Culture Stress, not shock

After not really leaving the house except for absolute necessity and not speaking to any nationals for 5 days, I FORCED myself to get out this morning and go to the gym. I mean, I forced myself! I celebrated a small victory in my head once I arrived. I came to "a" conclusion when I was fumbling through the Tai-Bo class that, if the way I am accustomed to doing it, I could've taught. I was looking at myself in the mirror next to all of these Peruvians, and even if I changed my hair color, I would still have light skin, blue eyes, and would hover 2-3 inches in height over everyone. So there I stood, in the back of class, looking like the scared green giant. The teacher didn't explain the moves, he just did them. And they weren't moves, they were 45 second, choreographed, martial arts routines that ALL of the people have done many times before. If I was a master in martials arts, I might have been able to know what they were doing. Or if I had studied dance for like 10 years or had some inclination of rhythm, I might have had a clue as to what I should do. Aerobics, exercise and Tai-bo are NOT new to me, but I was seriously a "gringo" caught in the headlights! So what is the problem (the one I am experiencing, not the problem with the class)? The problem with the class is simply this: I AM NOT IN NORTH AMERICA ANYMORE! End of story.

MY problem is that I am experiencing Culture Stress. You see, I have been trying to adapt to this new culture, and things that were once easy and effortless have now become difficult, tiresome, and embarrasing. For example, running, the gym, speaking with people about daily things - all of these things used to be so easy and such stress relievers and now as I attempt to do them, they have become HUGE POINTS of stress for me. And guess what, IT'S ALL NORMAL! It just all came to me today during the class as I was trying get the stress out "through" exercise that I was feeling more stressed than ever.

So..... I fumbled around hysterically! My friend, Kitty, has a blog called youjustgottalaugh. And the rest of that sentence is....or you'll cry. Right there, in that class, I just started laughing. I laughed on the inside and on the outside, knowing that if I didn't, I would surely start crying right there.

John and I debriefed about what I'm going through and my experience and decided we need to do this everytime I come home. If you are interested, here is some insight into culture stress, which is different than culture shock. I am not in shock about the culture, I am just STRESSED trying to adapt to it. Make sense?

If you are interested, here are two links that share about culture stress:
http://www.missionarycare.com/brochures/br_culturestress.htm

http://www.buzzle.com/editorials/10-22-2005-79509.asp

Even though Peru is new to me, Latin America is not! I think I jumped in and tried to "adapt" to Peru too quickly because I had already lived in Latin America for 13 months.