(no subject)

[phineasjones]

i just read an article in a little... i don't know what to call it, small publication from my alma mater about a program they now offer where they take students on a two week trip to dakar, senegal in january. one of the participants talked about how comfortable she was there after her two weeks and said, "i gradually began to understand life there."

come on. i find it incredibly annoying that there is no acknowledgement that two weeks is nowhere near enough time to 'understand life' in a completely different culture. i was in dakar for six months and i would never make that claim. though, i can see that after 2 weeks, it probably all still seems exciting and fun. i went through a cycle in my six months - ooh! exciting and fun, so much to see and learn! mangi jang wolof! -> omg, what am i doing here? there's so much pain and poverty. i will never understand this place and constantly being an outsider sucks. -> whoo! dancing is fun! when's the next party?

there was one woman on our program who, after nine months there, declared herself 'assimilated.' it was so far from the truth, it astounds me to this day.

i don't know. this article is clearly intended to be promotional and only states the goal of giving students a more international perspective. but that one woman's quotes just irk me.

Comments

[afrikate.livejournal.com]

I can understand your frustration. Two years isn't nearly enough time to completely understand a culture -- I feel like one of the important things I've learned in Malawi is how little I understand the culture. At two weeks, the gloss is still on. I know that here, we say week three of PC training is the toughest -- suddenly the the kids are no longer cute, they're annoying as hell. The poverty sort of grinds down on you. Not to mention that by that point you've gotten sick of the food and usually gotten diarrhea.

And I completely sympathize with the yoyo of feelings. I've spent two years on an emotional rollercoaster.

I suppose the program is trying to recruit people, and you never know, maybe it will spark an interest that will lead to its participants heading overseas for longer. But it would be nice if they included some kind of caveat like: you'll see a lot of things and learn about life there, but you will barely scratch the surface of what you could know.

[phineasjones.livejournal.com]

would be nice if they included some kind of caveat

yeah, that's really what bothered me most. and your point is right on that really, the longer you're there (wherever there is) and the more you learn, the more you realize how much you don't understand.

[camillafarfalla.livejournal.com]

yes! (also, I'm not the only one who keeps Vista lying around and only just read it!) omg that really annoyed me too. I mean, it seems like a really great program - I feel like two weeks in Senagal is better than none - but, yeah, it's a trip, or a vacation, even, so clearly not long enough to know much of anything. Two years in Italy and I'm comfortable there and have my niche, but I don't really know that I'd call myself assimilated. Some acknowledgement would have been nice. Yes.

[phineasjones.livejournal.com]

vista? hmm? what?

exactly, the acknowledgement, that's all it needed.

[princessrugger.livejournal.com]

i'd never heard that about week 3. my uncle was in the peace corps in liberia in the '70s and after 3 weeks he walked into his boss's office and told him he didn't think it was right for him and that he thought he should go home. his boss told him to give it another day--he stayed for 3 years. :)

[phineasjones.livejournal.com]

i think of it more as end of week two than as week three. and that makes total sense to me about your unlce... and it's a great story.