Culture Shock

So, I've obviously heard about culture shock and experienced it briefly while I was in Florence.  I specifically remember a trip to the grocery store just outside of the city and wanting to buy sugar...but I didn't know the word for sugar and couldn't find anyone in the store who spoke English.  After about 30 minutes of scouring the aisles, I found the sugar in the beverage aisle next to the bottled water.  I mean, what?!?!?

I've been in Colombia about 6 months now, so I figure I'm out of the culture shock zone, right? Wrong.  About two weeks ago I started finding myself feeling frustrated with everything.  My bus is late every day, the Internet isn't dependable, I don't have a bathtub, I just want a gosh darn salad, the traffic is horrendous, teachers spend more time talking than working, my God the RAIN!!!!, my salary is too low, I miss my car, why is the health care system so freaking confusing and why do I have to travel a total of 2+ hours to see a dentist for 10 minutes!?, where are all the brilliant English-speakers who enjoy sitting around and talking about education, love, life, etc., and why is there not a single cutesy coffee shop in this city for me to do my work!?!?!  (Note:  Logically I am aware that some/ the majority of these comments are greatly exaggerated, somewhat insulting, and sound as if I believe Colombia and the U.S. are one and the same....emotionally, none of that matters)

At first I chalked it up to PMS...but PMS doesn't last two weeks...three weeks...  I'm also suuuuupppper tired all the time.  I have a list of things that I want to do - places to visit, things to try, books to read, Spanish to study, friends to write to - but I found myself spending more and more time watching episodes of all my favorite American television programs on Cuevana.tv (and some of my not-so-favorite shows... I mean do I really need to watch Gossip Girl and Pretty Little Liars?  I'm pretty sure the answer is no).  I can also sleep for 14 hours straight when given the chance.  That is also not normal for me.  Some folks told me before I left that because I'd be spending so much time translating in my head to communicate in Spanish, that I would be very tired, but after six months?  I wasn't so sure.

Last night I began to do some research and I've self-diagnosed myself with culture shock.  Turns out culture shock has several stages.  The first is the honeymoon stage.  This I think is what we all usually experience when we travel - we are excited and in awe of our new environment.  We love learning and trying out a new language, the new scenery is gorgeous, and the food is just so good!  We meet new people and soak up all the glorious novelty of it all...and then come the second stage: negotiation.

According to Wikipedia says (yes, I know, not acceptable for graduate research papers...or any research papers for that matter...but for this situation, it serves my purpose and describes to a tee):

Negotiation phase

After some time (usually around three months, depending on the individual), differences between the old and new culture become apparent and may create anxiety. Excitement may eventually give way to unpleasant feelings of frustration and anger as one continues to experience unfavorable events that may be perceived as strange and offensive to one's cultural attitude. Language barriers, stark differences in public hygiene, traffic safety, food accessibility and quality may heighten the sense of disconnection from the surroundings.^[4]
While being transferred into a different environment puts special pressure on communication skills, there are practical difficulties to overcome, such as circadian rhythm disruption that often leads to insomnia and daylight drowsiness; adaptation of gut flora to different bacteria levels and concentrations in food and water; difficulty in seeking treatment for illness, as medicines may have different names from the native country's and the same active ingredients might be hard to recognize.
Still, the most important change in the period is communication: People adjusting to a new culture often feel lonely and homesick because they are not yet used to the new environment and meet people with whom they are not familiar every day. The language barrier may become a major obstacle in creating new relationships: special attention must be paid to one's and others' culture-specific body language signs, linguistic faux pas, conversation tone, linguistic nuances and customs, and false friends.

The red, bold, italic, and underlined phrases are those that I can especially relate to.

Now this post is not meant to be a depressing one.  In fact, it is a relief!  I'm not losing my mind and I'm not clinically depressed.  This is normal and according to Wikipedia (and other sources - don't worry) by the time I've reached a year I should feel more like myself and be able to navigate my new country with ease and a sense of normalcy.  I'm also hoping that if anyone out there is every feeling this way when they travel - they will have read this if they are a close friend or it will miraculously appear in Google to help a fellow traveler out.

