Tales from the Culture-Shock Crypt
Yep, we’re experiencing reverse culture shock. Roxanne’s been out of her country for 24 years, visiting only for a few weeks every three or four years. Now that she’s back, she realizes it’s the small things that surprise you. Like, getting charged $1.50 for every withdrawal at the bank. That didn’t exist when she was growing up here! Or, like going to the store for a few photocopies and being charged $3.65! “What?! Why so expensive?” The girl said, “Well, you could have done your copies in the self-serve section. It would have been cheaper.” Self-serve? Are you kidding? In Honduras they’d walk off with the paper, maybe even the copier itself! No one has self-serve! And it would have cost a few cents to make these copies. And what about $6 for a liter of milk? Whaat? It’s not yak’s milk, just plain cow’s! Ouch! Milk is subsidized down south. Also in USA. Wow. It’s another world!
Speaking of living in this other world, we are staying in a friends’ home until we can find jobs. We’d appreciate your prayers for jobs and finally settling down in a place of our own. We have sent in many resumés and we’ve had a few interviews. Still nothing yet. It was so easy to get a job in Honduras whenever we wanted one because of our degrees and bilingualism. Very different here!
It’s been a crazy transition from the Latin world to the first world. Robert spent seven weeks away getting his Costa Rican driver’s license and selling our cars in Honduras. Roxanne went back for a week in July to help him empty out our rental house there and to say final good-byes. Then we spent a few days in Pittsburgh picking up some of our luggage sent on ahead with short term teams and touching base with some supporters. Visiting with family along the way has been a blessing. We’ve been doing a lot of traveling over these last few weeks, which has included our usual car problems along the way. God has been faithful in protecting us and providing the help we need at the right time.
Both Julianna and Robert celebrated their birthdays early September. Juli had 3 friends come over and spend the night. They had a blast!
Pray with us for grace and favor in the eyes of government officials as we send off all the paperwork and documents we have worked so hard to gather over the past year. We are hoping the kids’ citizenship will be granted within the year and that Robert will quickly have a work permit in his hands.
Pray, too, for David as he enters high school and Juli as she has been thrust into the seventh grade, though she never did 6th, simply because of the year she was born. This will be a huge transition for them.
We are so grateful for your faithful prayers and continued support during this time of adjustment to our new life in Canada. May the Lord bless and watch over you.
Robert, Roxanne, David, and Julianna
