Prejudice and Ethnocentrism

I woke up early this morning, anxious for news on the apartment.  We were praying for a clear yes or no and hoping for a yes; we received a clear no.

As Jordan and I sat and looked at each other in disappointment, I could feel the twang we talked about at pre-field training.  A twang is a discomfort when our expectations are different from reality.  The bigger the difference between our expectations and reality, the greater the twang.  This was a big twang. Instead of being accepted and moving into a new home this week, we were rejected and are back at square one, looking at any possibility we can find.

While it's disappointing to not get that apartment, the most painful part is that it feels so personal.  Today I experienced prejudice, perhaps for the first time in my life.

You see, France has a really big problem with foreigners not paying rent.  There are laws in place that do not allow landlords to evict tenants in the winter months (perhaps October through April).  So if a renter does not pay rent, there is nothing the landlord can do until April 15.  By the time the landlord has all of the paperwork and court dates in order, it's winter time again, and they have to start all over.  It's a mess.  In an effort to solve this problem, insurance companies have been created for landlords to cover the cost of unpaid rent.  Now, an agency shows the property and collects all the documents.  They pass the documents on to the "owner" but the owner never actually sees the paperwork - the insurance company reviews it.  Receiving money from outside of France and/or not paying taxes in France is a red flag and throws those candidates out of the system.

That's what happened to us today.  And there's nothing we can do about it.

Walking into every rental agency Aix-les-Bains, we immediately explained that our salary is received from the United States.  Time after time the agents said, "That is a big problem" (I even understood that phrase in French).  As my disappointment and frustration grew, I realized how ethnocentric I was being.

But we're from America!  We aren't just going to drive back to our home country so you can't find us in the summer time - it's much too far and expensive.  We're from America!  We have plenty of money available to us and wouldn't dream of not paying rent to you.  We're from America!  Our leadership in Aix and in Paris and in Colorado will vouch for us.  We can get any document that you want.  Really, we will be good tenants; we aren't like those other foreigners.

My ethnocentrism is no less ugly than their prejudices.  Ouch.

And so we continue.  Searching.  Waiting.  Praying.  Learning.  Trusting.

Please pray for us as we learn to navigate in a foreign land and culture.  Pray that we'd trust God with our housing and that being foreigners would not prevent us from renting in Aix-les-Bains.

We looked at one apartment tonight and plan to see several others tomorrow.  None of them seem quite as nice as the first place we saw, but we are trusting that the same God who has provided for our needs so abundantly to this point will provide a beautiful and affordable home for us quickly.

When we aren't searching for apartments or trying to figure out our banking, we've enjoyed helping Steve with his new house and the views around Aix-les-Bains....