Reverse Culture Shock?

Yesterday, someone asked me if I’ve been experiencing any culture shock being back in the States this summer. I told her the same thing I’ve been telling others who’ve asked me that: not really. For the most part, it has felt much more normal to be here this summer than last summer. I had expected that it might feel stranger this summer, given that we’ve been away longer.

Thinking about it some more last night, though, I realized that my answer wasn’t quite right. I have felt a bit strange, but I think I just hadn’t thought that it might be related to some sort of reverse culture shock (that’s the shock of coming back to the ‘home’ culture after having been away). I have been feeling very sluggish, for lack of a better way to put it. I have not had as much energy as usual. I have felt my motivation for doing much at all seeping away from me. I find myself just wanting to sit around and do nothing.

That’s sad, because I want to be contacting many of you, for example, to catch up and plan times to see folks. I also have work to do on the dissertation. I have tracked down a pile of books I couldn’t get over there, so I could look at them, but now that I have them. . .

I think, though, that realizing that this might be a kind of cultural fatigue (another term for culture shock, and one that more accurately reflects how I have been feeling) might help me to take steps so it doesn’t derail me completely.How can you help? I’m glad you asked. I can think of a couple things:

• pray for me to keep engaged in life
• be patient with me if I don’t respond quickly to emails and calls
• if you want to see us, it might be good to contact us because we may want to see you but not know your schedule or have the mental energy to plan occasions to see you (no offence, just reality)

These times of gap/nothing/waiting can be productive. Just witness my first year in Prague. I had no real defined role aside from being the househusband working on his dissertation. A lot happened that year anyway. I will be sharing more about that when I preach this coming Sunday at Upland Christian Church (July 24, 10:30 am or 6:30 pm at the corner of 15th and San Antonio in Upland, if any of you are around and interested).

Updates: Adoption and Dissertation

On the more update-y side of things, the adoption process is coming along slowly. We are waiting for our criminal background checks from the FBI to return. Our friend, Katie, should be picking some paperwork for us from the Foreign Police in Prague in the next week to send in. Then, we’ll have done what we can before we return at the end of August.

Good news on the dissertation front: I met with my advisor on Wednesday for about 3 hours to go over what I had sent her and strategize for getting this thing done. She is very pleased with the 3 chapters I had sent her so far! She likes where I am going and how I’ve outlined it. She suggested some changes to the organization of the first chapter that I think will make it stronger. We also talked out how to approach chapter 5 (on covenants), so it doesn’t get out of hand. At this point, the goal is to submit everything by late fall so that I could come back and defend in late January/early February. That time works well, because all 3 professors will be in town and it should be before our baby arrives. Whew!

I hope all is well with you this hot summer (over 90 degrees before noon today, it has been over 100 for several days). Keep cool in the wind of the Spirit.

Back & Expecting

Jenny and I are back in California for the summer! It’s been a good few days so far (we arrived on June 30). It’s been different this year from last year. Last year, adjusting to the differences here from Prague threw me off and overwhelmed me. This time, they strike me more as curious, but expected. For example, I was at the grocery store this morning and found myself marveling at the variety of each kind of food: 500,000 kinds of cereal, 67,000 kinds of tea, and stuff like that :-) Last year, I got overwhelmed by that kind of choice in the store (not to mention people speaking in English), but this year, it was merely curious and a bit novel.

THE BIG NEWS: Jenny and I are expecting a new addition to our family! (although not quite the way you may be thinking) We have started the process to adopt a child in the Czech Republic. Rather than repeat myself with all the details, I’ll point you to a couple pages on our website with lots of info about our decision, the process, and the beginnings of our online adoption diary. Suffice it to say here that we are very excited.

To read more about our decision to adopt:
Our Baby Journey
Adoption Journal

My last update was huge, so I’ll spare you and keep this one short. Mainly I wanted to let you know about the family expansion and. . . I hope to be in touch with as many of you as possible over the summer. I want to here what’s been going on in your life, tell you what I’ve been up to, and of course about the adoption process. We’re located in southern California, so those of you here, I hope to see in person. For those of you in Ohio or other states, we are still closer in terms of phone (long distance instead of international) and time difference (3 hours at most instead of 6-9).