Our daughter living in Guatemala had a much different experience than our son who lived in Sweden. She had extremely rugged conditions and lived among the poorest of the poor. The people loved her, appreciated her and her experience, although very difficult, was also very rewarding.
Our son, on the other hand, worked hard and served well but was accepted on a very different level.
The mindset and cultures of Europeans compared with South Americans is vastly different. Out daughter lived with no electricity and no clean running water at times. They went to the market before each meal as they didn't have refrigeration to keep food fresh. But the markets often didn't have refrigeration either, so that made it difficult to eat healthy foods. There was a time when she could only eat canned foods and produce. But the people were loving, accepting, generous and kind. They loved her and accepted her as their own. She is a blond haired, blue eyed, 5'8" American who stuck out in any crowd, but they saw beyond the physical and loved her and appreciated all she did for them.
The biggest barrier at first, of course, was the language. She is a fast learner and picked it up remarkable well. Since returning home she has worked exclusively with the Hispanic population in the medical field and finds it rewarding. In the past couple of years she has been able to train herself to be fluent in Spanish and has a deep and abiding love for the Guatemalan people.
Our son in Sweden also had a language and custom barrier, more of a mind set really. He did make inroads and had rewarding relationships but on a much more guarded level than the Guatemalan. He certainly loved the food and saw many beautiful and historical sights. He learned to love the Sweds also, but the work he was involved in didn't quite have the level of appreciation and acceptance that our daughter did. Good, wonderful people, just a little more hesitant about letting someone into their world.
As their mother, I would often try to write my weekly letters to them in their various languages, I would write a letter and use an online transcription service to translate it into either Spanish or Swedish. The first time I did this I really blew our son away. He was so impressed and wanted to know how I did it and who was teaching me Swedish. It was fun and helped me stay in touch with them. They had so many hurdles to overcome I didn't want their communication with me to be one of them.
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