New Delhi: Culture Shock One Year Later

"The worth of any journey can always be measured by the difficulties encountered along the way." A.W. Tozer

Today Michael and I have officially made it one whole year in India.

Wow.

It's still hard for me to believe that we live here. We actually live here. We've learned so much in the past year: everything from how to hail down a rickshaw walla to how to navigate through one of Delhi's busy outdoor markets.

Even the mundane things like finding the best places to buy produce, hiring a garbage man, or getting DSL installed have all been huge learning experiences.

Sometimes culture shock has gotten the best of us and we've had a hard time processing this complex place known as India. But it's been an incredible experience. An incredibly frustrating experience at times, but still, an experience.

We have another six months to go before Michael's assignment is completed. While I think we'll be ready to move on, I know that a piece of my heart will be left here in India.

When Jacob wrestled with the angel, the angel touched his hip and Jacob walked away limping for the rest of his life. He was forever impacted and changed by that moment. In the same way, we have been deeply impacted by the past year here in Delhi. 

We have wrestled with India and India has touched our hips. And when we finally leave this place we're going to walk differently than we did before we came. It's changed our perspectives, shown us our need, and most importantly, shown us more about the nature of God.

The following videos are a presentation given to international students at Columbian Business School. Michael and I watched it over the weekend and had some good laughs. Even though this video addresses culture shock within an American university context, we could still totally relate to what this student went through.

So if you've ever wondered if other people experience culture shock in the U.S.,  or what culture shock is like, check these videos out!