An Adjustment Period

This post is part of Blogging Abroad's 2017 New Years Blog Challenge, week three: Cultural Differences.

“Intercultural Communications folks have broken cultural differences down to 10 variables: How we see or value Environment, Time, Action, Communication, Space, Power, Individualism, Competitiveness, Structure, and Thinking.” – Michelle C., Blogging Abroad

I could probably spend time talking about how Mayan culture is different from or similar to American culture in every one of these dimensions, but that would make this blog post excessively long! Instead, I’m going to focus on the 3 that have stood out to me as the biggest differences I’ve found during my 7 months (crazy that number is 7 already, isn’t it?) in Belize, and consequently, the biggest adjustments I’ve had to make during my time here.

Time

For those of you that know me well, you know that I’m never the one to be late for a meeting or anything really important. I often show up to parties right on time (which isn’t the cool time to show up to a party), which is almost always too early, and I do it without trying. I value my time quite a lot, and I try and cram it full of everything I possibly can. If you were to take a look at my Google Calendar from when I was in Boston, you’d probably think I was crazy. And I loved that. If you were to look at my Google Calendar now though, you’d see that it looks quite a bit different.

Waiting for the mobile clinic nurses and community members
to show up for mobile clinic day

In America, time tends to be fixed for most people, meaning that “punctuality is precisely defined” (Philippa Collin, Ten Variables of Culture). If you’re 15 minutes late, you’re late. If you set a meeting with someone, you show up on time or it can be seen as an insult if you’re late. Here? Not so much. Time is very fluid: things will happen in their own time, and if a time is set for something, being late isn’t insulting at all. On the contrary, it’s expected. It happens quite frequently that if you ask someone to show up for something at 8am, they likely won’t show up until 9 at the earliest, often as late as 10 or 11. At first that was very frustrating to deal with, being the crazy time management person that I am. But in my time here, I’ve kind of gotten used to it. I bring a book and headphones basically everywhere now just in case, and I’m learning to enjoy moving at a less structured, slower pace. Not completely there yet, but I’m working on it!

Space

In America, people tend to value their personal space a lot. If you invade someone’s personal space bubble, they generally let you know and remove themselves a little bit. It’s also perfectly acceptable to hide away on your own for awhile for some “me time.” Here, there really isn’t a concept for a personal space bubble. All spaces are common ground for everyone, which is actually really cool. My siblings run in an out of my room all the time, because it’s not really “my room,” it’s just another room in the house. That being said, if I need privacy I can get some, but doing that is kind of selfish so I don’t like doing it a lot. I’ll partially close my door if I’m working, but if it’s not closed completely, they know it’s okay to come in. Which leads me to my 3^rd and final major cultural difference…

My entire host family in my room watching a movie together

Individualism

America is a very individualistic society; we really value our independence. We live our own lives, and though while often with other people, we generally tend to our own affairs. Our lives intersect with others quite a lot, but at the end of the day we move back into our personal spheres. We have our own things, in fact, ownership is a very personal thing on just about every level. Here it’s not like that at all. Everything is shared. Everything. And it’s actually really refreshing. This has been probably the biggest adjustment I’ve had to make, getting used to this, but it’s my favorite by far. I absolutely love collectivist culture after having been a part of it for the past 7 months. Triumphs, failures, trials and tribulations, things, space, time, moments, memories, projects…life is shared amongst everyone. Family and community is everything here. People often sleep in the same rooms altogether, families bathe together, work together, help each other out. Not just themselves either, but their community members as well. If a new house needs to be built, corn planted, or someone’s short on corns, beans or tortillas, people ask their neighbors for help, and it’s always freely given. People do favors for each other all the time, with no expectations in return, though favors always come back around from the people who had to ask in the first place. People are generally concerned about the well being of others in their community, because there’s a pervasive “we’re all here together” mentality in the village. That being said, it’s not always sunshine and rainbows, it never is. People fight and disagree, some people don’t like each other or help others out, there’s gossip. But that’s life anywhere, not just here and not just back in the States.

There’s definitely been an adjustment period to living here, but just this week, I’ve finally reached a point where I truly felt integrated. It was honestly one of my happiest moments here, realizing that I actually had a place here, and felt like I fit in and belonged here, despite being a saq (white in Q’eqchi, their equivalent to gringo/American). The Mayan culture may be very different from what I grew up with, but that doesn’t mean I can’t live, interact, and work with the people here. I’m extraordinarily grateful for my time here already, and that will only deepen the longer I spend here. Integrating into Mayan culture has already changed me profoundly, and some of the things I’ve talked about will be things I continue to incorporate into my life here, and beyond when I return to the States. Realizations like this continue to impress upon me the importance of being a Global Citizen and not only learning about other people and their stories, but letting them impact and shape yours as well. 

Best,

Bryan