Tico Tuesday, September 1st

Buenas tardes!

So, I try not to send out Chronicles and Tico Tuesdays one right after another, but that's the way the cookie crumbled this time. (I was going to send out the Chronicle Sunday but went out with Ana and Ceci for delicious BAGELS that I hadn't had in forever instead). Anyway, I mentioned in my Chronicle that I am picking up on more cultural differences. What might they be? Here are a few facts of life that can give you a better idea of what life is like here.

-people are accustomed to having all species of insects inside the house. Ej-ants, flies, Japanese beetley kind of things, moths, 2-3 inch cockroaches, butterflyish monsters called palomillas, mosquitos, ronrones aka abejones de mayo, and a wide variety of other bugs (and the people I live with only kill flies and mosquitos. Everything else is left alone or gently escorted outside. They were shocked once when I killed something with a shoe as I had been well-trained to do in the US.)

-the roads are very narrow and have no shoulder. Most roads also have a ditch or some kind of drainage way immediately next to them. If the road is has painted lines, they are very old and hard to see.

-there is a lot of litter everywhere

-you don't get sick by spreading germs. You get sick because your “defenses are down” or you undergo some kind of climate change (you go to the beach where it is really hot, you come home to where it is cooler and bam! you have a cold)

-there are all sorts of yummy fruits here, some that exist in/are imported to the US (like plantains and mangos) and some you may have never heard of, like jocotes and the fruit featured in the picture, mamones chinos. Their flesh is a little tougher than a grape, but they still have some juice and are really yummy!

-the houses here are quite small compared to houses in the US. Most only have one floor and have very little free space. Dressers are not common. Most people keep all their clothes in their closet. There might be a little chest of drawers or something inside the closet, but most clothes are folded on a shelf or hanging up.

-I think I've mentioned this before. In most houses, used tp gets thrown in a wastebasket, not flushed away.

-also in most places, carpeting is nonexistent. With the amount of rain that we get, mold is enough of a problem as is. Carpets are not a great idea. And, wearing shoes inside is practically a must. Mothers yell at their kids to put something on their feet. In my house growing up it was always “take your shoes off before you come in!”

-the typical greeting is a kiss on the cheek. But it can often just be cheek touching cheek and kissing the air. Guys don't kiss each other-they usually have a friendly handshake and a couple good pats on the arm or the handshake/pat on the back/hug combo. The other day I was at chorale rehearsal and we had a soloist come in to sing with us. After the first run through of the song our director stepped forward and kissed the girl on the cheek. It looked so natural and normal to me. And then I thought about life in the States and what an ordeal that would create if it were to happen there instead of here. Sexual harassment, taking advantage of the girl, possible adultery... I personally like the way people greet here and am nervous about going back to the States and accidentally kissing people and having them take it the wrong way. -Also, it is normal to greet and say goodbye to everyone in the room. I FIT IN HERE!! I always had to “make my rounds” in the States before leaving somewhere.

-people here tend to wear a lot of cologne/perfume. I grew up in a family that did nothing of the sort and remember hearing my parents and grandparents complain about people at church, in theaters, and at concerts that wore too much perfume. In some ways I can understand- with there being a warmer climate people need to mask some BO because they can't get a shower every few hours. But, a little bit of that kind of liquid goes a loooooooooong way. You can imagine what I often end up smelling like after greeting multiple, well cologned/perfumed people.

-A lot of people I know carry around their toothbrush with them. This culture is obsessed with toothbrushing! I like it!

-and this is the greatest challenge for me right now: the view of the cross and the Gospel is different. I'm used to the focus being on the cross and it being the symbol of Jesus defeating sin and death. I think it's safe to say that regardless of denomination most churches in the States have a cross in some rather obvious place. Here, most evangelical churches do NOT have crosses in them. The cross is seen as a very Roman Catholic thing. And from what I can tell, most protestant/evangelical Christians here don't really want anything to do with Catholics. Sadly many of the ex-Catholics I have met are fervent anti-Catholics. I personally have great respect for Catholics and believe that many many Catholics have a relationship with Christ. I don't believe everything Catholics do -if I did I'd be one. But anti-Catholicism is not my thing. And now I'm kind of going “oops!” because when people ask me about being Anglican, I usually start off by telling them it is really similar to Catholicism. Maybe that isn't the best idea. Anyway, here, the emphasis of salvation is not on the cross. I head a Gospel presentation where the cross wasn't even mentioned! People realize their need for God, they repent of their sins and they accept the gift of eternal life God has given them. Jesus is the answer and there is no need to dwell on His suffering. I'm still learning about this though. Right now this is what I understand from multiple conversations with people and some web-surfing. But, I'm not closing the survey just yet. I think that having a good grasp on this is vital to my role here in church. I can't be forcing people my way against the culture.

I think this is an excellent place to bring in CivArts once more. In the beginning of the semester Dr. Munson showed up 2 different paintings of the cross. This one, by Matthias Grünewald is very horizontal and dark, the lines are blurred, and Jesus' body is beat up and nasty looking. The other example, by Rafael, shows a totally different perspective. The sky is bright and clear, there are cute, pink angels, the painting is vertically oriented and Jesus just has a little squirt of blood coming out of his side as if here were a garden fountain. I feel like the perspective I have of the cross is more like Rafael's and that of people here is more like Grünewald's. And that's ok. What happened on the cross was horrific. It was the most embarrassing, painful way to die and Jesus Christ, God Incarnate was crucified. But, the death of Jesus, the perfect sacrifice led to victory over sin and the grave because Jesus was resurrected! He took the punishment for our sins and then rose from the dead that we might have eternal life in Him! The cross is the symbol of that victory that we have. It is a beautiful thing! But, I can see how people maintain the Grünewald look on things. It's different. But different doesn't make it wrong. I just need to learn how to adjust to this way of understanding things. May God grant me wisdom!