Saint Martin, we missed Hurricane Matthew. We were lucky. Haiti was not. As part of the Caribbean community, it is not only our obligation but also our privilege to join as an island and help our Hatian brothers and sisters in their time of need.
You can help! The Hatian Foundation on Saint Martin is organizing a drive to collect food and clothing to help victims of Hurricane Matthew. The collection is daily at the Marcus Building on Pondfill Road.
We do not all have a lot to give, but remember how Jesus honored the widow who gave a mere two pennies to the needy. Out of her poverty, Jesus taught, she was willing to give to those less fortunate. We can give too, no matter how little we have to spare. Imagine if every person on Saint Martin gave one can. What an impact that would make!
Today, I delivered a few boxes of clothing to the drive. The boxes were a collection that was given by the Spouses Organization at American University of the Caribbean. It was quick and informal. I posted on our group page that I was willing to drive donations to Philipsburg, and the next day several people dropped off bags of clothing. Perhaps you can do an informal collection at your church, school, or work!
I drove up to the Marcus Building, where I found a mountain of donations and team of volunteers, including the president of the Haitian Organization. Saint Martin, you have already been so generous! The team told me that they are waiting on a container so they can ship the goods to Haiti.
They also asked that I request for you, my readers, to bring more food. They have a lot of clothing, but are in need of cans and other nonperishables.
As I walked out of the donation center, the beautiful, friendly culture of Saint Marin enveloped me in an island-wide smile. I’m now sitting at Carl and Sons, among friendly faces, listening to the sound of a live steel drum band play cheerful Caribbean tunes. Thid island is a wonderful place. Here, there is hope and joy. Let’s send a little of that to Haiti.
Locks are cool! Our little league team has spent a good amount of time discussing canal locks during homework time over the past few months. So we were pretty excited to see a real one in action. During our team trip to Ontario, we stopped by the St. Catherine’s Museum and Welland Canal Center. Here’s a quick account from Lewis, a teen on our team.
We went to the Welland Canal.
“We saw the locks in action.” -Theo, 14
We went to the museum.
“I saw some of the classic weapons of World War I.” -Adonis, 12
There was so much to see and do at the museum, including St. Catherines’ history and the Harriet Tubman story. Of course, the most interesting display for the kids was a lacrosse game.
Then we saw a boat and the water drained.
“It takes 45 minutes to move up and down and its really amazing to see it up close.” -Tre, 14
We watched as the lock slowly drained. The crew carefully steered the ship as she sank lower and lower into the narrow canal. Finally, the doors of the lock opened and the boat floated out into the next level of the canal.
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Who can describe the utter majesty of Niagara Falls? Even the rows of noisy tourist shops can’t take away from nature’s beauty. Above the sounds of traffic and humanity’s masses, one can hear the thundering of the falls before they catch a first glimpse. When the Player Development team from Sint Maarten visited Niagara Falls, 14-year-old Big King was very impressed.
I woke up at 6 am. I was so excited to go to Niagara Falls.
We waited to get on the boat for hours.
“I get close. It was beautiful.” -Puppy, age 6
We went under the fall!
“We went close to the falls.” -Little King, age 11
We all loved it and got wet a lot.
When I take off my coat, only my sleeve was wet.
“I stood in the front for a better view and to get wet from the waterfall. The Niagara Falls was beautiful in person.” -Theo, age 14
Niagara Falls were pretty incredible! We all enjoyed our experience on the Maid of the Mist boat ride. Zack, another teen in our group, made an awesome video of the ride with his Go-pro. Click here to watch it.
Twelve-year-old Adonis was impressed by the Ontario Science Centre. There was so much to see and do! Here’s what he had to say about it in his travel journal, plus a few words from his friends.
Today we went to Ontario Science Centre.
“The first thing that caught my eye was the dinosaur.” -Big King, age 14
We went everywhere in the Science Center even to the bottom of the Science Center.
“The best part was the 6th floor because everything was interactive.” -Theo, age 14
We saw a t-rex from Jurassic World, Bumble Bee, camel made of so much things, Dr. Frankenstein [Einstein?] made of bread, shrunken heads.
