When someone invites you for dinner and asks you to bring a plate, what do you do? "Do I need to bring a fork and knife as well?" might be your response. "No, of course not!" Once you show up to dinner, you realize that it is a common phrase and you were expected to bring a plate with food on it. This is just one experience of a cultural misunderstanding that one of our presenters shared during our Orientation Training Course last week. It was great to hear from so many people who have served in countries around the world for years and years, and are now helping others to prepare for the same thing. Their knowledge and personal experiences gave us a taste of what will really be coming our way when we move to Papua New Guinea, a country so different from Canada. Another presenter shared about her experience at a market soon after moving to Liberia. Though English is technically the main language, this is her retelling of an attempt to buy an onion: "I'd like to buy an onion." "Okay, that is three hundred." After doing some quick math in her head, she realized that couldn't be right. 300 Liberian dollars? For one onion? That seems like way too much money. "Three hundred for one onion?" she asked the seller. The lady looked at her as if she was crazy, shaking her head furiously. Relieved, our story-teller asked again, "Well, how much?" The lady replied "Three hundred." After what seemed like forever, she realized that it was three onions for a hundred Liberian dollars. It's amazing what small changes in language can do. Even though these situations might be frustrating at the time, I think they will provide great opportunities for laughter after the fact!
Though some of these stories were humorous, we also learned about some of the harder facts. Things like diseases that are prevalent in the area we will be serving, the reality of culture shock, how to deal with certain security concerns, and cultural differences that can make life difficult. Learning this information can sneak feelings of doubt into the back of our minds. However, these never last too long as feelings of passion for the work we are a part of always come out on top. The many discussions that we had in break-out rooms also affirmed to us that even though the work and life in a foreign country is hard, and can even seem impossible at times, it is never something that others have regretted.
In one session, we learned about how to approach situations that involve extortion and bribery. As a Christian organization, MAF can in no way condone taking or giving bribes, but this can sometimes result in difficult security situations. At what point do you pay up, and how long do you hold your ground? We discussed strategies for dealing with financial crime, which were very helpful. We learned that it is exceptionally important to develop good relationships with nationals who will stand up for us or help us out in difficult situations -- they have an advantage in that they are comfortable in the culture and also don't have a white skin. This will be important for us to keep in mind, especially as we first enter PNG and are overwhelmed by everything that is new. In those first days and weeks, it will be easier to stay "safe" and form relationships with other international staff members, but easier is not always better. We will definitely need to push ourselves out of our comfort zones many times in the coming months.
Throughout the week, we had some fun activities to see what we knew about MAF, learn about each other, and keep us awake in the middle of the night. One of our getting-to-know-you activities was two truths and a lie. It was fun to guess the crazy things that others have done; these included eating ostrich, landing an airplane on a frozen lake, visiting 74 different countries, eating dog, and living in Japan for two years. Here is what we said about ourselves! Feel free to guess which is the lie:
Brandon: I have broken my right arm twice -- and yes, I'm right handed. I have 13 biological siblings. I jumped rope for 10 minutes continuously.
Nellicia: I have performed on more than 10 different musical instruments. I have memorized the first 100 digits of pi. I can swim 50 metres underwater without taking a breath.
Brandon did much better than I (Nellicia) did on the MAF test on Kahoots, and even did better than a lot of the MAF staff! We also had a scavenger hunt that had us running around the house in the middle of the night -- even though the items are interesting, the time on the clock might be something to notice even more in the picture below. By the end of the week, we kind of got used to being up for most of the night, and were thankful that Nova slept through the course time without interrupting us. Overall, it was a great week filled with a lot of learning and helped to prepare us, at least mentally, for the next year.
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| Zoom Scavenger Hunt at... what time? |
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| Happy to be done our Orientation Training Course, but looking a little sleepy... |
