Try as I may, I will never fully be a part of this culture. Which one doesn't belong? (This happened completely by accident, but, we thought it was worth documenting)
Daily I am reminded of that fact. If one more person honks at me, warning me to get out of the way, as they drive head on down MY lane, I may start carrying raw eggs to throw at their windshields. Sometimes meeting the culture where it is at is not so easy. This is just one of many DAILY culture clashes I am coming to notice. If I am well rested, well fed, in no hurry, with no where to go and no where to be, I can be a patient person approaching the culture with an anthropological eye. BUT, when was the last time all those environmental factors aligned? More often than not, I am suppressing the urge to throw eggs at Land Rover of this new culture.
One approach that proves to be a help is trying to see each challenge through fresh eyes, meet this Lexus as if it were the first over-sized car on an undersized road I have had to face. There are some folks that have recently crossed my path that helped me approach each moment as a new one.
As a part of my work, I was responsible for these two great volunteers from Australia.
They were here for two month as a part of their studies and we spent a fair amount of time together. They had not yet lost that sense of wonder at the things tied to the back of motos, nor their patience with the "dysfunction" by western standards. And, if they did, I realized I was the one jumping to the defense of the Cambodian Way. It is so much easier when someone else is watching to behave myself.
Impartial eyes have also kept me going.
This lovely lady came to visit all teh way from the USAwhen I was feeling a bit overwhelmed and like I might as well just crash head-on into the Land Rover, then they would learn their lesson. It was good to have the reminder that perhaps I should remember that just walking out the door is a stressor on the system – the noise, dust, cacophany of colors and other visual stimulants, and the constant challenge of speaking another language - I guess after a year I would have figured I was past that. Yet, just as every time I step outside a new vehicle comes pummeling toward me, so does a new variation on an old cultural challenge. It takes a visiting social worker to remind that culture shock may not come right away and may be a reoccurring issue.
Fortunately, when my personal counselor left me, a group of new eyes arrived in the form of the Maryknoll Lay Missioners Friends Across Borders participants. (Pictured below with all the Maryknoll Missioners in Cambodia)
For two weeks, they showed the same awe and inspiration I felt when I arrived for how far this country has come after being decimated just 40 years ago. They showed that child-like amazement for the things I had come to find normal. It was a great reminder that there is humor, joy, and a lesson to be learned even in playing chicken with the Land Rovers of a new culture.
