Culture Shock

I've written about this before, and I'm sure I will again, but one of the things most difficult to get used to in Croatia is bureaucracy.  Apparently, the situation was similar in Russia when Leo Tolstoy wrote Anna Kerenina .  His (autobiographical?) character Levin describes it perfectly: ...All this bustling, going about from place to place, talking to very kind, good people, who well understood the unpleasantness of the petitioner's position but were unable to help him - all this tension, while producing no results, gave Levin a painful feeling similar to that vexing impotence one experiences in dreams when one tries to use physical force.  He felt it often, speaking with his good-natured attorney.  This attorney did everything possible, it seemed, and strained all his mental powers to get Levin out of the quandry. 'Try this', he said more than once, 'go to this place and that place,'and the attorney would make a whole plan for getting round the fatal ...

The spiritual life is first of all a life. It is not merely something to be known and studied, it is to be lived. Like all life, it grows sick and dies when it is uprooted from its proper element...We live as spiritual [people] when we live as [people] seeking God.  If we are to become spiritual, we must remain [human].  And if there were not evidence of this everywhere in theology, the Mystery of the Incarnation itself would be ample proof of it...Jesus lived the ordinary life of the men of His time, in order to sanctify the ordinary lives of men of all time.  If we want to be spiritual, then, let us first of all live our lives.  Let us not fear the responsibilities and the inevitable distractions of the work appointed for us by the will of God.  Let us embrace reality and thus find ourselves immersed in the life-giving will and wisdom of God which surrounds us everywhere.  - Thomas Merton from Thoughts in Solitude

Tom Foley is the CEO of CEO .  His job is to mobilize missionaries.  Petra and I are part of Christian Educators Outreach and we've found Tom to be a huge encouragement.  Recently he shared some thoughts about Sabbath on his blog Kingdom Travelin '.  It's worth a few minutes of your time. On a trip to DC a few weeks ago, I heard a radio program while driving among the NoVa suburbs where our younger daughter works about sleep. The levels of sleep are several, from the light sleep where we are totally aware of our surroundings to deep sleep where we are virtually paralyzed in stillness. It is in this deep sleep that the body heals and has physical restoration. It is in dreams, the expert stated, that our mind goes through a daily ‘de-fraging’ (excuse the computer lingo). It is, therefore, in rest that we are renewed. Hence, Sabbath. I’ve read a little bit over the last years about Sabbath. The philosophy I’ve developed about Sabbath comes from that. Once a week...

This week is Quote Week.  I've noticed, as perhaps you have, that good writers usually quote other good writers.  In fact, I think you'd be hard pressed to read something that hasn't been influenced by someone else's thinking.  Quote Week is a tribute to authors, thinkers, friends, and family members who have influenced my thinking through their writing.  Every day I will publish a post that contains a quote - some short, some long - that has rubbed off on me in some shape or form.  It also will have something to do (though not explicitly) with culture shock.  For as I mentioned in the introduction , culture shock is not limited to cultural differences between countries. Let Quote Week begin.

"Back and forth, back and forth, back and forth.  Seriously folks, I am more entertained by the shutters blowing in the wind than a 2010 World Cup soccer match.  In fact, the creaks and groans that come from my back door offer a greater variety of sound than those vuvuzela horns .  Two days into the tournament I am positive that my initial ho-hum reaction to this competition was merited." I wrote the above a week and a half ago.  At the time, I had nothing else to write so I didn't publish it.  Then I sat down and watched Chile move the ball against Argentina in a much more exciting way that a European team ever would.  Then Serbia tied heavyweight Germany in their match.  Then I complained when the American goal didn't count as the decider against Slovenia ( the most watched soccer game in ESPN history ).  Then I read up on the tournament.  Suddenly I'm into this thing.  Let me give you a brief history of my soccer knowledge: ...

"It's only worth what someone's willing to pay for it." That was the wisdom my father offered me back when I was an avid baseball card collector.  Background:  My friend and I would wait breathlessly for the mail towards the beginning of every month when the baseball card price guide was due to arrive.  In it, we would find out if our latest acquistions had been worth the investment we had put into them - whether by trade, purchase or luck of finding the card in a pack.  And it's not even that we wanted to sell the cards.  We just wanted to find out whether we had struck gold and would be able to further build up our collections.  But the quote stayed with me.  And it's been useful in understanding a story recorded in the gospel of John: Background: Jesus is the guest of honor at Lazarus' house.  The dinner is going well;  Martha's preparing and serving, Lazarus is still taking strips of linen off as he and Jesus converse, when all of...

Back when I played in the Marine Corps Band at Parris Island, we participated in a lot of parades.    Even since we've moved to Croatia I've played in a few.  But Sunday marked the first time in a long time that I've attended a parade as a spectator.  I'll tell you, it's a lot more fun to stand in the shade with your kids and take pictures than it is to dress up in a stuffy uniform and march a couple miles.  Orahovačko Prolječe is the annual celebration of our town.  All the grade-school students march in the parade, making it a traditional event most everyone attends because they were in the parade when they were a kid.  Even some traditional folk groups from other parts of Croatia participate.  The last couple years, it started raining just as the parade started.  But this year we had clear skies.  Here are some pictures from the 42nd Orahovačko Prolječe parade:

Today marks five years that Petra and I have been married.  Our lives have changed since then, with our move to Croatia and the arrival of two wonderful boys.  But I couldn't imagine my life any other way. Honeymoon, Summer 2005 Summer 2007 Fall 2008 Fall 2009 Spring 2010 Thank you Petra, for 5 amazing years. 

At the risk of downplaying the trepidation with which some who have been diagnosed with acerphobia pour their milk, I would suggest that many Americans who have experienced the shocking zing of sour milk would admit that the next few times they see the milk out on the counter they exert a phobia-like reflex to get it back in the fridge ASAP.  At least I do. Not so in Eastern Europe.  Here in Croatia, most milk cartons, like the ones below, have the words "trajno mlijeko" written somewhere on it.  The adjective "trajno" means "lasting" or "permanent".  Pretty revolutionary when it comes to describing milk huh? So what does this mean? It means that when you go to the grocery store all of the milk is unrefrigerated.  It also means that once you buy the milk, it has a long shelf life. The stamp on the milk I opened this morning indicated that it would be just as good on October 12th as it is on June 1st. And that's s...