learning journal 1: a word on culture

When I reflect on culture, my mind instinctively refers back to the most drastic encounter I've had with a different culture. Maybe drastic is the wrong word; apparent, blatant, or obvious may be better words to describe my experience living as a missionary for 18 months in Uruguay.

I expected it to be different, and I was right in that it was different--but I never could have guessed or predicted the things I would learn from the Uruguayan culture. Being a missionary is obviously different than, say, a field study or a sightseeing trip, in that missionary work brings along with it the culture and customs of the LDS church. Sometimes it was difficult to separate the culture of church I'm familiar with to the culture of the church found in Uruguay. I was put off at the beginning by the casual nature of church meetings, by the different interpretations of temple and gospel covenants, by the frankly honest (and in my opinion, rude) comments that members frequently made. It took me awhile to appreciate the beauty of what the people of Uruguay brought to the gospel, and it took me awhile to see their spirituality and the sincerity of their prayers. Once I started to see the differences as reflections of their culture, I started to appreciate our differences.

I appreciated their honesty. When they were talking about another person, they aren't afraid to say, "oh, yeah, the fat one" or "the one with the big nose" as reference points. While at first I considered this a little rude, I started to recognize that when, in American culture, we are referring to someone we do all we can to "nicefy" any defects in their person. "oh yes, he's the one who is slightly rotund," or "large-framed," or some other euphemism that helps us avoid the elephant in the room.

I also appreciated their peacefulness. They took siestas and hardly ever over scheduled themselves and sat around in the evening drinking mate with their amigos.

Yes, I realize that I am stereotyping to some extent, but you get the idea.


And the thought that I can appreciate the culture of London as completely different than my own inherent culture is exciting. While I did spend six weeks in London, I felt that I didn't even scratch the surface of their culture. What I did see, like the general reservedness that first seems like coldness but is in essence politeness (yes, I'm addicted to -ness in this sentence), or the pride in their ancient heritage (age over size), helped me begin to see the persona of a Londoner. So yes, I am looking forward to expanded my knowledge of their culture and learn what I can from them.

Yup, that's all for today.