Culture shock - A moment of frustration!

Before you read this post I just want to say that I still love Ecuador and I love being here! I would not change it for anything and if you are considering going you should definitely do it! Just look on the rest of my awesome experiences down here. I just want to explain one of the bad moments of being in Ecuador and volunteering in a foreign country. But please do not let that keep you from doing anything similar! Because this only describes 30 minutes of more than 2 months of awesome experiences.

I want to talk a bit about culture shock. To be honest I have not given much thought about "Culture Shock" until Monday this week.

What happened is that the bus did not stop at my bus stop in the morning when I had to go to work, and it made me so frustrated that it made me say the words "I hate Ecuador, I want to go home to Denmark". (To be fair, the hate part had already disappeared after having the first child through therapy in the morning),

Why it made me so frustrated might need a bit more explanation about culture shock and the bus system in Ecuador.

Normally your culture shock starts out in the "Honeymoon Phase" where you find everything interesting and fascinating.

The next stage is where you find everything frustrating and I think in the start I pretty much skipped this part because I have had a good preparation talking about culture shock in both Denmark and Ecuador. And VASE explained us everything during our orientation camp - including how to take the bus.

The third stage is where you start to adapt to the new culture and get more used to everything. And I think I have been in this stage most of the time and not noticed the small annoyances. But Monday I was definitely thrown straight back into stage 2!

The bus I take in the morning is usually so full that not one more person could fit in and you have to keep near the doors, if you want to be sure to make it out the bus at your stop. In the buses are 2 or 3 stop buttons in total - And they don't always work. And if they do not work, you have to yell "¡Gracias!" and they will let you out of the bus. In the bus you have the driver and a person who you have to pay, when you exit the bus. I have to pay 25 cents to take the bus to work.

When we reached my stop, where the bus usually always stops, I realized it was not starting to pull over (even though the button was actually working!), and therefore I started yelling "¡Gracias!", but nothing happened. And people in the front of the bus even started yelling it too. Then the bus stopped for a red light, and I asked them to open the doors, but once more, nothing happened. One person made me more frustrated by saying that it was not a stop, because the bus did not stop at my stop! At the next stop an annoyed bus driver finally let me out of the bus. And then I had to walk all the way back to my stop before walking the 25 minutes from there to my project.
Normally this experience would only have made me a slight bit annoyed, but because I have not thought about the difference in culture, it hit me hard. Because it was not only the thing about the bus that bothered me. It was all of Ecuador and it systems. And for a good half hour I hated all of Ecuador.

I hated the bus system.
I hated that I do not understand the language.
I hated that there are so many Germans down here and that they always speak German to each other, when we are here to learn Spanish!
I hated how they always use coriander in all of their food.
I hated the Ecuadorian way of never giving a straight answer.
I hated how you always have to watch your stuff closely if you do not want to be robbed.
And I could easily add to the list!

Even when I had my bag sliced open, I could think "Okay, it is my own fault for not watching mystuff closely enough and it is what could be expected". I was only slightly annoyed when that happened.

But it just took me the walk to the project and having the first child through therapy before I was alright again. And I know that I am here to make a difference. I am here to experience these cultural differences, both the good and the bad. I am here to gain a bigger understanding of the world. I am here for the good and the bad moments. I am here to learn. I am here to observe. I am here for so many reasons.
And I love Ecuador. I love my project. And I love being here! I have already almost forgotten this experience and everything is great again.

Ama La Vida! All you need is Ecuador!

Picture Credit:
http://cdn1.theodysseyonline.com/files/2015/08/23/635758951256652806-343703604_178956871-e1424039522241.imgopt1000x70.jpg

Før du læser dette indlæg vil jeg gerne pointere, at jeg stadigvæk elsker Ecuador og jeg elsker at være her. Jeg ville ikke bytte mine oplevelser her for noget som helst og hvis du overvejer at tage afsted synes jeg bare at du skal gøre det. Bare overvej hvor mange andre fantastiske oplevelser jeg har haft hernede. Jeg vil bare gerne forklare en af de lidt dårligere ting ved at være volontør i et fremmed land, men lad ikke dette stoppe dig! For det er stadigvæk en fantastisk oplevelse at være hernede og jeg ville ikke bytte det for noget.

