I have been home from the World Race for a little over a month now. I am continuing to transition to my “new normal” of relearning how to live in American culture again after living overseas for a year. These are some of the moments in the past month where I experienced reverse culture shock, which is defined as the emotional and psychological distress suffered by some people when they return home after a number of years overseas. This can result in unexpected difficulty in readjusting to the culture and values of the home country, now that the previously familiar has become unfamiliar.
During my time in Zimbabwe I would help with a feeding program at an orphanage. We were told to give the children a generous scoop of food because it would be their only meal that day. On Christmas Day every year my family hosts a large gathering with my mom’s extended family. The Christmas Party is a potluck style where everybody brings a dish to share and we stuff ourselves delicious food all day. I am still transitioning to living in America of eat whatever you want, as much as you want, and if you have more than you need just pack up the leftovers for later.
When I was living overseas this year most of the countries I spent my time in were “relationship oriented” which means that family and friendship relationships are considered more important than tasks. There were many times throughout the year where it was normal for people to stop what they are doing to spend time to spontaneously spend time with people or help someone in need. America is considered a “task oriented” culture where we value personal success and accomplishing tasks. During the Christmas season I heard many people talk about how busy they are this time of year. Americans live in a fast paced culture that glorifies busyness. If you were to brag about how busy you were to people in relationship oriented cultures they would likely give you a funny look and wonder why you voluntarily fill your time with so many tasks. It is a transition for me to learn to learn that busyness is an expectation and people wonder what is wrong with you if you are not busy. I very much so miss my slow paced life living overseas and have already started to incorporate some changes into my life.
During my time in Southern Africa church would last anywhere between 2-6 hours. Southern African churches are not looking to race off after church to go out to lunch or watch a Sunday afternoon football game. The church I visited in Swaziland would say that church lasts as long as they feel the Holy Spirit move in the church. When I went to a Christmas service in America, the pastor thanked the congregation for making time in their busy schedule to make time to go to church. I have a newfound appreciation of the predictability of an hour to an hour and half church service in America, however I do miss the unhurried church service where people are not racing to get home.
In America it is custom to clean your house before people come over to your house. If you have not had time to get your house as clean as you would like it to be, we likely apologize for how messy our house is. During our house visits in Zimbabwe, I never heard anyone apologize for how messy their beautiful traditional African houses were.
The first week I got back from the World Race the electricity went off in our house. My dad was very proactive about getting our generator hooked up and we had electricity back on within 3 hours. During my time in Southern African countries, the electricity would go out and we would never really know when it would come back on. We did not see this as an inconvenience, but rather as a part of life.
My heart in sharing about these cross cultural differences is not to make us feel bad for the American way of doing things. My purpose is to share about my experiences which made me realize that the American way is not the only way or right way of doing things. Cross cultural differences are not something to frown upon, increase our sympathy for people who do not share our same cultural values, but instead are something to celebrate.
I share about these cross cultural differences not to make you get your check book out and write a check to the organization building a well in Africa. If you feel led to do that, that is good and don’t let me stop you. I say these things to encourage you to step out of your comfort zone in becoming more globally minded. Not all of us are called to leave a job in corporate America and go overseas for a year, but there are other ways to become more educated about culture differences around the world. I encourage you to pursue a friendship with someone who was a Missionary, humanitarian worker, someone who moved here from another country, or lived overseas for a period of their life. I encourage you to ask them intentional questions about life overseas and what it is actually like to live there beyond what the media portrays.
This picture was taken at the top of Table Mountain in Cape Town, South Africa. It was my last day of the World Race and I was headed home to America the next day.
