Culture Shock- what is it and do I have it??

I am not a Dr. or expert on this subject but this is the 4th country that I have lived in and am seeing a pattern. Every culture is different. Some places are very similar to America and some are very different. When I first arrived here I absolutely loved the big city. (In case you don't know this I have never lived in a big city like this ever in my life)!! There are so many things to see, places to go, and people to meet. I love to do all of those things so it is a perfect fit! The people are so kind, the food is great and cheap, and I feel that God has sent me here to serve Him by sharing about His love with the people here.

I couldn't possibly experience culture shock--right? I did some research on-line and below is a list of 4 phases of culture shock. I am not sure that I can define myself to be specifically in one of these phases but one thing that i do know is that I am often exhausted here! It is very difficult to listen to people around you speak a language that you don't understand but are trying desperately to learn. I feel like my language study is coming along quite well but after 1 1/2 hours with my tutor I am physically and mentally drained!

Let me give you an example: Today my tutor did a dicatation activity with me. He gave me a sentence with 4 or 5 words in it to write. Now remember i am listening for sounds to write it phonetically and then I also have to listen for tones. I am doing good just to get all of the words written correctly and then I remember oops--I need to have a sign to put above each word so I will need my tutor to say it all again so I can try to figure out the tone. He gave me 5 sentences. I got most of the words correct but did not do as well on the tones. It is really hard for me to hear the difference. He also brought in a Thai lady for me to practice asking questions to her and then answering questions that she would ask me. She does not know English and my tutor would not let me use my notebook. It all had to come from memory and he would help me when needed. It was a great activity and I learned a lot. My tutor is really great at making my learning experiences real. However, after my time is finished I want to take a nap! I remember being tired and needing a lot of sleep when I lived in Slovakia--I think I might be on to something. I cut and pasted the information from the internet below because I thought some of you might be interested in what culture shock really is and the experiences that many of us go through that live in a foreign country. This is one of the reasons why we need lots of prayer!! Enjoy reading!

1. Honeymoon Phase - During this period the differences between the old and new culture are seen in a romantic light, wonderful and new. For example, in moving to a new country, an individual might love the new foods, the pace of the life, the people's habits, the buildings and so on.

2. Negotiation Phase - After some time (usually weeks), differences between the old and new culture become apparent and may create anxiety. One may long for food the way it is prepared in one's native country, may find the pace of life too fast or slow, may find the people's habits annoying, disgusting, and irritating etc. This phase is often marked by mood swings caused by minor issues or without apparent reason. Depression is not uncommon.

3. Adjustment Phase - Again, after some time (usually 6 - 12 months), one grows accustomed to the new culture and develops routines. One knows what to expect in most situations and the host country no longer feels all that new. One becomes concerned with basic living again, and things become more "normal".

4. Reverse Culture Shock (a.k.a. Re-entry Shock) - Returning to one's home culture after growing accustomed to a new one can produce the same effects as described above, which an affected person often finds more surprising and difficult to deal with as the original culture shock.

Pro's and Con's to living here!

We will start with the positive first:)

*There are so many fun things to do!
*There are so many great things and places to see!
*There are tons of great restaurants!
*Most of the food is cheap!!
*I love the sky train (subway is good too)!
*Almost every day is sunny (at least for right now)
*There are tons of great parks here!
*You get lots of exercise just walking everywhere (some people would not like that but I love exercise)!
*I live right in the heart of the city!
*The people are very kind!
*Many people speak English!
*You can get almost anything that you can buy in America.
*There are many people that need to be reached with the Gospel!

There are always a few things that aren't the same as "home"
*It is quite hot here and getting hotter!!
*There is a ton of traffic (although I don't drive so it doesn't really bother me)
*You can't find Dr. Pepper anywhere here--i do miss it a little:)
*American products are very very expensive here! Example-box of cereal $7.00. I don't buy cereal.
*Some of the food is too spicy and too "unique" for me. "unique" refers to jellyfish, squid, bugs, etc.
* I can only buy a few things at a time from the grocery store because I have to carry them to walk home.

