Culture Shock...

I have never understood culture shock.

Culture Shock- noun

the feeling of disorientation experienced by someone who is suddenly subjected to an unfamiliar culture, way of life, or set of attitudes.

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   One site stated that the most common problems include: information overload, language barrier, generation gap, technology gap, and homesickness to name a few.

   
   

   When I mention that culture shock is an issue with returning to the US, most people look at me quite strange. I am here to tell you, it is real. I have lived out of the country for all but one of the last nine years. I have trained my brain to say things and do things and be a certain way in situations for a long time now. I know I learned it the "American way" for many years before, but I can't unlearn the last 8 years of my life. It is strange, I know. 

   
   I think maybe you need to see what I am dealing with. 

   
   

   
   

   Grocery shopping in Mexico is not that hard. There are about 2-3 choices for most things. Unless it is salsa, tuna, or yogurt.  So you go, you get what you need and come home. Either they have it, or they don't. If Wal-mart doesn't have it, usually no one else will either. So here, I have to think about a million different things. 

   
   

   First: I have been thinking in pesos forever. So I have to think, is this a good price, or not? I don't know what is a good price and what is a rip off. There are grocery stores, Wal-marts, Super Target, Aldi, I mean, how does anyone decide where to buy your food.  Then you have to throw in coupons and double coupons and by that time, my nerves are so overloaded I would probably spend double for everything just to leave the store. 

   
   

   
   

   
   

   
   

   
   

We love Pop-tarts... but I have never seen so many flavors in all my life! 

The candy choices are crazy! I mean...you think about it and they have made it. 

When I shopped for my last hair dryer there were 2 to choose from, really expensive and not as expensive. 

I think they have every flavor of cereal possible. 

I have never seen one of these sold before... 

Annie was amazed. 

This little thing has made me look like an idiot way too many times. I have a card that some machines require you to push it in the end part and read it that way. See where the little arrows are pointing on the bottom of the machine? However, not all machines. some I still swipe it and go, others, not so fast. However, in Mexico I never used any machine. I would hand it to the person and they did it for me. ;o)

This may be the hardest thing for me to accept. I don't understand it. If you wonder 

why families are falling apart... ummm... look around you at restaurants. People aren't talking to 

each other, they are on their phones, or surfing Facebook or both. 

I have walked around campus, you know at a seminary and I can't find anyone who will look up from their phones to say, "Hello." I am not used to people being so into their phone world that they don't notice they one going on around them. 

 I truly struggle with this. I thought it was only celebrities that had their phones

 always in their hands. I am so out of it. 

Now this is a culture shock we can all get used to! The prices at the Sam's cafe are incredible! The price for the hot dog combo or pizza combo  are both cheaper than just a drink in Mexico. The Sam's in Mexico charges $2 for a drink.... AND.... I paid it, every week! 

I have never seen so many drink choices in all my life. How do you know what to drink? I am enjoying this  part of the culture shock.

We went to a sports store and Annie loved playing putt-putt while her brother's shopped. 

This machine has had me looking like an alien in more ways than one. I have looked around trying to make sure no one is watching me many times. I am sure every camera zooms in on me thinking I am going to leave without paying b/c I look super suspicious.  I cannot figure them out without reading every instruction first. The first few times I did it, I did it all wrong and about left without gas. (cuz I wasn't going to look like a fool!) 

So, my favorite new place to shop is Aldi. I have only gotten one product that got a thumbs down from the family and that was their yogurt. So... thanks to my mother-in-law and sister-in-law I didn't look like a fool when I went there. This little dohicky is way cool, but so out of my cultural thinking. Love it! Annie loves to find stray buggies and earn a quarter! 

So most have posted their first day of school pics. I didn't do that this year. I  was doing good to have a first day. But.. here is my first born on his first day of work. He has made us so proud getting up sooo early and going to work almost full time. 

On his way to success!!

This may seem strange to most of you, but plush, green grass is new to us. This is not 

something that grows where we have lived. To walk barefoot in grass is something I do not take for granted. It is awesome and we love it! 

Since being here, Annie has started learning new ways to decode words with this sweet lady.

Enough of culture shock, here is what we have been doing. 

We have gotten to have sweet visits with family.

Jerod got his first car and his permit. 

Went to Indiana and got to visit with more family. 

Greg with his dad step brother Darin. 

Annie had a blast with her cousins, Caroline and Emily. 

Jerod, Alex and Clay always have a great time when they are together!

Even though I miss Max terribly, I had fun cuddling with Snape! 

On our way back from Indiana, 

we drove through Jerod and Alex's birthplace and ate at Bob Evan's farms. 

They LOVE Bob Evans!

