Like a fish out of water, serving in a foreign culture can leave you vulnerable and exposed. There are words or phrases that I don't understand and pop culture references that I can't follow. Sometimes there are nonverbal cues that confuse me or customs that catch me off guard. For example, the nonverbal cue in Peru to tell someone to "come here" looks very similar to how I've been raised to tell someone to "go away". You can imagine the confusion that has drifted across my face more than once when someone is verbally telling me to come, but with their actions seem to be telling me to go....the response usually ends up being no movement at all besides my eyelids blinking over my blank stare.
Then there's the days that your friend asks you to go across the street to get some parsley and you come back with a hot pepper. That's not exactly going to taste the same in a salad.
And the dreaded words..."Let's let the foreigner go first!" I realize that even in Peru it's polite to allow someone to be the first to do something, but I honestly don't know if the dressing is supposed to go on the meat, the potato, or the vegetables...or all three? Oh, it's for the soup. Thanks for the tip.
Sometimes it is easier to laugh at myself than others and overall I understand that without these sometimes embarrassing experiences, I will never learn, I will never improve, and these customs and cues would continue to remain foreign to me. It's humbling some days while exciting and enjoyable other days, but regardless it's a necessary process when working cross-culturally. May God continue to bless this process and teach me more and more about his people here.