I really do love it here and every day is a new adventure! I continue to meet more people and have many Thai friends. It is hard to believe that I have now been here only 3 weeks. It has been a busy 3 weeks. I've made many new Thai and American friends. I have learned several phrases in Thai without looking at my book for help. I have been to many different parts of the city. I feel very blessed and remind myself daily to keep my eyes focused on the Lord because He has great plans for me.

Fun day on the river and in Chinatown

Today I went on my first journey down the river. They call them "water taxi's". It is an experience. You cram as many people as possible on one of them and hang on for your life if you are one of the last people on the boat. It was my first time going somewhere in the city that the sky train or subway doesn't take you. You can only ride the sky train to the river and then you must take a water taxi up to some of the major sights of the city. We started out at N1 and rode it until we got to N8. N8 takes you to Wat Po. We toured around to see the many statues of Buddha. There are many other things to see but we wanted to see Chinatown so we went there next. The Chinese New Year begins on Monday. I am trying to ask around to find a place to go and see the fireworks. We walked around for several hours and then finally ate some dinner. I will have to take many more trips up the river to explore!! There is so much to see and do here. I don't know if 2 years will be long enough!

Have you ever wished you could have a fresh start?

That was the question asked tonight at "Friday Night Life" to the students who have come to learn English. He talked about how in America we make resolutions for the upcoming year. The speaker tonight was a retired principal from America. He talked about how students would be kicked out of a school and would then be sent to his school for a fresh start but would end up finding the wrong friends and get in trouble again. He explained how the only way to get a fresh start is for us to become a new person---we have to change! He used the Scriputure found in Romans 1:20. After his "message" we discussed in small groups a goal that they would have for 2009 and how they can accomplish the goal and who will hold them accountable. I had a group of about 9 in my circle and they all answered in English (I had a hard time understanding a few of them). Almost all of the people who come on Friday nights are not believers. They all range in age from elementary age students to grandparents. I am beginning to build relationships with several of the students (many of them University students). I look forward each Friday night to being a part of this ministry.

I also realized that I didn't write anything yesterday so I will give a quick update. I went out to Sripatum Univ. for a few hours and we had a small Bible study with 4 students who are believers. All of it was done in Thai so I didn't understand a thing but I enjoy hearing people pray in a different language. After leaving the University I joined one of the cell groups (Bible study groups) from my church. One of the guys translated for me. I hope to be able to be a part of this cell group on a regular basis on Thursday evenings.

I feel so blessed! I am beginning to make many wonderful Thai friends. I am feeling more at home and am learning something new in Thai every day!

I hope many of you at home will set some goals for 2009 and will ask yourself how can I accomplish these and who will hold me accountable??

phuut iik thii si kha (Say it again please)

My title for the day is in Thai:) Since I don't have the computer set for Thai language I can't put the signs above the letters for the tones but trust me when I say there is a sign above every word to tell me what tone to use. These 5 words only use 3 different tones--what a relief--ha ha!!

My tutor taught me how to use a phrase in Thai to ask what something is so he puts a bunch of things on the desk (pen, pencil, eraser, phone, etc.) and I have to point to the object and say in Thai (nii riak waa aray kha--what is this called). Then in sentence form in Thai he tells me what the object is and every time I use the phrase (phuut iik thii si kha (say it again please) probably like 5 or more times. I have a really hard time hearing the word and the tone and being able to repeat the word just from hearing it. If he writes it down on paper I can say it but not so much from just hearing it. I am so thankful to have a tutor that is patient, encouraging, and laughs a lot.

The good news from today is that I did my first dictation exercise. He said a simple (one syllable) word and I had to write what I heard. I had to use the correct letters and tone signs. I got 4 out of 5 correct. I felt pretty good about it!

This evening I went to dinner with 2 Thai ladies who work at an office near my apartment. The one lady attends church with me and the other lady I just met tonight. They both speak some English ( a lot more than I speak Thai) so we talked mainly in English. I am thankful for the people that the Lord continues to put in my path here. I will be going out to Sripatum Univ. again tomorrow so pray for a fruitful day!

