Having just arrived a few short months ago, Anna’s main priority is “enculturation”. This process of adapting to her new surroundings includes learning language, social values & behaviors, establishing relationships, and other day-to-day necessities. Join us in prayer for Anna as she continues to adapt and prepare for work here in Germany, and enjoy her most recent update: I just finished the third week of […]
I came to class late today. I did not have a good reason; I was just running a bit late. I was also thinking of reasons why I might need to leave early… (I know, I shouldn’t be thinking of excuses to skip class!) The class went on as usual, except that today I sat next to one of the newer students, Hassan*. I know […]
Reverse Culture Shock (RCS) is often experienced by people who spend large amounts of time outside of their home culture (the culture of their passport country) but now find themselves back in their home culture. RCS is an experience that calls into question values, attitudes or actions held firmly in the home culture, but contrary to values, attitudes or actions held in the host culture (the […]
The mission field is full of experiences — new sights, sounds, tastes and stories. But as anyone in ministry knows, it’s not all mountain top experiences. There is excitement, nervousness, disappointment, and every feeling in-between. So how do you prepare for this? How do you prepare to serve Jesus in a culture you know so little about? Here are some practical tips to ready yourself for […]
I have 7 days, or 28 hours, of language school left. But who’s counting? I’m even tempted to make a paper chain. I’m really glad I’ve pressed through and completed all six months. I’m also glad… Ich kann jetzt ein bisschen Deutsch sprechen. (Translation: Now I can speak a little German.) In fact, I was able speak enough German to teach someone a board game […]
We recently experienced two cultural incidents with our children that reminded us of the unique issues faced by third-culture kids. The Wikipedia definition of TCK is: “Third culture kid (TCK) is a term used to refer to children who were raised in a culture outside of their parents’ culture for a significant part of their development years.” Here are some examples of how TCKs experience […]