YAV Orientation

Hi everybody!   As I write this, I am at 34,033ft (10,372m) with about 8 hours until I land in Seoul.  I think it's important to get my thoughts about orientation week written down before I get to Korea and they are overwhelmed by all the new experiences I'll be having!

First off, there was an earthquake and a hurricane all during this week, but aside from changing around our flight schedule, these didn't have much of an effect on orientation.  It was nice to have a couple resting days after a jam-packed week, however.  How jam-packed was it, you ask?  Well, I'll try to give you an idea below!

Our general schedule at orientation was to have some breakfast, morning worship and bible study, a workshop or two, lunch, more workshops, a little free time, dinner, small group time, and vespers.   It was packed!  The workshops were on the whole very informative and I think they will serve us well in our YAV years.  We mostly talked about issues that could (and probably would) crop up for each of us, whether we are serving nationally or internationally.

I'll go ahead and tell you a little about some of the workshops; I want you to know that the YAV program does a great job!  Cultural competency taught us about how our culture is part of who we are and how we react to the world around us by looking at it through our own particular "cultural lens."  This has many levels, we learned about the stuff on the surface that is easier to be aware of and to adopt superficially from another culture; this includes things like food (FOOD!), dress, music, games, celebrations, etc.  Harder to detect and be aware of is the culture rooted deeper within each of us, which can influence us without our awareness.  This goes all the way from unspoken rules like language, personal space, and concept of time to deeper things like concepts of cleanliness, ideals of raising children, problem-solving, and roles in relation to all sorts of things like age, sex, class, occupation, and so on.  When one's cultural norms are being challenged, the deeper they are, the heavier the emotional load on us as we try to adjust.

We also did several workshops on subjects that would help us get along in our living situations and job placements.  Safety, gender issues, housing concerns, personality types, and communication in conflict were all discussed to prepare us to be in intentional community with one another and with the people that will surround us.  Self-care taught us about how detrimental it can be in a YAV's situation to be the one who always says "yes."  And let's face it, by volunteering to be YAVs, we're already predisposed to be that sort of person -- so we learned it is important to step back and take care of yourself first so that you will remain fit to help others.

We had a fascinating skit/workshop about the process of globalization put on by the director of Stony Point, Rick Ufford-Chase.  He had about twelve YAVs up at the front as different institutions both in the US and a fictitious Latin American country, Panagua.  He walked through each of the steps in this scenario as they happened historically to several countries, and it was extremely interesting to literally follow the money around and see how globalization makes the rich richer and hurts the poor, even though at first it seemed like it would profit both.  I wish there had been a second part to this talk that focused on the side of the immigrants to the US, as that is closer to the situation I expect to encounter in Korea.

Finally, we had an alarming, but useful, warning about the culture shock we'll all experience.  It's something nobody can avoid completely, but this gave us a heads up on what we might find ourselves going through emotionally and a rough timeline of how the steps will proceed, see below.  

Up first is pre-departure ups and downs, where you are saying your goodbyes while anticipating the year ahead.  I experienced this as a sort of numbness and distancing from everyone around me right before I left home, which was very strange to me, and yet somehow peaceful.  Then there's orientation which brings you up to your arrival abroad.  At first everything is new and interesting and exciting -- the honeymoon phase -- when you feel great about where you are.  Then you crash and burn, falling into the distress stage where you get very homesick and everything seems to be preventing you from having experiences and you think everything about the US is better than where you are and your old support systems aren't there anymore to help you.  Yes Mom, this will be the hardest part, and we both just have to remember that this is part of the natural way we react to culture shock and there will be better days ahead.  Next up is adaptation, where you start to get more comfortable in the new culture, realizing that you liked things about it you hadn't before, or you prefer the way they do it to the way back home, and you feel better about being here.  Then there's another cycle of each of these steps as you prepare to come home... good grief!  This is one part I didn't think about very much, but it happens -- we will experience the exact same reverse culture shock process upon our return to the states.  It's pretty frightening to realize that I'll come home and I won't ever be able to see it the way I did before my YAV year, but the experience is worth it (so I'm told) and I think I'll come back better for it.

Last but not least (and probably first) was the great group of people that the YAVs are!  I know these will be good friends for life even though we've only actually spent about two weeks together so far (it feels like so much more)!  It was a great time bonding with the people I had met at the discernment event, as well as those serving nationally that I hadn't known before.  Also, the YAVAs (Young Adult Volunteer Alumni) that serve to run these events are fantastic.  The worship messages, music, and YAV year stories are always so powerful!  And our small group was the best!  (Yay Maggie!)  We really used that space to talk things out, have fun, and decompress (in more ways than one) after long days of emotionally taxing workshops.

If you made it this far, thanks for reading!!  It was an intense week and I thought this post should give a glimpse of what made it so powerful.  So as a reward for reading the whole thing, here are some YAV pictures from this week!

My small group!

Northern Ireland YAVs

Kenya YAVs

YAVA facilitators

Beautiful morning sun over smooth-as-glass lake

Ready!

Canoeing with the small group!

Shane and Liz

Nicole!

Me and Erin

Paddling through the golden fog