How Your Inner Nomad Fights Back

Modern Me: Everyone does it.

Nomad Me: But it's just embarrassing. I could never do that!

Modern Me: But this is America. Poeple do it all the time.

Nomad Me: But no one needs to know what mine look like!

Modern Me: You did it in France. Have you already forgotten that?

Nomad Me: But that was in the laundry room. This is different. Really, I just can't!

Modern Me: Grow up Grace!

This debate took place on Wednesday afternoon. I had just spent $1.5 to do my laundry and was hardly ready to fork over another $1.5 in quarters to use the dryer. So as the complacent global nomad who's all to prepared to "make a plan," the clothesline it was. But after so many years in Africa and especially after living in Islamabad...well...lets just say I was not about to display my...uh...unmentionables.

"Everyone does it." said my roommate. "I mean, it's not like a secret or anything and no one else lives down here."

Inside, I cringed. "I'm sorry, but I've lived in more conservative cultures and I just can't hang my underwear out for all the world to see. That's just wrong." In my mind, I was vividly remembering being 16 living in Kenya and having a male classmate mock my girlfriends who hung their "flags" on the clothesline "like it was the UN."

The inner global nomad is still small voice inside your head. He's ingrained in you. He's inched his way under your skin and is going to dictate your behavior without you even knowing it. The inner nomad represents any collection of habits and cultural norms from any country that decide to stick with you. The inner nomad pricked me several times this past week. I saw several Afghan men this week and I quickly buttoned the top two buttons on my shirt and questioned my use of shorts as everyday attire. I met several Kenyans and instantly returned their question in my own faux Kenyan accent. I saw my fellow student teasing one of our instructors and was aghast at their "lack of respect for authority." I called the trash can, "the bin." I explicitly told people my parents are from upstate New York. I defended the weather in the southern hemisphere. I was ballistic with joy when I found couscous. And perhaps most embarrassingly, I was corrected in public that a "PE-can" is actually a "peek-UN" (how would I know that?).

Yes the inner-nomad can take over. It's not such a bad thing. I've learned to be okay with his chatter. In my own way, I don't want him to leave because if he does, I'll feel disconnected with so many things I value about my overseas life. So I'm just going to hang certain items in my closet to dry.

How Summer Peacebuilders Can be Hilarious

These are some of my favorite SPI moments thus far.

1) At lunch:
Female Pakistani participant holds up a poppy/onion bagel: "What's this?"
Me: "It's a special kind of American bread. It's best if you put it in the toaster. You have to cut it first."
Female participant, frowning: "Help me, please."
Me, after cutting it and handing it back.
Female participant holds the bagel, picks at the inside of the bagel, examines the texture and shudders horrified.
Me: "It's best if you put it in the toaster and we spread this stuff called cream cheese on it. It's really good, you have to try it."
Female participant shoves half the bagel in my hands, frowning: "I don't want this."


2) Discussing movie night for the participants:
Bill: "I have tons of movies at home we could watch, like Princess Bride or Chitty Chitty Bang Bang."
Me: "I hate that movie! It's awful! We can't subject our participants to that!"
Val: "Chitty Chitty Bang Bang, really?"
Me: "It's so annoying!"
Bill: "That's it, you're fired."
Val: "Well in the past, participants like to watch a movie that addresses some issue which they discuss afterwards."
Bill: "That's why I said Wall-E."
Val: "Well..."
Bill: "It's all about environmental degradation."
Val: "Or we could post a list of option and let the participants pick what they're most interested in watching."

3) Discussion registration:
Val: "So no one had any housing issues or anything?"
Me: "Nope, I think everyone is pretty happy."
Kevin: "That or you're just intimidating."

4) At registration Monday morning:
Me: "I'm lodging and housing so if you have any problems let me know."
Participant: "Oh!! I already talked to the health person and I told them I'm diabetic but I can take care of it."
Me: "Okay, great, good to know!"