Feeling Spoiled and here comes the "hot season"

I have been feeling a little bit spoiled and guilty at the same time if that makes sense. I have a wonderful Thai lady who comes to my apartment on Monday, Wed., and Thurs. to clean my apartment and do my laundry. It is the deal that came along with my apartment here for 3 months. There is actually a washer and a dryer on this compound so it is all done within a few hours. Just so you know--very few Thai's have a dryer. Most people have washing machines and then hang their clothes out to dry. It feels a little strange to me that someone does these things for me. I am very thankful and will enjoy it while I live here for 3 months because once I move into my other apartment I will be doing it myself:)

When I arrived 2 weeks ago the weather was quite nice. It was in the 80's or so during the day with a nice breeze and I just used my overhead fans at night. It is starting to warm up! I have been turning my air on for a little bit each day. It isn't too bad yet but it is coming and I am trying to prepare for it! Once it gets here there are many months of it. I believe that April is the hottest-- so if it is just going to be Feb. and it is pretty warm -- I can only imagine what the future holds!! I will let you know!

Lots of Celebrations

The decorations are going up for the Chinese New Year-January 26th. I taught 2nd grade in Virginia for several years and one thing that I taught about was China and the Chinese New Year. Although I am not in China it looks like they are going to go all out on the decorations. I will get more pictures throughout the week as they continue to decorate. There are a lot of Chinese people living in Thailand so I am sure the celebration will be big.

Today I started my 2nd week of language. I continue to learn phrases and am getting a little more confident at using some of them:) The tone thing is really hard. I know all 5 of them but trying to remember when to use them and listening for which one people are saying is a different story. I'm going to need a lot of prayer!!

Home Sweet Home

It is hard to believe that I have only been here 12 days and I already feel at home. I don't have a strict schedule yet but I am adding things to my schedule weekly. language is the priority and I have that Mon.-Fri. for 1 1/2 hours for the rest of january. In Feb. I will begin official language school and will be in class from 8-12 Mon-Fri.

I will also be part of a Bible study on Tuesday nights that is in English. It will be my time to study God's Word with other women who speak English!! I will also be going out to Sripatum Univ. every Thursday afternoon for several hours to get to know the students. It will be very informal and just allow my face to become familiar so that when I will be there full time they will already know me. My Friday nights have filled up with helping out with Friday Night Life. It is a program designed to allow people to practice their English while also learning some life lessons from God's Word. I went this past Friday night and we played games, talked to students, and discussed a lesson about How to Face the Future.

I feel very blessed and know that the Lord has great plans for me here! I am excited to see what doors He will open in the future!!

Day at the market and park

I always love Saturdays! I don't have language class so I have the whole day to do whatever I want. I still got up around 8:30 and got ready for the day and took some other American friends to the Week-end market--also known as JJ park---with the correct name Chatuchak park. Last Saturday I went there with some other friends so this Saturday I got to be the tour guide:) I love showing other people some of the fun places that I have been in the city. I have written about the market in a previous entry. If you can't find it there it doesn't exsist:) This time I actually bought something! I spent around $8.00 today:) I tried my first coconut juice and it wasn't so good. It is interesting and fun but not really that tasty. We walked around for many hours looking at the different things and ate lunch there.

I ran into a Thai friend (from my church) at the market and she took us to a park across the street. It was a beautiful park. It had so many beautiful flowers, shrubs, bridges, and walkways. I will post a few pictures from the park and the market experience. It is starting to feel like home here. I was out at the market and ran into someone I knew---how is that for a city of only 12 million people:)

I am also going to post a picture of a bowl of noodles and shrimp that I ate last night for dinner while out with some people. It was the first time i tried something with noodles/soup here. The picture is funny because you will see chopsticks, a Chinese soup spoon, a regular spoon, and a fork in the bowl. I couldn't figure out how to eat it! Thai's eat noodles with chopsticks but I tried and failed miserably. I would have starved if I tried to eat like that. I finally wrapped the noodles around the fork like spaghetti and just ate it. I used the spoon for the broth. It tasted good and we all laughed a lot.

Electricity~~~~

I am thankful to be in a pretty modern city where air conditioning is all around:) I haven't had any problems with my electricity either. You can't plug too many things in at one time but overall it seems to work pretty well. What amazes me about the electricity is the power lines. I will post a few pictures of them. There are so many lines all twisted together and wrapped around one another that I don't even understand how it works. I also would never want to be the one fixing the problem. I don't know how you would get to 1 line to fix it without having to deal with the 50 others around it. It seems to work here but it is a mystery to me!!