“I liked the tall man.” -Puppy, age 6
Then there was a “grab the jewely.” The jewely was a hologram.
“The best one I like was grab the jewel. It was a hologram.” -Little King, age 11
After that, we watch an Imax movie called “Beautiful Planet.” It was about an astronauts in space watching earth. Watching it at night and morning.
“Me and Tristen got shocked.” -Skijlaar, age 12
I’ve been to a lot of science museums and trust me: this one was exemplary! I think that the museum is best summed up by one final quote:
“There’s a lot of cool stuff.” -Tré, age 14
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Be sure to comment and let the kids know what you think!
Safari Niagara is probably the coolest zoo I’ve ever been to. The cost of entry gets you a look at hundreds of animals, interesting shows, access to the go-cart course, and even a huge ropes course. It’s a great place to take a huge group of kids. Here’s 14-year-old Theo from the island of Sint Maarten on Safari Niagara and his experience there.
Today we went to Safari Niagara which is a zoo. First we saw a bird show that had owls, hawks, and falcons.
A lady showed us different species of birds.
And then I saw more animals.
I saw tigers, bears, lions, parrots, macaws, foxes, tapirs, and camels.
When we reached, we took a train and saw flamingos.
I think at first we couldn’t look at one bird because a skunk went inside the cage.
By the rhino’s exhibit I rode a buggy whilst watching emus.
Then we ate hot dogs and hamburger and I climbed a huge jungle gym.
Thanks for sharing your journal entry here, Theo! We certainly had a fun time at the park. Be sure to share and leave an encouraging comment for Theo to read!
Cross-cultural transition can teach the expat many lessons. Last post, we heard from Emily Montgomery about what she has learned from the process. Today, Emily offers five more words of wisdom.
5. Get in your zone.
I define a comfort zone as a situation where I know what is expected and I am capable of succeeding. In my own culture, I subconsciously orchestrated my interactions so I spent most of my time in my comfort zone.
That handy little ability is not possible when you enter an unknown cultural context.
Right after I moved, I had an identity crisis that lasted several months. Because I was not operating from within my comfort zone, I wasn’t acting like myself.
I was often surprised by my responses. Experiences that used to excite me no longer did. The limits of what I could handle in certain situations were different than they had been in my own culture. It was so disorienting.
And then I started to develop a comfort zone in my new context.
As things became more familiar and I learned the cultural norms around me, some of my old traits began to reemerge. My confidence started to reappear slowly.
There will always be some parts of your comfort zone that cannot translate to the new culture. So, parts of your personality will only come out when you visit home. But, there are also new layers to yourself that you never saw before, that only exist in the new context.
Be brave and engage the new culture. It will be uncomfortable at first, but remember that you are expanding the zone where you can truly be yourself. It’s worth it!
6. Obey God today.
One time during the first wave of transition, I was crying and talking to God. I said between sobs, “My kids won’t even know their cousins!” Then it was like God told me to really think about what I was saying.
I was single with no prospects of marriage in view. Children were a far-off dream at that point. I was carrying the weight of a sacrifice God hadn’t even asked me to make.
In Luke 9:23, Jesus told his followers to pick up their crosses daily. I learned to apply that to my transition process.
Emotionally, I acknowledged and grieved what I was currently missing in the lives of my community at home because I was far away. But, I didn’t allow myself to grieve an event that hadn’t happened yet.
Only God can see for certain how your future will play out. You don’t know that you’ll miss your brother’s wedding, never see your grandpa again, or spend every holiday season away from home.
The only sacrifice Jesus is asking you to make is the one you are facing today. And, he promised that he will give you the right amount of grace to carry that sorrow (2 Corinthians 12:9).
7. Take on a posture of prayer.
About a year before I moved overseas, I heard about the idea of creating a personal prayer posture. The friend who told me about it said it helped her to focus on being present with Jesus.
The habit of getting into a certain physical position and opening up time with God with a certain phrase can be very stabilizing in times of insecurity and transition.
I was so grateful for this practice as I weathered the adjustment to a new culture.
