Ehtno...what?
This last week we have poked, prodded, and x-rayed our inner motivations about traveling to another culture to serve. We are in Toronto at a preparatory course to help us be effective in Nepal. This last week we learned about ethnocentrism, cultural barriers, culture shock, and how to transition to a new culture. It has been mentally and emotionally exhausting, but the food has been great! It’s amazing how much you can eat when you’re only working hard in your heart and head.
One evening we even went to Chinatown, after learning some Mandarin words, to do a sort of cultural scavenger hunt. We all had to bring back an “artifact” from our explorations. I brought back a popular Asian movie (The Promise) which we watched with some of our group. Not everyone made it through the movie; I guess not everyone enjoys subtitles and kung-fu like I do?
Our kids have had an amazing time. Faith has, of course, made some new best friends. There are about 5 other young kids here besides ours. During the day Faith is in a little class where they learn about other cultures and languages through crafts, songs and stories. It has been very cute to see what she learns daily. The highlight for her has been playing with the kids though. She is rarely seen without her friend Abby. All of the adults seem to have taken the kids under their wings and it is like the whole community is taking care of the families. One man commented that he wasn’t sure which kids belonged to which parents, since we all seem to be with different kids all the time.
One week down, one to go. We have really enjoyed it, but we are enjoying our non-structured weekend too. I know that at the end of this next week we will have to run back home and work like crazy on cleaning and packing the house, and preparing to leave for Nepal. Our departure is very late on Nov. 5th. Rest is good. Maybe we'll go walk around a mall today for one of the last times? Or maybe we'll watch some cartoons that we won't get overseas...Either way we will savour our last moments in Canada.
One evening we even went to Chinatown, after learning some Mandarin words, to do a sort of cultural scavenger hunt. We all had to bring back an “artifact” from our explorations. I brought back a popular Asian movie (The Promise) which we watched with some of our group. Not everyone made it through the movie; I guess not everyone enjoys subtitles and kung-fu like I do?
Our kids have had an amazing time. Faith has, of course, made some new best friends. There are about 5 other young kids here besides ours. During the day Faith is in a little class where they learn about other cultures and languages through crafts, songs and stories. It has been very cute to see what she learns daily. The highlight for her has been playing with the kids though. She is rarely seen without her friend Abby. All of the adults seem to have taken the kids under their wings and it is like the whole community is taking care of the families. One man commented that he wasn’t sure which kids belonged to which parents, since we all seem to be with different kids all the time.
One week down, one to go. We have really enjoyed it, but we are enjoying our non-structured weekend too. I know that at the end of this next week we will have to run back home and work like crazy on cleaning and packing the house, and preparing to leave for Nepal. Our departure is very late on Nov. 5th. Rest is good. Maybe we'll go walk around a mall today for one of the last times? Or maybe we'll watch some cartoons that we won't get overseas...Either way we will savour our last moments in Canada.
posted by The Riegels at 1:17 AM
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