I visited Sripatum University yesterday and it was a great experience. It took me over an hour to get there though although it probably isn't that far away. I had to ride the sky train to the end of the line and then get on the bus---my first bus experience. Thankfully I was with a Thai lady who helped me through it all. It is a chaotic situation. All of these buses come so quickly and stop long enough for you to step on and off it goes--what an experience! The traffic is heavy at that time (around 3) so it took almost 45 minutes or more on the bus to get to the Univ. I practiced my Thai on the campus with a few students and got a tour of the facility. I plan to go once a week to visit with the students in a informal environment. I won't do any teaching or anything like that until I am finished with language school.

Water and Food

I decided to write about 2 different topics today that are unique to the culture here. There are many more but I will start with 2 for today.

First topic is water. The sinks in the kitchen and the bathroom have only cold water. If I want to wash my dishes with warm or hot water I must boil some water on the stove. There is "hot" water in the showers but the water is never hot. I turn on only the hot water in my shower every morning and I am doing good if it is luke warm. I guess it is a good way to save on water. You take a really quick shower. Since it is the "cool" season it is a little cooler in the morning so I take really fast showers. Side note--there are also no heaters here. If it is unusually cool some days you just layer your clothes because your place isn't going to get any warmer.

Food is the second topic. Today I went to the end of my street to the Ploenchit Center for lunch. It is a great shopping center with Starbucks, Mc'Donald's, a Lebanese restaurant and many other nice restaurants on the ground and 1st floor. These restaurants are very nice but expensive for here. An example would be that a meal would be around 200 baht or more. The exchange rate is about 34 baht to the dollar. So it is about $6-$8 to eat at those places. The real "Thai" experience is to eat either from street vendors or in the "Thai" food courts. I just found out yesterday that the shopping center has a food court on the 6th floor (great find!). I went today and had chicken & rice and a glass of Pepsi for 55 baht. That is less than $2 and it is a ton of food. I can never eat the whole plate of food. Then I went out on the street and got a bag of cut up fresh pineapple for 10 baht. The pineapple and mango is amazing here!!! So basically I had lunch and some fruit for 65 baht which is not quite $2. By the way--almost all street vendors have tables and chairs and you eat with real plates and silverware sitting on the sidewalks or parts of the street. I have eaten from several street vendors and the food is great & cheap!

Tomorrow I will tell you about the electricity here!

What did you say??

This is the question that I must ask my tutor at least 100 times during the 1 1/2 hour session each day. So far I have learned 20 consonant sounds. The good news is that 14 of those sounds are very similar to sounds in English. The other 6 not so much. Just when I think I might have a sound down my tutor puts it in a word and I just have no idea how to put those sounds together. I feel like a kindergartner learning my sounds for the first time and trying to figure out how to blend them together.

I have also learned 12 vowel sounds. I am really struggling with one of them but the others are not too bad. They of course do not match English at all but they remind me of something that my mouth is familiar with doing. (Just so you know there are 24 vowel sounds so I have only learned half of them)!

I have also learned about 4 of the 5 tones. There is the mid-tone, rising tone, falling tone, and low tone. My tutor actually read 10 words today using different tones and I had to identify which tone he was using. I actually got 7 out of 10 right! Of course that is 70%, which is a barely passing grade in America, but for only 3 days of language I can live with it.

I have learned a few short phrases and questions like: What is your name? My name is ____.
Pleased to meet you. How are you doing? I am doing fine. Thank you and you are welcome. I don't say them all correctly but am working on it. It is hard to remember the sounds and tones in each word. I am thankful that I have a very patient tutor.

Tomorrow I get to go to one of the Univ. campuses!! I am so excited! I can't wait to see what they are like and to meet some students. I guess I could attempt to practice my Thai with them--yikes!! I will try to take some pictures if it fits the situation.

sawat dii kha---"good-bye"

Things you just learn!

