Reverse/Culture Shock Experience?

[rondachewarrior]

So I'm writing my draft for my Language and Communication course in uni about when I first experienced massive culture shock and it got me curious about others experiences from either traveling to another country or coming back to theirs. Did you guys ever learn to adapt or were you just counting down the days to go home?

Coming from a self-loathing Thai, I definitely know I suffered a major identity crisis when I went back to Thailand (I'd been so used to being an expat). People accused me of being a fake thai because I had the vocabulary of a 6 year old but butchered my own language dialect when I spoke it. The friendship circles were very segrated (kind of like Melbourne, Australia actually. Which was hands-down the most racist place I've ever been to) and I had no place in either since I couldn't speak Thai properly, the chinese all hung out together, and there were very few international students (like 1-2 a year) to form genuine friendships, and I'd get groups of people pointing and laughing behind my back or in front of me for the first semester I started.

I'm wondering if anybody else had similar cultural or language barriers they experienced and if you'd be willing to share?

 

[Jonipoon]

Definitely, I lived in China for 4 years which was the most life-changing experience ever. But although I've ran into countless of frustrating situations throughout the years, eventually you get used to it and learn to adapt.

I generally dislike the term "culture shock", because I think you only really get that shock once when living abroad in a country vastly different from your own, and then you open up your eyes and the world suddenly looks a lot more clear. For example, I did not get a "shock" several years later when I went to Uganda for the first time, because I was mentally prepared in a whole different way.

Prior to going to China, I was very sceptical and had lots of prejudices about the country and its people. Upon arriving in Shanghai back in August 2009, I had a rough first week and was indeed very shocked, or "culturally shocked" as one might say. But luckily I got into a nice group of friends consisting of both foreigners and Chinese, and once I had all the practical stuff set like student card, phone, bank account, medical checks and so on, I adapted to life pretty fast. Although I had my beef with some Chinese behavior (like spitting on the street) I learned to appreciate almost everything because I was having the time of my life. After my first 2 years in China I was extremely pro-China and defended everything about it. If someone said something critical about China's emergence as an economic superpower, its political structure, or Chinese people in general I would accuse them of being uninformed or blinded by Western media, as well as not giving China a chance to prove themselves to the world.

Now several years later and spending additional time in China, I've basically gone back to being more sceptical about China again. Turns out most of my initial prejudices were not so wrong after all, although in a different way. Much of my recent dislike for China stems from the emergence of president Xi Jinping and his (in my view) negative influence on China, its people and global politics. Many of my old Chinese friends whom were critical of their own country back in 2009, have now gone on to become super-nationalists that block me on social media because I said something about China they don't like.

 

[KennedyKiller]

This isn't another country, but the US is so huge, different parts of the country have vastly different cultures, values, and even different laws. Laws is the part that makes this a "Culture Shock" story. In the part of the country I live in Marijuana is illegal. I don't smoke. Not a fan of it. But I don't care if others do. And the girl I was seeing at the time DID smoke weed. So, one time we took a trip to Colorado, a different part of the country far from where we lived. We flew there, and in this particular state weed IS legal. So we went to a dispensary (Fancy word for weed store) and that's where the shock kicked in. This place was like an Apple store. Super high tech and contemporary, bustling and clean, with nicely dressed and groomed employees, all for a substance that was illegal only a few hundred miles away. It was genuinely difficult for me to wrap my brain around. We're all in the same country, but here I was standing in a spot where you can openly purchase a product with zero problem, that only a 9 hour drive away purchasing said item would land you in prison for years. That was definitely culture shock.

 

[bSTAR_182]

I'm not sure if you could describe it as "culture shock" but I went to Germany for 2 weeks and was basically ready to be back home and in my own bed by the end of week one.... or at least wished that I could go home and then return the very next day. It was an amazing experience and, frankly, was probably the smoothest trip to another country anyone could ask for because I went with my sister-in-law and we stayed with her family the entire time. They didn't charge us anything and were eager to show us around Germany so it was great.

The language barrier was the most frustrating part and, at times, intimidating whenever I spoke to anyone outside of the family. My sister-in-law spoke pretty good German and Serbian (which her family blends the two languages together in their conversations) so naturally I couldn't partake in most of the conversations which only solidified that I was merely along for the ride (which, again, was alright by me, I'm not complaining as it was a very smooth trip and my first time ever outside of the good ol' US). Apparently there is a bit of a feud between Germans and Serbians as there were these two Serbian girls who were working in this shoe store in Frankfurt (beautiful city BTW) who made some snippy comments about us and didn't realize my sister-in-law and her cousin were half and half and could speak both languages. lol

Her uncle spoke the most English out of anyone in her family, which surprised me because I figured her cousins would have known more- being closer to our age and all. Her uncle and I had some great conversations though. He was very funny, generous and passionate about his country so it was great to have him so excited to show a foreigner, like myself, around.

