The Wonders of Stage II Culture Shock

January has come and gone rather quickly, but I must say I am quite happy to see it go. January 2009 will forever be remembered as the month in my life when I truly experienced culture shock (stage II, to be specific).

Moving into the New Year was exactly what my JV community needed due to the experience we encountered upon our return home from our holiday visit in Belize City. Leaving the city early on my own, I arrived home late Wednesday night on the 30th of December to find our home completely torn apart and ransacked, with the kitchen door wide open and its locks broken off. Our home has been broken into a few times since my arrival in August but this break in has definitely been the worst as of yet. In an attempt to put the house back together before the rest of my roommates and their visiting guests arrived home, I slowly began to realize what was missing…and added (two live rats in our trap waiting to be put out of their misery via drowning in a trashcan – lucky me). The final tally of missing items: food money for the month of January, our blender, coffee maker, clothing, backpacks, a digital camera, two flash drives, some jewelry, and of course our stash of beer, chocolate, tootsie rolls, and pez candy (yeah, I don’t get it either).

After brining in 2009 with a very festive party (including a one piece blue spandex body suit, oversized clown glasses, and water flippers – debating whether or not to post the photos) and the purchasing back of a few of the stolen items, I figured we were good to go for the New Year. What I failed to realize was that the month of January marked my fifth month of being in Belize – prime time for stage II culture shock (we’ll refer to from here on out as S2CS).

As work began after the Christmas holiday, I quickly began to slip into the oh so wonderful symptoms of S2CS – extreme moodiness, lack of any sense of motivation, major irritability, frustration with the culture, and a little pinch of homesickness (this includes the craving of your mother’s food, your couch, a bag of salt & vinegar potato chips, and a 10 hour marathon of some mind numbing reality TV show) – in other words, it’s a basket full of really great emotions that work well when living in community.

I became overwhelmed with negative feelings and reactions towards the Belizean culture and began to fixate on aspects of the society which irked me tremendously. My focus turned toward the difficult interactions and encounters I had experienced over the past five months. My mind entirely disregarded any and all positive relationships I had developed since being here and erased from memory the beauty I had witnessed within the culture and the country of Belize.

After a good two weeks of sulking in the bath of S2CS, I decided something needed to be done. I turned to my journal, my community mates, and prayer – focusing on whom and what had brought me joy throughout my time here as well as recognizing and discussing what it was that caused my frustration and negativity. Through these three means of expression I was able to refocus on why it is that I am here, living the life I am living. I am here to live and work in community and solidarity with the people of Belize – to experience hardships and moments of pleasure which will guide me in my growing as an individual.

Though it seems as though the dreaded S2CS has left me alone for some time, I know not to dismiss it fully from my life as culture shock is cyclical – thank you to all of those psychoanalysts who devoted their time to this wondrous discovery. I can only hope and pray that I can fend it off for long enough to plan accordingly!

Hope you are all enjoying the cold!
Don’t be jealous….but here it’s sunny, somewhere in the 90s, and not a cloud in the sky!
Miss you all!