Guatemalan Culture (Part 2)

My parents came to Guatemala to "visit" for a week and a half. Although I know that they really came to check up on me and to try to drag me home, especially after the deaths of the three YMCA volunteers. They arrived on Sept 12 and since September 15th is the Independence Day of Guatemala, I was able to take a few days off work around the 3 day weekend to show them around the country. We went up to the Mayan ruins of Tikal, took a boat up Rio Dulce (which is definitely the most beautiful river I have ever seen) to get to Livingston (a small town that can only be reached via boat with is mainly inhabited by the Garifuna peoples), then to Lake Atitlan and Totonicapan (a small town that I lived in 4 years ago). All of these places are very far from each other and we were trying to get it all into one trip, so as you can imagine we were all exhausted.

My parents feel much more comfortable now now that they know the people that I live with, the staff here at the YMCA and have a better feel for the Guatemalan people. They now understand why I am staying to support the Guatemalan people and see how happy I am in my "element". The last night when they were here my mom started talking about how much she missed her bed, salad and hot water. I finally asked her if she would rather stay here to be close to me, or get home to her bed and she laughed and said, "I love you, and will see you in two months...".

Traveling with my parents around Guatemala helped me see more clearly some of the cultural differences that we can learn from.

Time: I think one of the most frustrating things for my parents was the issue of time. Not only are latinos more relaxed about time, which in itself is hard but possible to get used to, but my parents observation was that we were always in a rush and then had to wait. An example of this is getting on the bus, the ayudante (drivers assistant) will tell you to run to the bus before the bus has even stopped, then you get on the bus and the bus will sit there and wait until the driver thinks that there are enough people to move on (could be as much as 6 or 7 minutes). So then my parents would ask my why we had to run to catch the bus...the thing is that you never know if the bus will really stop and wait a while or if it will take off as soon as you get one foot on the bus.

Politeness: The woman that I live with asked me what I wanted to drink with dinner and I replied, "whatever is the easiest for her so a glass of water would be fine", she turned to her son and made a sarcastic comment about how rude I am. Luckily she has a good sense of humor and knows that I am not a rude person, so she explained to me that here in Guatemala that is not a polite thing to say. Then, when my parents were here she asked them what they would like to drink and they replied that they would like to drink whatever causes less work for her. I couldn´t help but laugh...and then taught my parents that we should respond with a more flowerly response like, "if it isnt too much trouble we would like to drink a glass of water, thank you".

Food: Something that I have recently learned is that although many of the foods of Mexico and Guatemala have the same name, they are often very different. Someone asked me if I would like a Quesadillas, so I was thrilled because I love Quesadillas, they handed me a loaf of bread that looked like banana bread. Another day we ordered tortilla soup, which in Guatemala is more of a casserole there is no soup just a light amount of tomato sauce to help the tortilla slices to stick together. Guacamole is one more difference that I have seen, here Guacamole consists of avocado,lime and salt, no tomato, garlic, black pepper, chile or onion.

Space: Another difference is our sense of our own space. Our culture highly values that everyone has their own personal space and we often get offended if someone "violates" by entering our designated space. The latin culture is much more open and affectionate, space here like food or money is something that is shared openly. Everytime you greet someone or leave you offer a hug and a kiss to the person, regardless of the depth of your relationship. My parents quickly caught on to the proper way of greeting people, the part that was difficult for them was in the buses or evern when we were waiting in lines. We went to print some photos and were waiting in line, a woman was very close to my father and he felt that she was being pushy so he got frustrated and was telling me in english how rude this woman was. Well, just our luck, she spoke english and apologize and backed up. Later she offered us her discount card and saved us a lot of money.

When asked what was their favorite part of their experience, my parents reply that it was the warm and loving people of Guatemala. That even with the language barrier people express their feelings by looking at you and smiling. We talked alot about how hard it is for me to live in the states and especially in Seattle because people are too busy or too scared to even look at you let alone get to know you. One of my best examples is a bus ride from the U district to downtown Seattle, not a single person will look up from their book or open their eyes to acknowledge your existance. Here in Guatemala and most other latin american countries you are lucky if you get a seat, and if you do get a seat you will most likely share it with 2 or 3 other people and will probably have someone elses child on your lap for half of the ride. These are the cultural differences that we need to learn in order to prepare ourselves to reach out to the latinos in our communities. Correction, not only the latinos but to learn to be conscious of the people around us, this is the same struggle for the Metrocenter youth in 909 4th Ave as it is for me, our mission is to build community in a country where (in my opinion) community is not one of the strengths of our culture. Let's come together to learn to be better Global Citizens in our own communities!

Benś Adventures in Thailand

Hey all, sorry it has been so long since I have written. My parents were here visiting for a week and a half, so we were out enjoying the absolutely amazing country of Guatemala! Having my family visit was not only very special for me personally, but they also helped me see more clearly some of the cultural differences and other important insights that I will share with you in my next blog. As I am sure you all know, we created this blog so that everyone could learn about the exciting international experiences that the Seattle Y is involved in. Below you will learn about Ben Opdyke, a former Seattle YMCA staff that is currently living in Thailand and volunteering at the Chiangmai YMCA.