There were times when God seemed very quiet and I felt very alone. It was comforting to pray the words of my prayer posture and then just sit in the sanctity and intimacy that had already been created by those same words hundreds of times before.
It was like I had stirred up a current towards God that I could just float in on those days when I didn’t have the energy to swim.
There is no magical secret about this practice. Your prayers are not more effective if you take on a certain posture first. The whole goal is to honestly come into God’s presence and pay attention to him. If a prayer posture is no longer accomplishing that, ditch it!
8. It’s just life.
Leaving your home culture and building a life in a foreign country is an unusual thing. Even with our increasingly accessible world, expatriates are just a tiny percent of the global population. By relocating to a new culture, you are doing something dramatically out of the ordinary.
I was caught up in that drama at first, which made my already-heightened emotions even crazier. Every decision felt weighty. Every task felt urgent. Every prayer was desperate, and every success was a miracle.
When my body began to break down from the stress, I realized I wouldn’t be able to sustain such high intensity for much longer.
As I started to really look at my daily life, I realized it was just that—life.
I had to buy groceries and cook food. I had to pay bills and save for big purchases. I made friends, told stories, took trips, did laundry, and procrastinated the chores I wasn’t fond of.
Life was an adventure, and a challenge, and a thrill. It was also “like the morning fog—it’s here a little while, then it’s gone” (James 4:14 New Living Translation).
Continually remind yourself that this craziness is just life. See from God’s eternal perspective. Don’t make a bigger deal of these temporary things than they deserve.
9. Laugh at yourself.
I remember visiting a local friend’s home for the first time and meeting her elderly mother. The older woman gestured emphatically to her head when I greeted her, pulling my head down. I didn’t understand the language well enough to know what she was saying, so I very bewilderedly leaned down to tap my forehead against hers.
I learned later that it’s customary to greet elderly people with a kiss on the head. My friend’s mother got her head bopped instead because I was clueless!
There are so many funny things that happen when intelligent, capable adults suddenly find themselves bumbling around in a new culture. Don’t take yourself too seriously. If you can laugh about your mistakes, your local friends probably will, too.
I also learned the value of game nights, dance parties, karaoke, and anything else lighthearted and silly.
By moving to a new culture, you’ve introduced an immense amount of stress into your life. Temper that with occasional times to let your hair down and simply laugh as hard as you can. Trust me, those activities will do wonders for your spirit.
10. Wait it out.
In a recently released movie, a girl describes the transition to a new culture perfectly.
“You’ll feel so homesick that you’ll want to die, and there’s nothing you can do about it apart from endure it. But you will, and it won’t kill you. And one day the sun will come out – you might not even notice straight away, it’ll be that faint… And you’ll realize that this is where your life is.” (Brooklyn 2015)
Struggling to adjust to a new culture and dealing with homesickness are not signs of personal weakness or failure. They are not feelings to be ashamed of or minimized.
I often looked at other friends who had moved overseas and berated myself for struggling so much more than they seemed to. I put a huge amount of added pressure on myself to “snap out of it” and fix the problem of my culture shock as quickly as possible.
None of my desperate responses helped the situation, which only led to more disappointment and frustration. It was a vicious cycle.
Finally after many months of this downward spiral, I threw my hands up and just gave in to the fact that I was struggling. I admitted it to my friends at home and in the new culture.
It felt like settling in for a long, cold, winter hibernation. I said some difficult “no’s” and cut back on everything I could. And then, I waited for God to do his work in that season.
And he did.
Conclusion
I talk about the first “season” or “wave” of cultural transition because I don’t think it ends after the initial adjustment period is over. We will always be foreigners now—a little different, a little confusing—even when we are in our home culture again.
That identity can be challenging. But, it is also an honor.
We can take our place among the ranks of the people of faith mentioned in Hebrews 11. “They agreed that they were foreigners and nomads here on earth” (verse 13b New Living Translation). The chapter goes on to say that they were looking forward to their true homeland in heaven.
That is the hope for us, as well. There is only one place where we will ever really be at home, and Jesus is preparing it for us right now. Hope in that as you learn lessons of your own on this crazy adventure of cultural transition!