We have gotten to squeeze in a tiny bit of time with our 

'M' family, the Conners. They are as close to us as our biological family as anyone I know. 

Annie, Micah and Gigante.

Alex has LOVED football! This was a kind of combine training day. 

My boy looks so big. 

Alex was number 61 in this game. 

This is my favorite part of the game. 

At the end they all gathered together and prayed. 

So although we are experiencing some culture shock, we are enjoying our time 

watching Alex play football,  seeing Annie enjoy...everything, 

and watching Jerod learn to drive and thrive at Chick-fil-a. 

So, as of now, life is treating us pretty well. 

Please keep us in your prayers as we continue our transition.

Blessings to you all! 

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I Hate Titles!

Okay, So my title my have gotten your attention... it is because when I start to write on here, I never know what to put as a title. I mean, what do you title a post that always tells what's happening in your life? To me, it's just everyday life. To you, it may be cool, exciting, fun... and it can be, and many days, MOST days it is fun. But... it is just our life.  I mean, I could actually write you about every day and it would probably be moving in some way to someone. However, I can't go through life taking pictures of EVERY moment. Although, I do take a TON of photos. ;o) So, for that reason I haven't been very good at blogging. I guess I got a little overwhelmed with it and really I never have time. However, school is out and I couldn't be happier! I have a little more time so I thought I would try and blog again. Here goes....

We have been doing a kid's night once a month at 

one of our church groups and they love it. There weren't many

kids here this night due to rain, but the ones who were there were

 having fun.

Jerod, Alex, and Annie like to lead the worship songs with the kids. 

Greg told the story of the golden calf from Exodus 32. This is always an 

interesting story for them to hear because they can relate the 

golden calf to the virgin Mary that many of them see in their homes. 

Here is an example of the many "golden calves" they may see around here. 

We had a competition to see who could build the best golden calf out of 

play-doh.

They all worked really hard. 

He was so proud of his!

Then at the end, we all smashed our precious calves. They liked that part. 

Annie has learned that being an MK comes with it's share of struggles. 

She doesn't have many friends here and so she has found a way to play with 

her best friend even though they live 4 hours apart. Her best friend's name is Lois, she is an Mk as well and she and Lois Skype just about every day. They play together in their rooms, they play with their dolls, or play computer games together or dress up, or whatever. They have learned how to make a long distance friendship work. It has been awesome! 

Annie and Lois

Last weekend Annie was invited to spend 3 nights and 4 days at Lois'

house for her birthday. Lois' parents drove her half-way and we drove the other 

half and they got to spend a great weekend together. It was in Annie's eyes, the very

best weekend EVAH! 

This is one of the churches we attend sometimes. We made salvation 

bracelets with them and they learned how to share it with their family members. 

He was excited to show us his bracelet!

This is Jerod graduating from preschool....

And.. this is Jerod graduating from high school. It is amazing how fast time flies. 

I love this boy! He will always be my little boy. 

We are all happy that school is out and summer is here, but sad because that

means our time with Max is nearing the end. We love our dog so much!

He truly is man's or rather woman's best friend and we have to take him to his new home (for a year) in just 2 weeks. Please pray for us as we say good-bye. Pray for Jerod 

as he says good-bye to him for more than just a year. 

He is the voice of Max, he talks for him all the time. ;o) This is when we say that 

we truly are suffering for Jesus. 

As you can see J was very happy to be done with Chemistry!

Greg has done a few baby dedications this month. This was one

of them. It has been neat to see how some of the church families are growing in their faith. 

But it has also been neat to see that the family unit is becoming something 

that families are beginning to work harder at keeping. 

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Alex is so good with kids. He was playing a trick on these kids. He told 

them he could read their minds. He would pick two things like red or blue and tell them 

to choose one. Then he would just pick one and almost always he picked the one they were thinking. They just thought it was A. M. A. Z.I.N.G! ;o) It is always fun to see my kids interact 

with village kids. 

I recently read an article about why a mom limits technology with her kids.

 I started to feel a little sick as I read it. It seemed that as I read it, her article was something really

strange or foreign to people. Like people really don't talk to their kids anymore. They don't sit down at the table and have dinner without electronics. I can't imagine that not being normal. We do that everyday. We love "tabling." That is what Greg calls it. He stole the term from someone else. But... our kids like it too. They love board games with the family, talking one on one about what they should do in the future or how they can go about getting jobs. My prayer for our

family is that we never forget how to live simply like our people. That we never stop communicating at our dinner table. That we never forget how to make people laugh and smile and have fun, by doing simple things like pretending to read people's minds. My prayer for you is that you can find your way back to the simple life as well if your aren't already there.  It isn't a problem for our family now, but.. when we return to the US, we will definitely have a No electronics/phone policy at the table. Blessings from our family! Missy