Spotlight in Heroism: Ben in Chiangmai

Today marks my six months to the day that I arrived in Thailand, which is therefore the halfway point of my stay here and I have to say I’m a lucky guy. I am spending my time here as a volunteer with the Chiangmai YMCA and so far the experience has been amazing. Furthermore, it has been a goal of mine since my first time travelling abroad as a teenager to live overseas for an extended period of time, and thanks to the YMCA I’ve been able to make that dream happen.

Prior to coming to Thailand I spent three years working for Seattle’s Metrocenter YMCA where, during my time there, I had the chance to take part in a cultural exchange and service trip to Thailand. After being exposed to Thai culture, food and weather for two weeks I knew this was a place I could live. I also was given an introduction to the Chiangmai YMCA and loved what they were doing here between the cultural exchange programs as well as programs for street chidren and gender equality issues. Luckily, in the fall of 2007 the Seattle YMCA received a visit from a Chiangmai YMCA staff member, Apple, and during this visit I was able to convince her (trick her?) to invite me to be a part of the Chiangmai YMCA International Program team.

So, as I said, I am now volunteering with the Chiangmai YMCA and my job basically breaks down into three responsibilites. The first is editing and writing documents in English for YMCA staff here. This includes anything and everything that they may have to write in English including emails, program proposals, congratulation letters, condolence letters, etc. The combination of the Chiangmai YMCA having a hotel and an international department that works closely with many foreign organizations leads to preparing lots of documents in English.

My second main task is to teach English. Every weekend I travel to one of two other YMCA branches and play games or read and ask questions to young students to help them learn English. I have also taken part in some English camps, an English speaking competition and taught a class for the Chiangmai YMCA staff.

My third major task here is to take part in the many cultural exchange programs the Chiangmai YMCA puts on. The Chiangmai YMCA has what seems like an endless string of international groups come in to experience Thai culture firsthand by visiting landmarks, watching Thai dance, learning Thai cooking, staying with a homestay family, visiting Thai schools and doing service work. Therefore, I have the opportunity to stay with homestay families in rural Thailand and visit beautiful cultural landmarks often. And, while it can be tiring going to Doi Suthep for the seventh time, it is still an amazing place and I can’t complain that I’ve had the chance to ride an elephant five times, or that I regularly get to eat homemade Thai cooking. Furthermore, one of the best parts about this job is seeing youth and young adults coming on trips here and having such a positive life changing experience. There is something about Thailand and the openness and happiness of the people that has a profound effect on everyone who comes here.

Of course, making such a huge life change as moving from the US to Thailand has its ups and downs. I get lonely and miss home from time to time and of course communication is often difficult with the language barrier. I’m not sure I would have been able to make this move before the internet, but luckily it is here to stay now and allows me the chance to keep up with family and friends, and more importantly to follow Michigan football. Another challenge is that the majority of Thai people work a six day week and for me it is no different, and it can be difficult to almost never see a two day weekend. Because of this I tend to spend my day off resting and relaxing rather than exploring, and I feel like there is a lot of Thailand I won’t have the chance to see. However, the pros of living in Thailand far outweigh these few inconveniences.

The main thing I love about Thailand is the people. One thing I’ve found while living here is that it is very hard to stereotype Thai people – whenever I think I can categorize Thai people and say that all Thai people do or like something, I find many people and examples to counter my opinion. Surprisingly, though it shouldn’t come as a shock, I have found each Thai person to be unique and diverse in habits and customs. However, if there is one way I would stereotype Thai people it would be to say that almost all Thai people are laid back. Thailand is called “The Land of Smiles”, a nickname that couldn’t be more accurate, and their most popular phrase is “mai pen rai”, which loosely translates to “no worries.” Thai people try not to take life too seriously and if something can be laughed and joked about, it will. Sometimes this can be borderline offensive, particularly when I get laughed at and called fat boy for the 32nd straight day, but it has been good as I’ve learned to laugh at myself a lot. I love the laid back style of life here and feel it meshes with my personality very well.

I have also really enjoyed my job with the YMCA as it has allowed me the opportunity to interact with many cultures and meet people from not only Thailand, but Singapore, Korea, Japan, New York and others as well. I also enjoy the fact that I have a skill (English speaking, yeah those high school English classes are paying off! Hopefully, there aren’t thousands of grammatical errors in this blog, cause that could look bad) that is so valued here, and I really enjoyed the chance to teach English for the Chiangmai staff. Finally, learning a language in a foreign country is an amazing experience and it continues to get more and more rewarding as I am better able to hold conversations with Thai people.

So, as I have repeated many times here, my time in Thailand has been awesome. The people, the job, the food and the weather have all been worth the long journey, and it is all because of the connections and relationships I developed while at the Seattle YMCA.