Tico Tuesday, October 11

This Thursday is my one year anniversary of service with Roblealto! This is a picture of my microwave mug cake I made to celebrate. As I was chatting about the occasion with Pam (my supervisor) today, I began to reflect a bit (as I'm wont to do. I'm such a verbal processor!) So much has happened in the past year. God has done such phenomenal things in my life. I'm definitely not who I was a year ago! It's a relief to know the dark difficult time I passed through was now a year ago too. The past year has definitely not been easy. It has brought a lot of unique challenges I've never had to face before. But I must also say it has been one of the best year's of my life. I have learned so much and gotten to experience so many things. I LOVE LOVE LOVE serving in Roblealto! I don't think there are words to express what an honor and privilege it is to be a part of this ministry. Being a part of God's work, being His instrument in the transformation of one life after another after another after another after another.... there is truly nothing better. I'm convinced this is what I was made for. And this is only after one year! I'm excited for what God has in store for me in the future!

May God bring each of us to a place of joy and contentment!

Enjoy the rest of the week!

Carrie

PS Head to the blog for more thoughts and pictures of my cake rising in the microwave!

Jajaja, I knew picture of cake in the microwave would bring you here... ;-) It's just so cool to watch the cake rise and not spill over the sides like I would naturally assume it to.

Hmm, well I said I would share more thoughts. I suppose those could relate to Roblealto, but I could also tell you about the "fluff novels" (as my parents call them) that a friend gave me, enjoying the Sing Off a capella competition, the current total lack of sunshine in this country for the last couple days, me laughing at a woman giving birth on a TV show (she was yelling "get it out of me!" I laughed, and then stopped, because I'm pretty sure I'll also be that crazy lady who shouts crazy things while I'm giving birth too), or... I know. I'll write more about culture shock.

I'd say I'm pretty used to life here in Costa Rica. This is my life right now. This is where I live. I feel quite comfortable here and am very content, as you read above. :-) I remember going to MAC (Ministering Across Cultures), and IV cross-cultural training event. It was very well-planned and put together. At the time I didn't feel like I was learning much and wasn't sure if it was really worth it, but with time I'm realizing just how much I actually learned and what valuable knowledge it is!

We talked a lot about red-lining vs green-lining - what kind of posture/attitude we were assuming about the host culture. When you're redlining, you don't have a very good attitude. You think things should be the way you've always known them to be and do your best to maintain things the way you want them to and think they should be. You're not very open to accept new/different things. When you're greenlining, you have a much more open mind, heart and attitude. You assume the posture of a learner, understand that you'll make mistakes, but want to learn from them and be able to fit into the culture.

I heard someone say recently that here in Costa Rica the whole "it's not wrong, it's just different" thing doesn't apply so much and it's more like "it's not wrong, it's just stupid." I would tend to consider that redlining, though I will confess I would agree with the statement in a few settings.

In the 2.5 years I've been living here, I have learned a lot. Especially over the past year I've been able to pick up on a lot more subtle cultural things. I felt kind of silly for not catching on sooner, but 1) I think some of these things really take time 2) I can be really dense. I'd like to be more observant and sensitive to things.

So, in some ways, I really feel like I have a ways to go. But in other ways, I feel like I fit in pretty well here. People started calling me the most latina white girl they knew for a reason! I know I'll always be a gringa and can't deny my history, cultural background or upbringing. But especially as I've met other gringos in Costa Rica, I tend to identify myself a lot more with ticos (Costa Ricans) than gringos. I remember talking with a group of gringos about Costa Rica and talking about Costa Rica in the first person "We here in Costa Rica... In Costa Rica we have...." They picked up on it and I thought it was pretty neat...

Like I go to the airport and immediately enter culture shock. Everyone assumes I'm a gringa adn speaks to me in English. I am a gringa and English is my first language (though I can't get my prepositions right any more), but I'm so used to speaking Spanish (and much prefer speaking it if I know my Spanish is better than the other person's English) it is really weird to have people assume I don't speak it at all (or would rather speak English).

Another example, this Sunday I went to the International Baptist Church. I'd heard it was really good and was looking forward to it. I hadn't communally worshiped in English since May, so I felt like it was about time. I walked in and suddenly had the urge to walk back out. What was I doing there? I felt so out of place. It was like going to a church in Anywhere, USA, but in the FREAKING MIDDLE OF COSTA RICA!!!! It was really, really bizarre and I kind of had a hard time getting past that. I enjoy worshiping in Spanish and greeting everyone with a kiss on the cheek and struggle with that every time I go back to the States.

So, living in another culture requires a regular heart and attitude check and a lot of humility and openness. I know I still have a lot to learn, but it's been great so far!