO amazing. He is SO creative. He has created SO much beauty around the world... As an avid "people - watcher", this trip has given us an endless scope. The sights, sounds and faces we've experienced are all so unfamiliar and beautiful and unique to this corner of the world! We're embracing it with arms wide open!!!!
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