Until I reach 12 months, I'm trying to stay fully aware of my feelings and why I'm feeling/acting the way that I am.  I'm exercising and eating well.  I'm studying/practicing Spanish to try and overcome some of the more frustrating communication barriers.  I'm setting up Skype dates with friends and family (let me know if you're interested!).  And I'm letting people know what I'm going through so that the friends that I do have here don't abandon me and so I can talk through it and laugh about it, until it disappears.  Still, that doesn't mean I wasn't slightly (okay extremely) perturbed today when I went to school early to play basketball with the girls team only to find after practice (when I begin my weekly pray for hot water) that there was no water...none.  Which meant I didn't get to shower.  It also meant the availability of coffee was limited (you do NOT want to be around me before I've been caffeinated).  Throughout the day the school also lost electricity, followed by Internet...oof. 

Still, a wonderful friend from who lives in Houston, Texas but is from Colombia offered these wise words to help me along:

Do not worry, everyone of us who happens to live in a foreign country has to face the same feelings and cultural shock. You'll survive and the experience will be really wonderful for your life...it also means that you're out of the box. A difficult situation for a little while with the best results for your life. When you are in a foreign country your cultural awareness and background get stronger, and the best of all, you'll begin to see the world in its real dimension. The best for you.

Thanks Stella. :)  I hope to see you soon in Bogotá!

A day at the Polo Club

Yes, that's right.  My friends who think I'm uppity (I'm not), will love this.  Juan Carlos and his friends love playing polo.  Juan Carlos has took a bit of a break from playing, but we decided to go with a friend to watch (I had never seen a polo match) and to get out of the city.  It was a beautiful day and I've been feeling antsy lately.  Here are some of the photos from our excursion:

The view from the dirt road that led to the club.

It really exists!

Sitting in the car, watching the game, soaking up the sun - lovely!

 

I got to do a little riding as well - although I'm totally clueless and can never imagine trying to hit a ball with a stick running at full speed on one of these things!

My second lesson driving stick-shift - in this beast of an SUV!  So fun!

Comite Curiculó

So some of you may know that in addition to teaching I am a part of the curriculum committee at my school.  This opportunity was one of the reasons I chose the job over others when looking to move to Bogotá.  The committee is made up of only 5 people:  the director of the school, the director of academics, the director of bilingual education, and the director of technology.  How I ended up on this committee among all the head honchos of the school, I'm not sure but it is the most interesting part of my week.

The committee was advertised to me as a committee working on reforming the school's curricula to include 21st century skills.   I love discussing curricula, developing curricula, modifying curricula, etc. and have yet to see a school that is doing an excellent job of teaching 21st century skills in a systematic way that ensures students are really learning.  So this seemed like a challenge that I would enjoy taking on.

As I said, it really is the most interesting part of my week.  It makes my brain hurt - which I like - but it can also be frustrating.  The meetings are completely in Spanish - except when we're reading texts that are in English.  Also, we don't have agendas or take minutes, so sometimes it is unclear what we are trying to accomplish.  In addition to this curriculum reform, we also plan Rondas or observational rounds in which the committee, along with all the heads of departments, spend a morning observing classrooms in 15-minutes bouts and the afternoon discussing trends that we are noticing.  So sometimes in these weekly meetings we are discussing curriculum and other times we are discussing pedagogy.   I realize these things go hand-in-hand but I still find myself lost at times.

Despite this though we have really interesting conversations about what countries are having success with their students, what measures of success are important, how to we get teacher buy-in if we want to effect change, and what does it look like to incorporate 21st century skills into a curriculum.  We read articles and books and research standards from a variety of locations, 21st century skills, and various assessments including PISA and Colombia's SABER, developed by ICFES.  This weekend I am reading the PISA standards for each grade level and the book Who's Teaching Your Children? by Katherine Boles (a Harvard professor) and Vivian Troen.  So fun.  I bust my butt all week at school with the goal of not having to do planning work over the weekend so I can enjoy this research.

The only frustration is that I am about action.  I am ready to plan, create, do...but we are still discussing.  I want to develop teacher support programs and a teacher career track.  I want to get others involved.  I want to transform my curriculum in order to better incorporate 21st century skills.  Baby steps though.  First?  I should probably keeping working on my Spanish so I can be more vocal in these meetings.  Oof.   :)
 

Valentine's Day in Colombia

 

What a lovely surprise!