Cross-Cultural Greetings

The orphanage held a church service one Sunday, a service very different to the ones I have experienced back home in Massachusetts. One particular aspect that was so different was the welcome and greeting part of the service which lasted almost fifteen minutes. It involved nearly the entire congregation getting up from their seats, greeting one another, and engaging in conversation, whether they knew them or not, and whether they were right next to them or across the room. Strangers, both men and women, approached me with a smile and began to talking with me while children who had never seen me before that day ran up to me to give me a hug. It was not like back home, where many church greetings consist of shaking two, maybe three hands, saying "Good morning", and then sitting back down. I wondered how something as simple as greeting one another in church could be so different in two separate cultures. I realized that these different greetings actually reflected underlying ideologies in each culture. In some northeastern churches in the U.S. that I have experienced, it is the ideology to be conservative with greetings among strangers to be polite, but brief and usually non-interactive. This seems to stem from the norm that it is strange to be overly-extroverted with an unfamiliar person, as it can be seen as intrusive and uncomfortable to linger past the polite handshake and initial greeting. Not so in this Guatemalan church, as there is no such ideological inhibition, but rather a genuine openness and acceptance, treating unfamiliar people as friends rather than strangers.

Keeping it casual

It was not all play and no work for my missions team and I at the Guatemalan orphanage. During the day, a group of us would work on laying the foundations of a future medical clinic. The clinic would provide medical care for the many needs of the orphanage and the public as a whole. Our work site was right next to a busy highway where passerby could see us working. We watched the large multi-colored buses drive past with people hanging out of doors with one hand and riding on the roof with the luggage due to over-packed quarters. Guatemalan rules of vehicle passengers are very lenient, as we found out our first day with eight of us taking a ride to a local soccer game in the back of a pickup truck. Still, we couldn’t get over the fact of how casual Guatemala seemed to be about everything. Public interaction, we found, was very casual, even among strangers. Our females in the group would also attract the attention of male pedestrians who would openly gawk and whistle at them. Sometimes pedestrians would stop walking and watch our activities for a good amount of time. In the US, this is generally considered impolite, intrusive, and if people linger too long, overall awkward much of the time for both parties involved. In Guatemala, people seemed to be very comfortable with blatant people-watching and there is no embarrassment or awkwardness involved. We learned to become accustomed to being watched and engaged in conversation with complete strangers, learning to adopt to the casual way of life of Guatemala.

Fútbol

Playing soccer with the kids at the orphanage, I quickly learned that there was a difference between American soccer and fútbol, Guatemalan soccer. The distinction was made clear when we began our game on an outdoor basketball court, gringos versus Guatemalans. Us gringos played a slower, more defense-oriented soccer, passing the ball frequently and working to get a good shot on goal, which happened infrequently. The Guatemalan kids, however, played a very fast-paced, aggressive, offense-minded fútbol, relying more on their individual footwork and power shooting than on their teammates. Their mentality was score a goal at every opportunity; they didn’t linger trying to get a clear shot on net. If they were in even relatively close shooting range, they would shoot, and boy, could they shoot. It didn’t matter if they were thirty feet away from you or five, they would blast the ball every time. Also, there was no distinction made between male and female players, they would play just as rough with their opponents and shoot the ball just as hard at the goalie regardless of gender. We quickly learned that it was necessary to play just as aggressive and fast-paced as them in order to compete. What we lacked in natural skill we made up for with hustle. Although, we still lost every game we played. Even so, we learned a valuable lesson: in order to play soccer in Guatemala, we had to learn how to play fútbol.

I am a gringo

What is a gringo? It is a Spanish language term generally used to describe a white non-Hispanic, particularly from the US. I had heard the term used before, in movies and pop culture references, but had never before considered the meanings or implications. The first time I was called a gringo was in Guatemala. I was playing soccer at an orphanage with my missions team and a group of children aged ten to fifteen years old. The older kids were making teams to begin a soccer game and they called out in English that the game would be “gringos versus Guatemalans”. I laughed at the name, amused that they could label us with one general term. I also realized for the first time that, due to my different nationality, I myself fell into a labeled category. In my nearly all white town, labels and terms were not necessary as the majority of people were white and presumably American. I realized generalizations such as "gringo" do not respect the diverse heritages of myself and my friends, as I am part Native American and had friends on the trip who were part Venezuelan and Filipino. I now realize that racial and ethnic terms such as black and white and Hispanic and Latino, just like "gringo", do not respect the diverse heritages of individuals. For us, with this term “gringo”, we were associated with a different country and culture as the children made a clear distinction by team arrangements and names. To them, we were the foreigners, and they reminded us of that fact, using “gringo” at times in a way that meant more or less “white American who can’t speak Spanish or play soccer”. We accepted our name and became determined to prove our mettle in the soccer game and show that, yes, we were gringos, and we were proud of it.

My First Culture Shock

Traveling to a Latin American country was a dream come true for me. While in Guatemala, I had to keep pinching myself to reassert that this dream was real. Everything was new and exciting and truly immersed me in the Guatemalan culture, from the Spanish language that swirled around me, to the bill boards displaying Bible verses, to the survival-of–the-fittest driving that makes even inner-city US driving look tame in comparison. In Guatemala, I quickly learned that aren’t really any notions of right of way or courteous driving principles. I watched Guatemalan drivers cut each other off at will, barely avoiding each other and nearly causing collisions on a regular basis. As for pedestrians, in Guatemala, the pedestrian right of way does not exist; on the road, drivers have the right of way and they know it; drivers feel no obligation to slow down or stop for pedestrians crossing the street. I didn’t know what I was expecting Guatemalan driving to be but I never thought that it would be so dangerous and seemingly devoid of rules. Driving was one of the first facets of Guatemalan culture that confronted and conflicted with my pre-conceived notions of social and cultural behavior. This culture shock made me realize that although I kept comparing what I saw and experienced to US culture, I could not assume that both cultures would be the same in any given aspect, even something as mundane as driving.

Experiencing Guatemala

            Wikipedia does not provide cross-culture experiences. Although Wikipedia can generally acquaint readers on various countries with its extensive information on histories, governments, and cultures, despite all its knowledge, Wikipedia cannot supply a personal and meaningful connection with any country. I learned this truth as I was researching Guatemala, for I was participating in a missions trip group with my church that was traveling to an orphanage in Guatemala during August of 2009. Excited at the prospect of going on my first missions trip, traveling to a Latin American country for the first time, and intrigued as to what kind of place Guatemala was, I began to conduct a modest research project to increase my knowledge of the country. I studied different aspects of the country, looking at everything from politics to crime to cuisine. I felt that if I researched enough, did enough “homework”, I would fully understand the country and would be fully prepared for my trip to Guatemala. However, studying and living are two different concepts, as I soon found out. A concept, an occupation, a country, in order to be fully understood, must be personally experienced. Factual knowledge is one thing, first-hand contact with the object of study is another entirely different concept. Through my experiences with Guatemala, I developed a personal and heartfelt relationship with the country and most importantly with its people. And that is something that Wikipedia could never do.