11/01/2019
Howdy and Namaste!
IGSA's Editorial team is back with Tales at TAMU, and this time we have Steven White talking to us about stepping outside his comfort zone and integrating into a foreign culture.
S02E01:
My family and I lived a pretty comfortable and familiar life at a recreational camp and retreat center for 13 years. I worked as the Program Director and we had many students come work with us during the summer from various countries including Kenya, South Korea, Thailand, and many others. I also had the opportunity of visiting some of these countries. All of this sparked my curiosity about living and working in a foreign country and experiencing something new and different.
After each trip I made to visit a different country, I would always ask my wife what she thought of our family moving to and living in a different country. Usually the one I had just visited. Then in 2006, during a trip to Thailand, my longing to move and live abroad was confirmed. However, I still needed to talk my whole family, find an opportunity, leave our ideal comfortable home, and make the move! Easy, right? We looked into many options, in many countries, talked to many people, reviewed as a family, and considered many of those options as to the best fit for our family. However, after a visit to India (during the same trip to Thailand), I wasn’t sure if that would be the best option for my wife and 3 young girls. Then we found out about a school in Bangalore looking for teachers for a new school. My wife, Autumn, was determined that this was the best option for us. While I wasn’t as confident, we proceeded to evaluate and decided to make the move to India. One of the things that convinced our youngest daughter, Noel, was that she would get to see monkeys in India! So after accepting the teaching job in India, leaving our home for 13 years, selling all our possessions, and packing our bags... we left for a new adventure living and working in India!
I’m not going to sugarcoat the whole story. We definitely experienced the normal culture shock when we landed in India! Amidst the hawks of coolies and taxiwalas, getting over the jetlag, arriving in a strange place with different sights and sounds, and not having any known, friendly faces around… it was definitely a challenge. We felt thrust out of our comfort zone.
However, my wife and I were determined to learn, experience, adapt to, and even embrace this new location, culture, and people! We started making conscious choices to acclimatize and getting to know our neighbors and the people around us. Soon, our girls adjusted and even made new friends. We connected with our neighbors and even a group of IT professionals we met in Bangalore. Living in India became our new norm and our new home. We still made sure to stay in touch with some other American families living in our city by gathering and celebrating American holidays, like Thanksgiving and Easter. But we didn’t want to stay in an American bubble. We learned about new festivals and customs… observed Indian festivals like Ganesh Chaturthi, celebrated Diwali, learned and practiced speaking the local language, participated in several Indian weddings, and enjoyed some wonderful food! We enjoyed Indian food served on banana leaves, many cups of “chai”, visited many new places, connected with so many people, and made treasured friendships!. We even had opportunities to exchange both American and Indian customs and festivals.
My biggest takeaway from our experience is that Indian culture is very hospitable! We were always treated very warmly, as if we were family. Now as I think back, I believe that our deliberate decision to integrate with the people and the culture is what made our experience so special. Rather than just survive, we thrived and rather than just thrive, we fell in love! While it is important to enjoy what is still familiar to you, it is equally important to experience what is not. “Desi Aggies” formed with the natural desire to connect with the people and culture we greatly missed. As well as providing international students at Texas A&M a home away from home and a warm welcome similar to what we received when we lived in India.
After our return to Aggieland, my love for chai was enhanced by the many students who would invite me into their apartments and make me a cup of chai. Then the love for the taste of chai became something much greater! Here is the thing about Chai: it’s not just the beverage, it’s the meaning and significance behind the Chai. Irrespective of who you are, you step away from work, take a break, have a cup of Chai, and just connect. For that brief moment, people move away from the busy-ness of life and focus on relationships. Many times, I envision myself as a simple chai wallah. Sometimes even wearing a tank top with a lungi (lol). A chai wallah makes people happy by providing a cup of chai and essentially bringing people together. This is the spirit I’ve tried to embody in our “Time4Chai” initiative. We hope that international students here at A&M will resonate with our story - the decision to move to a new country, adapting to its culture, connecting with people, and making fond memories in the process. We hope that each of you here in Aggieland can take some of these values with you wherever you go and whatever you do in the future! Pass on the baton!