When you enter a new culture there are things you just learn on your own--no one has to tell you--you figure it out yourself!

One of those things is when you walk on the sidewalks or streets you must look down and ahead. You may think it is a religious thing. No-not at all. You look down and ahead while you walk because dogs and cats roam the streets and go to the bathroom everywhere. If you don't look you will step in it! Luckily I learned quickly and didn't have to learn from experience.

Another thing is that the Thai anthem is played at 8 a.m. and 6 p.m. every day and when it comes on you must stand in place. Monday morning I was in the park running with my ipod on and lots of people exercising all around me. Suddenly I realized that everyone froze so I took my ipod out of my ears and realized the anthem was playing and stood still until it finished. I think I was a few seconds late on stopping but will do better next time.

Those are the first 2 things that I have learned on my own. I have learned lots of other things too but won't write about all of them.

Today was my 2nd day of language. I feel a bit overwhelmed but it will all fall into place. There are several sounds that I just can't seem to make my mouth say or when I do say it I wonder if it really is a sound. I am thankful for those basic letter sounds like m, n, s, etc.. that just make the same old sound they make in English--. I am always thankful when a few of those letter sounds are included in the lesson so I won't get everything wrong.

As of 11 p.m. tonight (in 6 hours) I will have been here exactly 1 week. It feels much longer to me. I feel pretty comfortable with getting around and have established somewhat of a routine. 1 week down and many, many, many more to go:)

Morning exercise in Lumphini Park

I have almost been here a week and I now have somewhat of a schedule!! I got up around 7 a.m. this morning and went to Lumphini Park to exercise. I have to walk about 12 min. on this above ground walk way to get there. I will post a few pictures on here but have a whole album on facebook. This park is huge. lots of people go there to exercise or just relax. You can follow a road path around the park in a complete circle which is approx. 1.6 miles. The park is right in the city yet it is quiet and seems separate from the city although you can see the tall skyscrapers all around as you exercise. I love going there to exercise and hope to go there many times just to relax. This is the perfect time of the year to go there because it isn't "hot" yet.

Today I also had my first Thai lesson with my tutor. It was good. I am not sure that I am a very fast learner but I'm trying. I learned 9 vowel sounds today (there are 24) and I learned 7 consonant sounds (there are 44). Some of the sounds I learned today don't exsist in the English language so I am trying to make my tongue move but it doesn't want to do it. I am writing a few things on line and then I will study. I am really excited about learning Thai!

Worship in another language

This morning I got ready for church and then walked to the sky train. On my way to the sky train I listened to praise and worship music on my ipod. I wasn't sure what the service would be like but I wanted to prepare my heart for worship and music always helps.

It took me about 25-30 minutes to get from my apartment to the Thai church that I will be attending. I ride the sky train for quite a while and then walk many blocks to get there. It is a small church called (Canaan Baptist Church) located on a side street that looks more like an alley. The church is made up of mainly young people.

The morning service which starts at 10:45 is mainly made up of young people who recently graduated from college and are working now. Most of them came to know the Lord through a university ministry and now they are rising up in leadership to lead the music and other activities. After the service we all ate lunch. It is very typical here to eat every Sunday after church at the church.

I stayed at the church until the service at 3:45 started. The service at this time has students who are currently university students. This is a younger crowd so there music is different than the earlier service.

Both services were done all in Thai. I didn't understand a thing:) I did know almost all of the music because it is a praise and worship song that we would sing here but they just sang it in Thai. I also had a person that would tell me what Scripture we were reading from the Bible so I could look it up and read it. I didn't understand the messages at all but it was good to see these young people have a passion for the Word of God. It makes me really excited about the work that the Lord sent me here to do!

language study begins tomorrow and that will be my focus for the next 3 months. You can pray for me lots because I am going to need it! This language is hard! You can also begin to pray for great relationships to develop with students that I met today at church. This is the church that I will be attending for my 2 years here in hopes also of growing and planting many more!

Week-end Market--if you can't find it there it doesn't exsist!

Today I journeyed to a different part of the city. I actually met up with an old friend of mine that I went to elementary school with in Michigan. She and her husband have lived here for a little over a year. She works for a big company that makes hard drives. It is amazing that someone who I went to elem school with in a small town in Michigan lives off of the same road in Bangkok, Thailand!

