Random thoughts on culture shock and differences in Uganda and the US….

 So, I happen to hear things going around town that you would NEVER hear in Uganda.  An incomplete and short list…

-No, honey, I am sure we have two at home. Don’t buy that, it’s ok.

-You guys have had too much, no more, kids..

-2 older men at the gym track...“Well, Stan, this is my last lap. I have to go”  “Don’t leave me, I have more to say and you are such a good listener!” (In Uganda and really, Africa, your time is not your own and you would give your time to the person in need or who you are talking to)

-(read in a magazine article) "my hobby is keeping up with the latest trends in home decor.  I LOVE seeing what is new and up and coming"

-a grandpa to his kids at Office Depot.."ok, you can choose candy here OR we can go get a donut across the street.  you guys have been good"

A conversation I had with the ER billing--$524 for 20 minutes!!!!  So, I called and said, while I am grateful for the wonderful care, that was a lot of money!!!  I just got back from Uganda and we are not used to paying that much.

Person on the phone-- “Oh, I know, every other country has free health care but the US. “

Me—“oh, no, we just didn’t have an ER, so there was nothing to pay because we didn’t have the service”

Person on the phone—“What do you mean?”

Exacatly.

A thought I had as I did laundry…

Grass fell out of my basket and was all over the clothes—oh, wow, grass on laundry in the US is from a new woven basket, but in Uganda it was from the grass on the ground where people who can’t afford a hanging line put their laundry…

It actually made me happy.

Finally, culture shock is for real.

We were in Old Navy buying some clothes for the kids—I was so excited that there were $8 jeans…I had to leave, so Aaron was going to pay the bill and we would meet back later (yes, the glorious multi tasking—I had to get groceries and yes, it was on a SUNDAY!!!)

That night I saw the price—it was full price.  I was like no way.  So, I took the receipt in the next day, a little hassled b/c why didn’t it just ring up?  To my surprise, there were soccer moms working the morning shift… it’s usually young, care free workers.  Well, they took that receipt over and showed me how the DARK jeans were $8, but right next to them were the ones I got which were not on sale.  With a tight mouth, I said, “that’s pretty nuanced, the jeans were all dark, can’t you just give it to me?”  Fake smiling soccer moms did not give me an inch, but self righteously told me to get the jeans and they could exchange them—had they been worn?,--No, they haven’t.  So, discouraged at the big time waste over a pair of jeans, I became determined to get those $8 jeans and then I was so mad thinking about how hard working Ugandan moms are and they are not doing such silly things…  Well, 20 minutes later, I took the jeans back  and calmly apologized that I didn’t realize the difference of dark and darker jeans… Soccer mom worker asks me if they have been washed (of course they have, I am an efficient processor of goods now!!!)  She humbly said, awww, we can’t take back washed items!!!  Even she felt sorry for me and gave me $5 come back card as I walked out defeated…Well, then as I walked out, there was a young and very thin sick man being assisted from the pharmacy next door.  His car was California license plates and I just lost it, imagining what his story could be and sat in that parking lot and cried and cried for him, for me, for Ugandan moms and soccer moms working at Old Navy and the absurdity of it all.  Can you say culture shock—circuits overloaded with weariness plus a cultural nuance and ignorance and a trigger of a sad situation—all at once.  And people wonder WHY I will not be volunteering for things this year—no way, do you want THAT on your volunteer line?????

Another time we have been shocked was on Micah’s birthday at Celebration Station—we were go-carting  with a predominantly African American group of people—coming from a black culture, it was mild culture shock. It did not compute--black Americans do not act the same as black Africans. That and the busy place of arcades and overpriced putt, putt…whew!

And so it comes and goes when you least expect it—something will just trigger or flashback or not compute.

Funny.

2 more stories on processing—helpful thoughts and hearts have come in strange packages…

Curt, the furniture salesman…

“oh, wow, you just moved back from Uganda?  How long were you there? “

3 years.

“Girl, that’s like dog years, that is amazing.”

I LOVE Curt the furniture salesman.

Maria, the dental hygenist…

“what was the thing you missed most in Uganda?" And then a total stranger listened and laughed with me for a few minutes.  I LOVE Maria, too.

We have found a surprising connection to Uganda in Greensboro.  Micah’s school has several families who have adopted Ugandan children and a principal who lived there for two years.  They even have exchange students from Uganda!  At the girls school, we met a girl at open house who is reading a book about a woman in Uganda. She was in Emma Shae’s class and so excited that Emma Shae lived in Uganda.  In Mallory’s class, she has an African American teacher who is interested in Uganda and several of her friends brag to other people about Mallory being from Uganda. 

We have been so humbled by God’s provision and leading in this time.  We are entering a time of waiting in regards to any future plans on going back overseas, but we have learned to wait with our running shoes on!

Finally, I sign off with a funny quote I read this summer and made a connection coming from a very agricultural society to a modern one...

This is from How the Scots Invented the Modern World by Arthur Herman

quoting Andrew Fletcher in 1703 speaking against Scotland uniting with England

"For what end did God create such vast tracts of land, capable of producing so great a variety and abundance?  Can there be a greater disorder in human affairs, than having human beings jammed together in cities, earning their living by 'the exercise of a sedentary and unmanly trade to foment the luxury of a few?'"