Saturday, February 28, 2009

Life in the Middle #1


Right now we are in the no-man's land between two cultures. We are not living and participating in our culture of origin and we can only sort of participate in the culture we now find ourselves in. If you haven't experienced it, you should just know that it comes with interesting experiences. I was reminded of Jesus words that unless you become like a little child you cannot enter into the kingdom. Much has been discussed in commentaries and books about these words, but a few weeks desiring to acquire life in a new culture explains it better than any sermon. With two weeks of language class under our belt, I now have the communication ability of a 1.5 year old. I can name some items. I can identify some actions. I can sort of introduce myself. And I may be able to tell you how I'm doing.
So what happens when a 29 year old tries to use what little he knows of Icelandic to buy coffee at the cafe. He ends up saying something along the lines of, "I WANT ME SOME COFFEE!" I was thinking...that's about how Darcy orders, but that would be another post.

3 comments:

Anonymous said...

It will get better guys! CHIN UP and Hang in there!!

Carrie

Deanna said...

Wow, I remember days like that when we were in Germany. Enjoying the blog - you are doing a great job capturing the lessons and memories of the first few months. Praying for you guys - we are hopefully future co-workers in the Sc. cluster and would love to meet you all someday.
By the way, I have a blog with a cluster map on it - I can't tell you how cool it would be to get a hit on it from Iceland...

beckers said...

Hey Garmans!
Praying for your transitioning and lingual skills!
Colby, a friend told me that if you are good with Mathematics and Music then you will catch on to other languages quicker. Your good at both right? so youll do fine and eventually be able to speak your age level!
love yall and shall talk with you later!