Wow. It’s so hard to believe it has been a full month and a half since I arrived. In some respects, the time has gone by so fast, and other days, it seems to drag. I guess that’s what it means to be adjusting to a new place! I feel like this month has been full of a pretty even mix of successes and challenges. I am learning a lot! For example, I can now go to the market and fully understand what people are trying to say to me and now I can buy the correct amount of food I always left with too much before)! I had my first entirely Arabic phone call with my landlord the other day and I bought new drapes from someone who only speaks arabic (this was the hardest and was only successful thanks to a sweet woman named Grace who explained in English they wanted me to wait 5 minutes and they would finish them for me). I also went to a wedding with the other interns and we were fully received and welcomed into the crowd. Culturally, we figured out what to do, and everyone was excited to try to talk to us.
In light of all my language and culture “success” and learning, I have also been struggling through who I am and how God is refining me in this place. I am so used to staying busy- almost too busy to think. I also really enjoy setting tangible goals and crossing things off of my list everyday. I have found it very hard for me to view reaching out to people as my “work” here and studying language and praying is important, but I just feel like I need to be doing more. I know the “right answers” in my struggles with this, but I have been working towards a heart change on being content with being in the presence of God and being where He wants me. I know in a lot of ways, this means I need to abandon the pride I have in how productive I am and work to ground my identity on an even deeper level in being a daughter of the Creator.
This month my adjusting has been an adventure, full of silly moments, some of them are listed below!
*Because there are no cross walks, you just kinda have to J-walk at the correct times here. That is how we found ourselves running across a freeway the other day (sorry mom). It’s honestly line playing frogger…. ahhhh. nostalgia!
*A little girl was really trying to communicate with us the other day when we were at a wedding. She came over and was speaking very firmly to us and we had no clue what she was saying. She didn't understand that we didn't understand her either so she got very frustrated. Finally, someone pulled her aside and told her we didn't understand. She just looked at us, laughed and walked away. It was very funny.
*There are two girls (probably 12-14) that I talk to every day. I pass by their mother’s shop and we stop and try to communicate with each other. They are the sweetest. Yesterday, they asked me what color my hair was. I said yellow and their eyes got very wide. One girl said she wanted to see my hair, the other girl hit her, because it could be viewed as almost offensive to ask a woman to take off her scarf. But, I of course wasn't offended. So we walked to the back of their little shop and I took off my scarf- in their culture an act of trust. It was so fun. They were amazed my hair was blonde and I took it out of its pony tail and they just had a ton of fun playing with it and touching it. It was very cute and fun!