I am not sure whether to attribute my experience last night to overconfidence, disobedience or stupidity. The doctor sent me home from the hospital with strict instructions not to use stairs for ten days. With 77 steps up to the house and a home with two sets of stairs that seemed like a tall order. In the first few days, I managed quite successfully to shuffle down the stairs in the morning and up again at night. Last night, however, I started off on the wrong foot. The result was instant agony.
First Impressions
I started thinking about the number of times throughout my life that I have started off on the wrong foot or made a bad first impression. First impressions are pretty hard to shake yet they are formulated within seconds of meeting someone new.
When you enter a new culture, it is easy to focus on evaluating the new world. It is easy to forget that others are looking right back at you evaluating you. When we first came to Hungary, we felt like fish in a goldfish bowl. It is an uncomfortable position to be in.
Opinions are formed based on many factors, your appearance, your body language, your mannerisms to name but a few. In addition, stereotypes regarding your cultural background may already be ingrained into people’s minds, and many stereotypes are not positive. In Hungary, many people assume because we are from the UK that we are wealthy. As many British can attest the two factors don’t go hand in hand. We also may enter a country and judge it through biased glasses.
“We must look at the nation to which we belong as if we’re looking
at it from the outside; we must look inside ourselves as if we’re
looking with foreign eyes.”
Gyula Illyés
It’s important to ask God for his perspective. If you are finding it difficult adjusting to a new country or culture ask God to give you His insight. Sometimes there are things which we really dislike but we can learn to love with His help.