Other semi-comical episodes included:

• My supervisor (or one of three) setting her scarf on fire the opening ceremony
• Accidentally entering the mall through the lingerie section of JC Penny's with several Middle-Eastern Muslim men
• Waiting up till 5am for a faculty member to arrive in from Fiji (this actually wasn't that funny)
• Manning various explanations for room changes ("she talks on her phone late at night"). This is where I wish I'd taken mediation and/or facilitation
• The constant battle with the never ending spring rain (and my bike adventures back and forth from residence, work, dorm, and information desk)
• And last but not least, working in an office with three hilarious people who talk to themselves continually and who's random thoughts intersect in such bizarre places I'm always amused. SPI is the most fun I've had in a long time. And the funny thing is, I'm on staff. I'm actually working.

How I ended up at SPI

In the peacebuilding field, EMU's SPI is just the coolest thing ever. Seriously! You have people coming from over 50 countries, instructors also from all over the world and you collaborate on subject relating to the promotion of world peace? Now that's just awesome.

I knew about Summer Peacebuilding Institute (SPI) long before I knew about EMU's undergrad peace studies program. This summer SPI is launching it's fourteenth annual summer courses. These four ten-day sessions are actually a branch of EMU's Center for Justice and Peacebuilding (CJP) and most people therefore know about CJP through SPI and CJP's world famous conflict transformation master program

But this is just incredibly boring facts. It's much better to actually live it. I can't say this for certain as SPI isn't officially beginning until Monday but I'm stoked! I'm working on staff here at SPI until mid-June when sessions end, I job I was totally excited to get because it means I can interact with people from all over the world again. I have an office job coordinating housing and I have a people job as a "camp counselor" in the faculty dorm. SPI has three permanent staff and I'm one of seven temporary summer/student staff who work mainly as community assistants (RA/camp counselor/order keeper) in the participent dormartory on campus. I get the best job/jobs because it means I get to do what I'm good at (organizing) and do what I'm good at (interacting with global nomads).

I may hate it. Actually I can't possible hate it because, well, I get to work with fabulous people for one thing. Right now, we're kind of worried about swine flu (um hum, H1N1 virus) but we're going right on ahead and enjoying life abundantly. (Masks are in the kitchen cupboard.)

How to Survive Finals Week

Finals week is completely new to me. I know all about exams and papers and drinking coffee to stay alive but...finals week?...that's new. We have a week dedicated to just finals? Okay, I've never done finals week before. I just study and take exams all the way to the end. But, when in Rome...well...you know how it goes.

Finals Week: A period after classes have ended dedicated to handing in papers, taking exams, partying, cleaning out/packing one's stuff, and putting final touches on summer plans. (This definition is from the author's private stash.)

It's only Monday of my final week and I've pretty much finished my work. No more papers (one left to proof though), no more exams, no more reading, it is finished (hands now folded in a mock yoga position). After fifteen weeks of non-stop running, I can finally breathe. I realize I've been in the States for almost four full months, about four of those months missing different aspects of overseas life. Yet and end means a beginning and if you're familiar with overseas life, you already know it's paramount to accept and love new beginnings.

I'm not quite certain how anyone given to procrastination tendencies survive final week. I think they more or less loose their sanity. But my working ahead has paid off (that and I can't control the syllabus which in this case is working to my advantage, evil laugh in mock yoga position). I will spend my finals week as follows: cleaning up and cleaning out my room (which is already super clean and super organized, kind of boring), prepare for my summer jobs (which I will detail in upcoming blog postings and will be hugely cross cultural), update my blog (including writing some back postings to elaborate on cross cultural experiences in the United States), fit in some socializing (especially with graduating friends), catch up on emails (if I haven't emailed you, it's not because I don't love you), mock those who are running around (just a little), and generally enjoy my life. Oh and that reminds me, I need to buy coffee tomorrow.

How to Write a Conflict Analysis

Part of being a "professional peacebuilder" in training, means I'm required to analyze conflict. How did it happen. Why did it happen. What are the factors. This is typically presented in a written paper. A general part of university life is discussion about your "research methods." ("I took a random sampling which I cross referenced with xyz and then conducted interviews looking for keywords which were consistent with abc and then..." I'm taking quantitative program eval this semester so I'm now fluent in talking the talk.) Take notes now, because I'm pretty sure you may have to write a conflict analysis someday.