We met up for lunch today and then they took me to the week-end market. I went on my first subway ride and now have a map so I can figure that system out. Now I can check off 2 transporation systems that I feel comfortable riding---I haven't attempted the bus system yet--yikes!!

How can I describe the week-end market--it is a bunch of outisde stands and then a bunch of stands that is covered with a tent like covering. You go all around and can find just about anything. You can bargain for any of it. They sell flowers, books, music, clothes, pottery, furniture, the list goes on and on---they even sell animals! you can buy fish, birds, snakes, turtles, rabbits, mice, dogs, cats, and these little things that look like baby squirrels. some of the puppies are so cute but don't worry I left the market buying nothing! I really went for the experience. I didn't need anything right now.

I also got to see another great park. I have been to 2 amazing parks so far and there are so many more. The park I went to yesterday is perfect for exercising. It is pretty large and I can run around the full circle and it is 1.6 miles. The atmosphere is so calming also. I will try to get some pictures on here at a later time for you to see. The park that I went to tonight was much smaller but so neat. They all have beautiful fountains.

I will continue to post some pictures on my blog but it is very time consuming to load them on here so if you want to see a lot of pictures of Thailand you need to go on my facebook page. I have a whole album on there. Sorry for those of you who don't have facebook but it takes too much time to load pictures on here.

I guess that is all for now. There are so many fun places to tell about and you will just have to use your imaginations to think about what they would look like because it is so hard to describe.

What do you think of when you hear winter or "cool season"??

Did you answer the question of the day ??? Well in Bangkok right now it is considered their winter or "cool season" and I would say today it was around 90 :) It's all in perspective. I guess there are a few weeks where the weather is only in the 70's or 80's but it has been in the high 80's or 90's every day since I arrived. There is a nice breeze at times though and everything has air conditioning.

Today I went on a journey on the sky train again. I love getting around that way. It is so much fun and I haven't gotten lost yet!!!! I have to walk about 1/2 mile or so to get to the sky train and the weather right now is perfect for that. It might not be so easy to walk that far when the "hot season" arrives:)

I took some more pictures while I was out and about today and will post more of them later.

Pictures of my apartment and street!

This big building is at the end of my street. It has a Starbuck's, McDonald's and many other restaurants and stores in it. In the basement is a grocery store.

















This picture is the view once I exit my apartment looking down the street. There are several hotels, apartment buildings, and houses along my street.

My cute little kitchen that I haven't cooked in yet--I have to figure out how to work the stove:)

My cute sheets and blanket are courtesy of my parents. They make my bedroom look so cute.

My living room. Simple but cute:)

The apartment came furnished with furniture and decorations. Since I will only live here for the first 3 months I won't really make too many changes.

I arrived!!

I arrived last night (Tuesday) around 10 p.m. After 28 hours of travelling and very little sleep I got to my apartment around 11 or later and couldn't sleep so I unpacked my things and took a shower and went to bed around 2 a.m. I guess my body is still on US time because at 7 a.m. I awoke and was ready to go! I will post some pictures tomorrow of what my temporary apartment looks like. It is where I will be living for the first 3 months while I am in language school.

Today was my first day to explore and it was lots of fun. I got a cell phone, hair dryer, and curling iron. I learned how to ride the sky train and even took 1 trip by myself and walked back to my apartment without getting lost:)

The city is huge! I have never seen so many buildings! There are some great shopping malls here (if you like to shop come and visit). The malls are many floors and are amazing. I am sure I only saw a small part of the city today and most of the time I had no idea where I was or how to get to another place. I am sure I will get it with time.

Stay tuned for pictures tomorrow!

Leaving on a Jet Plane

I received my VISA today:)!! I will be leaving Monday morning for Thailand and am sooooo excited!!

I must admit that I have been pretty spoiled while spending time with family during the holidays. I have eaten almost any/every kind of food that you could eat in the U.S. just in case I can't get it in Thailand. Tonight I had a fabulous filet mignon. I am not counting on eating too many of those for the next 2 years.

Many more posts to come from Thailand so keep reading:)