Dissing organziation

I've found what it is that really gets North Americans' knickers in a knot when they're abroad. Take the most open-minded, culturally aware, laid-back people, but put them in some sort of formal situation like a conference, or administrative office, where things are less than organized, and they don't like it.

I am definitely part of this group.

Up until this point, the organization of the Spanish government teaching program I'm participating in has been less than stellar. The program is joint-administrated by two levels of government, and they're just not on the ball, especially when it comes to communicating with the participants. Especially in the weeks leading up to leaving home, it was kind of nerve-wracking to not really feel like you knew 100% what was going on.

Talking to other North American participants on the net before leaving and at the orientation, I came to realize one thing about us. For something unofficial, social or informal we don't care if things are loose and disorganized. But for anything official or formal we expect a tight ship. So we've kind of been going crazy with the way this program is run.

But there's absolutely nothing we can do about it. That in itself is also something we have to get used to. We just have to lower our standards, expect things to be disorganized, and go with the flow...a lot. Welcome to Spain!