Life Abroad

Newsbulletin: Jan. 11, 2008

Cross-cultural experiences encourage adjustment and resourcefulness:

Situation: Wanting to order something behind a counter but your vocabulary is limited to both inquire and request the choices before you. Solution: You select items based on your limited vocabulary, not necessarily because of your preference or even knowledge of what you are ordering, but merely because that is what you can get out. For example, I ordered ‘te’ (tea) with the green lid only because those were the words I knew, not because I actually knew what flavor I was getting. (It turned out to be mango, which wasn’t bad!).

Situation: Climate control is limited to one space heater in a concrete room with high ceilings and otherwise poor insulation. Solution: I sleep with my hairdryer by my bed as a modern day equivalent to the warming pans they used in earlier times to heat the blankets. (It works quite nicely, I might add. J)

Situation: Food is not served in the dining hall on Saturday evenings which requires ulpanists to either take a ‘to-go’ box at lunch or order out after the Shabbat has ended. If you opt for the ‘to-go’ box and choose food that tastes better warm, unless you have friends with a hot-pan, you better think twice. Solution: Choose cold salads (we do, at least, have a small fridge) or set your food in front of the one space heater and wait a long time (it does work, however!).

Situation: Israelis have little concept of personal space – a small distance between you and the person in front of you in a line indicates you are obviously just standing aimlessly around and another will come along and insert their self into said distance. Solution: Lose the Texas mentality of “wide-open spaces” and learn to get ‘up close and personal’ for buses, food lines, etc.
This particular entry is a work in progress – as I observe more cultural differences I’ll try to add them. Please check back from time to time – but not too often! Personally, I’m not complaining – I rather enjoy the challenges and adjustments that intercultural interaction provokes and enjoy laughing at my own culture and its peculiarities in a foreign setting – and I really am enjoying my time here in Israel and encourage everyone to make the effort to visit!