MY INTERCULTURAL TIME CAPSULE

I made a post on social media recently about a treasure I found while doing some spring cleaning. It was a beautiful farewell letter written to me by the Chairman of the Board of AFS Intercultural Programmes, Jamaica thanking me for my work as I prepared to move on after three whirlwind years with that organization. Last week, while doing some electronic spring cleaning I happened upon yet another treasure. This time it was an article that I had written for the AFS Jamaica Newsletter not long after I had ended my tenure with AFS. The article offered a summary of my experiences some two months into my intercultural journey in my new abode – Japan.

It was AFS Jamaica that catapulted me into the heady, exciting world of intercultural relations. And it was my amazing experience at AFS Jamaica watching exchange participants learn, cope and grow as they grappled with a new host culture that prompted me to embark upon my own intercultural journey through the Japan Exchange Teaching (JET) Programme.

And now here it was - a newsletter article connecting my new world with my old world via an intercultural highway fraught with potholes and ditches, but flanked by thrilling moments of exciting experiences and mesmeric new learning.

The newsletter article, written some eighteen years ago, traced my initial feelings of euphoria from those first exhilerating moments when I stepped off the plane in southern Japan, through to my rapid descent into sheer panic as the reality of my new life sank in. “Hmmmmm…..not too bad” I had started off in the upbeat opening paragraph of the newsletter, only for the tenor to change a few lines later with the less buoyant recognition that “now far away from the reassuring and excited chatter of the other 1,499 Assistant Language Teachers who had been my constant companions during a dizzying three day orientation, reality slowly began to sink in. Separated from my peers, I made pleasant conversation with my Japanese supervisor as we covered the two hour journey to my new hometown. Beneath the pleasantries, I screamed to myself, “What in God’s name have I done??! Do I really think I can survive a year in a country where I don’t speak a word of the language, probably won’t like the food, and won’t find anything in common with a culture so far removed from my own?!”

Looking back years later I can laugh at my borderline panic, but in reality my reaction and emotions were very similar to what most exchange participants and persons moving to other cultures inevitably feel as a matter of course. In fact, this is only the very beginning of what often feels like a bumpy, scary roller coaster ride throughout the intercultural experience! But here’s the good news -it does get better, and the story often does end ‘happily ever after’ despite the inevitable bumps and bruises and spills from the roller coaster along the way. 

My newsletter article was a journey in and of itself, sharing some of the challenges in my short sojourn thus far, and recounting the awkward adjustments to change and the adaptation to the many things that initially felt completely unfamiliar and strange. Nevertheless, the article ended on an upbeat and positive note as I recounted the joy of watching my students respond to the opportunity for new intercultural learning. For many, I was the first Black gaikokujin (foreigner) they had met up close and in person, and I was most definitely the first Jamaican who had brought the intriguing homeland of Reggae music, famous athletes and exotic foods right into their classroom.

I wrapped up my article by describing a scene of students surrounding my desk during their break time as they pored over pictures of my homeland which I had shared with them during our English class. “I hear them excitedly squealing the words ‘hardship’, ‘green land’ and ‘sunshine’ as they race one another to spill out the explanation of the Jamaican flag. Yes…….., I smile to myself….. intercultural learning is alive and well! 

Re-reading that article so many years later took me back on a journey of my journey. It felt like I had unearthed a precious time capsule, capturing some of the valuable teaching moments that I often share with participants in my intercultural training programmes, and which I will share with you now. If you are on or about to embark on an intercultural journey, I want to encourage you to be EAGER about this new experience. Even though you may have changed countries for work or study purposes don’t let that be your sole focus. Recognize this new chapter in your life as an opportunity for a whole new set of learning which can be difficult in the beginning - and even in the middle, but very enriching and rewarding by the time you get to the end.

Here are some EAGER steps that you can take:

Expect the fear. It is not at all unreasonable that even though you would have done the responsible weighing of pros and cons before making the decision to move to another country and the scale may have looked wonderfully balanced at the time, you may suddenly start to second guess yourself on the other side of the border. For some the doubts may come very early into the experience, and for others a little later when adjusting seems much harder than you anticipated. Rather than give in to the fear, take a moment to remind yourself of some of the reasons you came and the positive things you expect to get out of the experience. Let that be the dominant narrative in your head. Then try to confront and address the fears one by one.

Avoid comparing, stereotyping, criticizing. Your host culture is naturally going to be different from your homeland. Depending on how far you have travelled from home, the cultures may be vastly different. That was my experience moving to the Far East from the Western world. Almost everything was different – food, mores, cultural traditions etc. but the sooner I learnt to stop comparing and to accept that everything would not be exactly the same as it was at home, the faster I was able to adjust to my new environment. Accepting rather than criticizing also gave me the necessary space and objectivity to explore which of the differences I actually liked and might want to explore further – food choices, special interests and so on.

Be Gracious. Showing even small measures of appreciation for your host country often go a long way in endearing you to others. In the newsletter article, I spoke about how people responded to my attempts to speak even a few halting words of Japanese or to use chopsticks – they always applauded even the least effort. It not only made my hosts feel good, but it reaffirmed to me that I was slowly but surely assimilating to my new culture, and that in turn boosted my confidence. 

Embrace the new. Treat this new chapter in your life as an opportunity for learning as many new things as possible. It might be a language, a hobby, visiting a different part of the city or region once a month, or learning a new cultural tradition. Some of my friends in Japan chose to learn the centuries-old art of tea ceremonies or the sport of kendo, I chose to learn Ikebana and Taiko, a traditional form of Japanese drumming. Doing new things enriches your experience and again helps in increasing your feeling of integration into your host culture.

Rejoice in the positives. My article ended on a happy note as I described the joy of watching my students showing off what they had learnt about Jamaica. Because many Japanese students are shy and don’t speak up in the classroom setting, I often felt I was not getting through to them. Their enthusiasm expressed outside of the formality of the classroom was therefore heartwarming, and I allowed myself to be buoyed and encouraged by the moment. Your rejoicing may come in a different form – I have a friend who jumped up and down on her bed with glee the first time she was able to order a taxi in Japanese by herself! Moments like these may be baby steps on your intercultural journey, but all moments matter – rejoice and celebrate them!

If you’re in the middle of an intercultural experience right now or preparing to embark on one, I hope these tips help. Even if you are not a writer or a blogger, try to jot down your thoughts, feelings and experiences from time to time and store them some place where you’ll find them easily in the future. Opening up that time capsule later on in life can be a wonderful experience and a journey in and of itself!