Det jeg gerne vil snakke om er begrebet "kulturchok". Noget jeg ikke havde tænkt specielt meget på indtil i mandags.
Det der skete var, at min bus ikke stoppede ved mit busstoppested på vej til mit projekt i mandags. Og jeg blev så frustreret at jeg faktisk sagde "Jeg hader Ecuador, og jeg vil hjem til Danmark". (Denne følelse var dog forsvundet allerede efter vi havde haft det første barn igennem terapi).

Men hvorfor jeg blev så frustreret kræver måske at jeg forklarer lidt mere om kulturchok og bussystemet i Ecuador.

Kulturchok starter normalt med at du befinder dig i "eventyrfasen" hvor du finder alt fascinerende og interessant.

I den næste del begynder alt at blive frustrerende og for mit vedkommende har jeg indtil nu ikke rigtig befundet mig i denne fase, fordi jeg fra ICYEs og VASEs side har fået god forberedelse på hvordan livet er i Ecuador.

Det tredje stadie er der hvor du vænner dig til kulturen og alting virker mere "normalt". Og for mit vedkommende har jeg, formentligt grundet den grundige forberedelse, for det meste befundet mig i dette stadie, men mandag røg jeg i hvert fald for et kort øjeblik ud af dette stadie og fandt ALT ved Ecuador frustrerende.

Den bus jeg tager om morgenen er normalt proppet med mennesker, og du skal holde dig i nærheden af udgangen, hvis du gerne vil kunne komme ud ved dit stop. Busserne har stopknapper - men som regel kun 2 eller 3 i alt. Og det er ikke altid at de virker!
Hvis de ikke virker skal du råbe "¡Gracias!" for at få bussen til at stoppe. Personalet i en bus består af en. der tager imod penge, når du går ud af bussen og chaufføren. Jeg skal betale 25 cent for at komme fra min værtsfamilie til stoppestedet nærmest mit projekt.
Da vi nåede mit busstoppested, hvor bussen normalt altid stopper, lagde jeg mærke til at bussen ikke begyndte at trække ind for at stoppe (også selvom stopknappen rent faktisk virkede i denne bus", så derfor begyndte jeg at råbe "¡Gracias!", men intet skete. Folk foran i bussen begyndte også at sige det, men det havde ingen effekt.
Lidt senere stoppede bussen for et rødt lys, hvorefter jeg bad dem om at åbne dørene, så jeg kunne komme ud, men igen skete der intet og jeg blev endnu mere frustreret da en ecuadorianer fortalte mig "at dette jo ikke er et stop" - men bussen stoppede ikke ved mit stoppested. Og ved det næste stoppested blev jeg endelig lukket ud af bussen af en lettere irriteret buschauffør. Så jeg blev nødt til at gå hele vejen tilbage til mit busstoppested, før jeg kunne begynde den 25 minutter lange gåtur til mit projekt.
Og normalt ville sådan en simpel episode ikke have gjort mig specielt frustreret og jeg ville have kunnet lade det passere. Men fordi jeg ikke har tænkt specielt meget over det gik alt ved Ecuador mig pludselig på. Og i en god halv time hadede jeg Ecuador.

Jeg hadede bussystemet.
Jeg hadede at jeg ikke forstår sproget.
Jeg hadede hvor mange tyskere der er her, og at mine største sprogudfordringer er med folk der snakker tysk, og ikke spansk! I et spansktalende land.
Jeg hadede hvordan de altid bruger koriander i maden.
Jeg hadede hvordan man aldrig kan få et direkte svar af ecuadorianere.
Jeg hadede hvordan man virkelig skal passe på ens ting, hvis man ikke vil bestjæles.
Og jeg kan nemt føje flere ting til listen.

Jeg var mindre frustreret, da jeg fik skåret en taske op og stjålet penge, end jeg var over ikke at være blevet lukket ud af bussen.

Men efter at have gået turen til mit projekt og haft det første barn igennem terapi havde jeg det okay igen og den store frustration jeg oplevede har bare været som følge af en ophobning af irritationer. Men jeg ved at jeg er her for at gøre en forskel. Jeg er her for at opleve disse kulturelle forskelle, både de gode og de dårlige. Jeg er her for at få en større verdensforståelse. Jeg er her for de gode og de dårlige oplevelser. Jeg er her for at lære. Jeg er her for at observere. Der er så mange grunde til at jeg er her.
Og jeg elsker Ecuador. Jeg elsker mit projekt. Og jeg elsker at være her. Jeg har næsten allerede glemt oplevelsen og alt er godt igen.

Ama La Vida! All you need is Ecuador!