Time is NOT always money

You know the psychological concept of "schemas?" It's the idea that your brain tries to incorporate new information into existing groups of information. For example, a toddler may see a cow and state, "dog" because it has 4 legs and a tail.

Well, one of the reasons culture shock is so difficult to work with is because there is no schema to incorporate this new information into. The peace corps gives us a book on being a volunteer and I have begun to re-read it at the suggestion of a fellow volunteer. It is hard to have everything you do in a day be totally different; I even use the bathroom in a new way! Not only am I learning a new language, I'm relearning how to do everything I ever knew.

It is hard as an educated citizen from the US to come to another country in more way than one. The second you step off that plane you are, for all intents and purposes, both deaf and mute in this new culture. Nobody cares that you have a masters degree when you can't even ask for the bathroom properly, and nor do they understand it. The added difficulty for me, is that they don't have any concept of music therapy. When I try to explain what I did in the states, people don't even know about the closest allied health discipline to relate it to in their head.

Why am I saying this? Because training is hard? No, it's because I keep telling myself that there is a light at the end of the tunnel and just because that is the way we do it in America, doesn't make it right. The village life of Fiji has so much to offer American citizens. I've been eating meals with my host family, basking in the simplicity of life, playing with my host brothers and sisters and having my life views challenged on a daily basis. The odd part is that the developing nation of  Fiji, isn't that much different than America. It's all a matter of perspective.

The Cultural Iceberg used in our trainings (OH-I-SEE.com)

One of the most frustrating things for me, is the lack of consistent technology. It doesn't just make me mad when my cell service cuts out in the middle of a conversation back home; it is absolutely infuriating. We have been taught that time is money and if it's broke, just get a new one from when we were toddlers; is that the fault of being in a third world country or my own faulty perspective? If you choose to ever study abroad or join the Peace Corps, expect to have your perceptions and personal philosophies challenged on a daily basis. I can choose to be infuriated, or I can choose to have patience, delayed gratifications and value the fact that my technology works at all over here.

I don't have the option to just fix it and move on. I have to be willing to sit and analyze my own thoughts and actions for fault. I am not right just because I believe to be so; in fact, that doesn't make anything right or wrong at all. I could choose to be negative and hole up in my room, but I choose personal challenge. Maybe time is NOT money after all? How can you challenge your own perceptions abroad or at home? Leave a comment below!

(Forgive the errors, typing on my phone again)

I used the book "A Few Minor Adjustments" by the Peace Corps as a resource for this post.