Bridging Cultures

I am currently sitting in a Pittsburgh Hilton Hotel room on the 19th floor looking out onto the river and the city covered in close to 20 inches of snow. Does it get much prettier than this?? Thanks to the snow we are staying another night in the hotel. We're here for the Mennonite Educators Conference; 6 students and 4 faculty plus a lot of Mennonite Educators. I love networking and meeting Mennonites, and singing with Mennonites. Our theme was from Matthew, the story of Peter walking on water. Stepping out of the boat was both a risk and a testimony to Peter's faith. Luke Hartman, now an assistant principal at Skyline Middle School in Harrisonburg, VA, spoke twice. I knew him first shortly after I had moved from Ontario and he worked at EMU with my mom. He still remembers me, is great with names and faces, and I truly enjoyed catching up with him again this weekend.

Luke's first session was entitled Bridging Cultures. He talked about collectivism and individualism and how this difference between cultures is often played out in classrooms. Collectivist cultures account for about 70% of the cultures around the world, yet Americans are rooted firmly in individualism. Collectivist cultures believe in "we", a collective identity, group solidarity, sharing, and particularism whereas individualistic cultures believe in "I", autonomy, emotional independence, individual initiative, right to privacy, financial security and universalism. These stark contrasts between cultures can leave students in classrooms both uncomfortable and unsure of how to behave. Without an understanding of culture, teachers are likely to misunderstand and misinterpret student's behaviors. We tend to only see the concrete levels of culture that include clothing, music, games and food but these are only surface level dimensions, the visible and tangible. If we get to know students on a little bit of a deeper level we might see their behavioral culture such as values of family, politics and gender roles, or how they approach non-verbal communication. This is how a culture defines social roles and includes the languages spoken. And then on the deepest level, the symbolic level, we have the values and beliefs of a culture, the key to how individuals define themselves. Their value systems, customs, spirituality, religion, worldview, beliefs and mores. In a classroom it's important to start to search for and pursue this symbolic level but it can be hard to reach at times.

Luke's full-group session was entitled "Seeing Christ in the Other". He talked about different ways that Skyline is using this coded philosophy to dictate how students are treated. He told the story of a woman in his church who said accepting diversity should not be like work, but should be natural so much so that she "didn't see color anymore". Luke challenged us to reject this notion and instead of dismissing color, celebrate color and diversity. There is so much beauty in that color and it shouldn't be dismissed. We need to have scales fall from our eyes so we can begin to look at others with different eyes, with a different lens. The model for this that Skyline uses is based on research that the affective domain opens the cognitive domain. Teachers take notice of each one of their students... and care. That's what it comes back to. Caring, loving, respecting, and celebrating together diversity. Our world would be so beautiful if everyone would take this approach to other cultures. We need to celebrate diversity, not ignore it!

"Guys, we're so blessed!"

I find it hard to believe that January has already passed and February has begun. The months seem to pass so quickly, and while I'm looking forward to the end of this semester already I also don't want time to pass so quickly! I sent an email to my host dad on Friday asking if they had found a house yet or if he thought they'd have a house by the time I arrive in March. Tickets are staying at the same price right now, but I don't want to wait to buy my ticket for too long in case the prices go up. My host dad responded saying they hope to have a house by March, and that they'd host me no matter what. This makes me a little nervous as they've been house searching for a while now, with no apparent luck. He also said he'd asked my host sisters' school if I could teach. I guess they said they'd be glad to have me, but I'd like to be in touch with them myself instead of just having Jose play middle man.

This afternoon as I was leaving the campus center I ran into Deanna. She is leading another group on cross-cultural next Spring and I enjoyed chatting with her for a bit. She talked about a school really close to CASAS where her kids studied for a while and she thought they might be willing to let me volunteer in an English classroom there. I'll pursue this as an option and hopefully something will work out soon so that I am more certain when I book my ticket!

I've been reading my journal from my time in Guatemala over the last month. Reading my thoughts and entries from my time there on a daily basis makes me homesick for Guatemala, but also reminds me how blessed I've been because of my trip there. When I think about all the opportunities I've had because of my experiences in Guatemala I can't help but see God's work in my life. I've been so blessed. I've connected with so many people and doors continue to open for me. My endorsement in ESL, which I added this fall, has sparked my passion and interest as I love to work with kids and also am interested in working with the many different cultures that are represented in the Rockingham County/Harrisonburg Public school system. As Becca used to say in Honduras and Nicaragua when we were on free travel, "Guys, we're so blessed!"

Tomorrow is Henry's birthday. He was my host cousin in Guatemala and lived with my family as he is studying to be a doctor. I've kept up with him since I've been back in the states, and enjoy talking with him on Messenger and Skype when we can. He will be traveling back to his home town of Coban in two days to spend the next 6 months in a rural clinic working and living at home. He's really excited to be going home to live with his family again, but it will be weird to go live with my family if he's not there. Hopefully I'll have the opportunity to visit him in Coban while I'm there, and maybe he'll get to come back to the city for a weekend as well. It's fun to start planning ideas :)