That's Different! - Observations from a Rookie Missionary

After five weeks of living in another culture, one begins to mentally list the things that are...well...different than his or her own culture. While the honeymoon stage is probably still ongoing for our family, we have been observing, contrasting, and comparing the two cultures.

This post lists several of the recent things that I have found "different" about living in Chile (both positive and negative).

- Speed bumps are everywhere

-It's hard to find an obese Chilean

-People water their sidewalks every morning to keep the dust at bay.

-If you love bread, you'd love Chile

-Sleeping through barking dogs is pretty much a nightly occurrence

-At church, you greet everybody...I mean everybody. No one is missed.

-In the States, Orange Juice rules and other flavored juices taste terrible. Here in Chile, Orange juice tastes terrible and any other flavor of fruit juice actually tastes like fruit.

-Chileans have an innumerable amount of slang words and sayings (modismos). Textbook Spanish from language school is one thing...real day to day Chilean Spanish is another.

-Summers are hot but without humidity (and mosquitoes)

-If your vehicle is bigger...you win!

-It's impossible for our family to go anywhere without people staring, touching our kids hair, or saying "Hey look at those kids! How beautiful!"

-You pay to use public restrooms

-Soccer rules! Period!

-Food is bought daily in small amounts and not in bulk

-People mow their lawns (if they have one) with weed wackers or electric mowers. I mowed our backyard patch of grass the other day with an electric mower. It just didn't seem right (or manly).

-More fruits and veggies...less fast food.

-Church services go over two hours on average.

-It's hard to find a good napkin at restaurants. They typically have something like tracing paper or something like what you would find inside a wedding announcement. Try cleaning off your hand with that after eating greasy chicken and french fries.

-Lock your doors! Twice.

-Everything is later here. Lunch is at 2 pm. Suppers are at 8 pm. If we get our kids in bed before 10 pm, it's a miracle.

I am sure that over time many of these things will become second nature, but in the meantime, we are adjusting to living in a new country and culture.

Please continue to pray for our family as adjust in order to more effectively communicate the Gospel and Biblical truth to the Chilean people.