Culture Shock!

Living and working here at Canyonville Christian Academy has been a complete and utter culture shock.

When we first moved here, before the students arrived, it was a culture shock getting used to living in an extremely small town after living in a big town our entire lives. There is only one grocery store, and it is VERY small and has an EXTREMELY limited selection. There is only a handful of restaurants; one of them is an Italian restaurant/paintball store (?!), and there is only one chain restaurant- Burger King. The craziest thing to get used to is that there are no stoplights and we walk almost everywhere- I went 12 days without ever being in a car!

The other big cultural shock/adjustment we are having is that we are living and interacting with students from all over the planet! I mentioned this before, but it is such an interesting situation, that it’s worth mentioning again. We have boys from Rwanda, China, South Korea, Taiwan, Hong Kong, Vietnam, Japan Kazakhstan, Russian, Ukraine, Israel, Belgium, Bolivia, Mexico, Vermont, California, Washington State, and even Salem!

It’s strange to see all of the different cultures interacting together.

The most interesting thing is watching all of the Asian cultures. You would think that the cultures of Asian nations that are very close geographically would be very close culturally, but that is not the case at all!

For example, Koreans: Koreans are very interesting people.  They are extraordinarily nice and respectful. The way the younger Koreans look up to and respect the older Koreans is amazing. But the way that the older Koreans take care of the younger Koreans is equally as remarkable.

Most of the Koreans I have met are very serious in nature and extremely serious about studying. It seems, to many of them, that going to a highly ranked High School, getting an excellent score on their SATs, getting into a prestigious American college, and then getting a respectable job means everything: including spending most of their free time studying.

Probably the most unique thing about their culture is their unhindered ability to show affection to one another without Western gender barriers coming into play. These great Korean boys that I have the privilege of working with are very affectionate towards each other: holding hands (with younger boys), lots of hugs, arms around each other, grooming, running fingers through hair, even practically cuddling together while sleeping. And none of it is sexual. It is harmless, and very interesting.

Then on the opposite end of the Asian spectrum are the Taiwanese: These are great kids too! They are much more laid back than the Koreans and are extremely goofy and sarcastic. They laugh all of the time and are always playing weird games with each other.

They also are very affectionate with each other- almost like the Koreans. There is not as much elder respect, but much more so than Americans. The bond between the Taiwanese seems to be a little stronger than that of the Koreans though- I don’t know why, they just seem to stick closer together and segregate themselves a little more.

Now Taiwan is technically part of China, but Mainland Chinese students tend to be very different from the Taiwanese. They tend to be more serious and a little more polite. Taiwanese are not impolite, but the mainland Chinese students are a little more polite. Another oddity is that the Taiwanese tend to not associate with the mainland Chinese. And while writing this I just discovered from a group Taiwanese students that the reason they tend to not associate with the mainland Chinese students has to do with what political party the mainland Chinese student represents and their views on Taiwan.

I have a few students from Hong Kong and they are really great kids! They tend to be the most Westernized of all the Asian students: in dress, in mannerisms, in humor, in gender roles, etc….

There are a handful of Vietnamese kids in my dorm as well. These students, like the Taiwanese, seem to be very laid back. They are also very polite and personable- while retaining a respect for adults almost equal to the Koreans.

I have two boys that are Koreans living in Tokyo Japan. The only thing that separates them from the other Korean students is that they, like the Hong Kong’ers, are more Western in their mannerisms, communication, and humor.

Russians: The Russians are a unique bunch. They hang out with the Ukrainians, just as I have witnessed them doing in Salem- for obvious reasons, they speak the same language. But their culture appears t o be the same as well. They’re a fun group of students to be around. They are very loud and boisterous; always challenging the status quo and pushing the limits of the rules on campus. My speculation is that with the collapse of the Soviet Union, the Russians and the Ukrainians did everything to avoid the structure of the old communist regime.

I have a great young man from Kazakhstan who I thoroughly enjoy. He is nice, respectful, and extremely helpful. I have no idea what Kazakhs are like though because all three of them here at CCA are very unique and different. But, they also speak Russian and I am very interested to learn more about their nation and their culture.

Just like the Kazakhstani boy, I have several other students who are the lone representatives from their country: Bolivia, Belgium, and Israel.  So I cannot determine what their cultures are like from them alone, but I can determine what great guys they are individually.

One interesting culture adjustment that I am experiencing is interacting with a different kind of Mexican. I come from Salem, Oregon and we have a very large number of Mexicans living and working in our community. The Mexicans that I have known and loved all of my life have been, for the most part, very hard working, family oriented, and loving. However, most Mexicans working in the Willamette Valley in Oregon are very poor because they are grotesquely underpaid by their employers.

The Mexicans I have come to know here at CCA are also very nice and family oriented people, but are not poor like most Mexicans I have known. They tend to be well-off financially and it shows in the way that they dress, talk, and carry themselves. After some talk with them, there almost seems to be some ridicule from them towards the Mexicans that have moved to America to live and work.

These last several paragraphs are in no way supposed to be an exhaustive description of these cultures- just general observations that I have made since being here. And they certainly don’t apply to everyone. There are some kids from certain cultures here that act completely different from the others in their nation, and that is just fine.

I look forward to continuing my thoughts and observations about my experience here in Canyonville on my blog as this year progresses.

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