Ethnography and Ethnocentrism

Did I lose you there? How many of you knew what that was before you stopped and looked those two words up?

Ethnocentrism means Regarding ones own race or cultural group as superior to others.

Ethnography means learning from people finding out what makes them tick, expressing interest in the things that are important to them, and inviting them to teach you to see the world from their point of view. It is focused, yet informal.

This has been the topic of our learning for the past few days! WOW...so much to grasp! We have seen first hand how this whole culture is different just being down here in the south. NH and NC are very different. The culture here is very laid back, slow, polite and in general a "christian" atmosphere. Where NH in very quick paced, uptight, courteous and in general not "christian".

Example, we were on our way to church yesterday morning and we were half and hour early, I didn't finish my coffee before we left the house and I asked if we could stop for coffee...Phil noted that ALL the stores were closed. (which we noticed the week before as well) hmmmm what else? well, we went out to dinner on Friday evening to celebrate 16 years!!! We went to a very nice resteraunt, and I quickly noticed that they did not serve alcohol. We would never find that at home.

Culture is everywhere we look, from the next state to the farthest continent. So, what am I saying with all of this? That we need to be open to the differences that are around us everywhere we go. We were made in the image of God, He created each and every one of us and He loves us all. Why should we treat someone differently just because they do things differently? Does it make it right or wrong? So what if they drive on the opposite side of the road. To them it isn't the wrong side. So what if the men can walk down the street holding hands. In some cultures it is accepted and even looked at as a form of mentorship.

Does this mean that we accept what they are doing when it is wrong? Not at all! But before we can go in and tell them that they are doing something wrong and why it is wrong, we need to understand their culture. We need to be active listeners and watchers of what is happening so that we may be used to our fullest capability!

This is the quote that started our day today:

"Culture is not good
it is not bad
It is just different

and it is definitly not weird!"

that is the thought for today...

busy busy busy

Here is a quick glimpse of our daily activity:
6:00-6:30 rise and shine!! Phil and Jen coffee and quite time.
7:00 rise and shine!! kids...
8:10 out the door to get the kids settled (mostly get Claire settled)
8:25 coffee.... :)
8:30 Heart of the Missionary (devotions with everyone)
9ish a short break refill coffee
9:15 next session which varies from day to day
10:30ish continuation of session.
12:00 LUNCH we get the kids and head back "home" and share our lunch make dinner if time allows, work on homework if time allows...we don't usually get back here until 12:30
1:10 head back with Claire to get her settled down for her nap and then get the rest of the kids settled back into class as well.
1:25 get water
1:30 next class begins
2:15ish a break
3:00 get kids and head back home. Which is usually more like 4:00, by the time all is said and done.
dinner, homework, extra class tonight, meals to be had with friends and instructors.
it is a very busy schedule. And for those of you that know me well I am not a very scheduled person. Which I found out yesterday is one of my personality traits...haha....talking it too!! ;)
We are learning so much and enjoying it all! Looking at our syllabus it was very overwhelming but day by day it isn't as bad as I thought it would be. Laundry is all caught up, dishes are all clean and put away. I even had time to make homemade bread for dinner on Monday without my kitchen aide!! (it was Claire's birthday)
We are learning to FlEx! A great thing to learn and I wish I had learned it a long time ago!
We did have a great visit Friday to Saturday with the Ragans! They came all the way from Tennessee to see us! Drove 4 1/2 hours one way just so that we could catch up (and check out CIT) What a great time we had here are some pictures that were taken while they were here.

Well we made it through our first official day!.. It was great. We received our syllabus, and saw the work that will be required of us during the next month. It is a very demanding workload. It will take a few days to get in the mindset of writing papers again and reports of 15 pages! Today we spent the majority of the day working on personality assessments, and found out that many of us have more than one person needs to have. It was fun and eye opening at the same time, and will help us to better understand how to work with our future co laborers on the field. As some of you know our vehicle broke down literally as we pulled into the parking lot. What a blessing, it could have been a lot worse. We were able to locate a Christian who owns a garage here and he replaced the alternator. Nothing major, just not expected, and Ford I just recently found out thinks their alternators are worth a pretty penny. Just being able to type this post is another blessing. It is really necessary to have a good computer here, and be able to access the wireless network. My laptop had so many problems, and the internal wireless card was not able to connect to the network. God provided a now great friend in the couple that are living downstairs. He is our resident Mark Sohmer. We have chatted over keyboards, coffee and brownies during our computer restoration project. We are looking forward to tomorrow and catching up with our mission director and friend Pat Ragan & his family as they make the 5 hour drive from Chattanooga to spend tomorrow night with us. We will keep you posted. If your reading this I encourage you to take a moment to reflect how great of God we serve, and all He has done for us! It really defines who we are. Adios!