A conflict analysis is much the same as a research paper (a problem with my first draft). I choose to write mine on Zimbabwe, not an overt conflict but still a conflict. This ended up being both a positive and negative thing; positive in that I had a massively broad understanding on the subject, negative in that it was personal and difficult to be objective. I begin by reading. I checked out 11 books from the interlibrary loan. I only read 5. I researched online information from governmental and non-governmental organizations, human rights groups, and news services such as Reuters, BBC, and AP. It was a somewhat gradual process using about one free evening a week to research for 4/5 hour blocks at a time. I think I kind of when overboard with the research.

A conflict analysis has an outline. Unlike a general research paper on any given country, you're focusing on power, parties, sources for conflict, identity, gender, human rights, and any historical interventions. Peacebuilding is an interdisciplinary field, and in minor refection of that, all categories sort of mesh together with sources drifting into parties which leads into identity, and on it goes. Most challenging for me is that you do need to analysis the data, it is conflict analysis. You need to interpret the data in an academic non-biased manner, and share these findings.

Volia. These are the fundamentals. I wish you well should you ever attempt writting one yourself. (I have to do another next year.)

How to Spend Spring Break (The Best Way)

Spring break is nonexistent at EMU. This is primarily for one reason, it takes place the first week of March. The first week of March is not spring for obvious reasons. Somewhere I read it was actually "mid-semester recess." This is a better term for this week which though it falls directly mid-term, is still in the middle of winter. The Monday of my spring break, it snowed, hard, in Virginia.

There are three ways to spend Spring Break.

1. Hit all the beaches in Florida (and/or Mexico), get drunk, lay nude in the sun, party, and have an AWESOME time!!! Whoohoo!!!!!


2. Go home where your family will no doubt have a long list of chores for you. They might actually be excited about seeing you again but they'll still make you work.


3. Visit friends or extended family, do homework and enjoy the peace and calm. Read a book.

My spring break is the later. I get to visit family that I haven't seen in almost two years, I get to kick back and work on papers due the second half of my semester. Ideally, I would kill to visit some random place I've never been to before (that's the overseas dweller in me which can never be successfully repressed). But duty first and I do have a lot of homework and my preference is to spread a little bit of homework over a long period of time to generally avoid stress and all-nighters. This is also the overseas dweller in me, always be prepared in case of evacuation, power outages, or a pandemic flu.

Spring break is designed to be just that, a break. For me, it's a break from trying to understand an alienating culture and remember what it's like to think without external coercion. But if kicking back and getting the academic out of your mind in Myrtle Beach with all your pals works, more power to you. I wouldn't enter into it expecting to make decisions free from external coercion, just remember that.

How Reverse Culture Shock Hit Me

As the end of my fifth week as an American college student draws to a close, I've begun to realized I've developed a pattern.

Monday: "That was a interesting class! I love this country!"

Tuesday Evening: "I hate this country! Everyone is so opinionated and I can't relate!"

Wednesday: sigh..."I should do homework...nah...I need coffee first."

Thursday: "Who am I kidding?! What the heck am I doing in Virginia?!"

Friday: "The weekend! I'm going to get so much done!"

Saturday morning: "I love sleeping in...maybe I should walk to Food Lion."

Saturday evening: "Weekends suck! Everyone goes home! I can't go home! I hate my life!"

Sunday: "I love church. I love my church friends. America is a decent place."

And it repeats, going into week six.

As a TCK, life in a small American college is a series of ups and downs; the desire to be American combined with the desperate attempts to find something familiar. Life here has only made me more aware of my multiculturalism. While EMU celebrates diversity, it doesn't exactly know how to encourage the manifestation of it...unless you plan on marching in a peace rally or play bluegrass on the guitar. EMU is a small school. If you're not related to someone, you must have attended high school with them or at least been best friends with someone they dated.

I'm still discovering how my unique TCK inspired identity fits in here. This is only fitting because as classes increase in intensity, I realize the social is reserved for the freshmen and sophies. This is where I want to be, I remind myself several times a day. If I drink enough coffee, maybe my life will make more sense.

Today is Thursday...typically a rather low day but today is actually pretty good! So while I continuing my attempts to understand all I encounter, I can attest to the fact the reverse culture shock isn't a myth...