I can confidently say that I am not a fan of German food though. :lol:
Which reminds me, when we first got there, her family had a big cookout and roasted an entire pig... hooves and all... it tasted delicious but it was also a bit nauseating staring into the poor pigs face while eating said pig... needless to say, I had my fill of pork for a couple months after that.
I did love the wineries with all the grapes growing wherever we went. Also, German beer is delicious and some of the only beer I will gladly drink.

 

[UniqTeas]

I have been to a few states with Dispensaries (Nevada and California) - and man, are they all super clean and business forward. I think that people really want to make sure that they give a good reputation for the product so they can keep the industry from going under. Plus, you probably make more money when you look that legitimate. Still illegal in NY for the time being, but as we run a tea and herb company, I feel there is a market for us to enter when it does become legal.

I suppose my biggest culture shock was when I went to Martinique - a small French speaking island in the Caribbean. Plenty of people speak English, but for the ones who don't, a good percentage get MAD at you for not speaking the same language. I remember being on the beach and ordering food and this lady kept on yelling at me, "Boisson!?" which I now know means beverage, but at the time, I was very confused by it. Eventually her co-worker asked me if I wanted a drink and helped resolve the situation. But man, did I have to learn Dining French quickly while I was there. The trip overall was very fun and the beaches were beautiful. And overall, 90% of the people were great.

 

[Awebb]

I've never had a problem with actual places. My home town is a cultural melting pot and my family isn't a mono-culture either. My biggest culture shock, however, was moving from smaller online communities to reddit, twitter and facebook a few years ago. There is no order, no sense of community and most people just yell at each other. Everything has to be a heated argument.

Which reminds me, when we first got there, her family had a big cookout and roasted an entire pig... hooves and all...

The best meat is on the head. You usually have to be extremely lucky to get any of it or even the entire head. I guess there are really only two kinds of people: Cover the head and HAND OVER THE HEAD!

 

[rondachewarrior]

Definitely, I lived in China for 4 years which was the most life-changing experience ever. But although I've ran into countless of frustrating situations throughout the years, eventually you get used to it and learn to adapt.

I generally dislike the term "culture shock", because I think you only really get that shock once when living abroad in a country vastly different from your own, and then you open up your eyes and the world suddenly looks a lot more clear. For example, I did not get a "shock" several years later when I went to Uganda for the first time, because I was mentally prepared in a whole different way.

Prior to going to China, I was very sceptical and had lots of prejudices about the country and its people. Upon arriving in Shanghai back in August 2009, I had a rough first week and was indeed very shocked, or "culturally shocked" as one might say. But luckily I got into a nice group of friends consisting of both foreigners and Chinese, and once I had all the practical stuff set like student card, phone, bank account, medical checks and so on, I adapted to life pretty fast. Although I had my beef with some Chinese behavior (like spitting on the street) I learned to appreciate almost everything because I was having the time of my life. After my first 2 years in China I was extremely pro-China and defended everything about it. If someone said something critical about China's emergence as an economic superpower, its political structure, or Chinese people in general I would accuse them of being uninformed or blinded by Western media, as well as not giving China a chance to prove themselves to the world.

Now several years later and spending additional time in China, I've basically gone back to being more sceptical about China again. Turns out most of my initial prejudices were not so wrong after all, although in a different way. Much of my recent dislike for China stems from the emergence of president Xi Jinping and his (in my view) negative influence on China, its people and global politics. Many of my old Chinese friends whom were critical of their own country back in 2009, have now gone on to become super-nationalists that block me on social media because I said something about China they don't like.

Far out, nobody I knew enjoyed China. Especially now lol. Best part about it was the bartering/haggling because nice things were dirt cheap in Shanghai and Beijing (which is like the New York of China in so by saying alot of Chinese don't like Beijing).

Guess culture shock is conflicting for me since I've been an expatriate most of my life and struggled when I came back to my own country when I didn't want to but I do remember I joked that culture shock was the universe's/real worlds way of saying that, "The world does not revolve around you." it's pretty much a big F You to English speakers.

Alot my my experiences with China was the disagreement with gender roles and shallowness (identical to Thailand and sort of repressed somewhat since we got alot of students from Kunming. Like not being able to criticise politics, religion, the royal family/king even if it's not meant to be insulting but more an observation with valid points....I know this because there are NO critical readings/books about any of those 3 and the ones that do provide a critical analysis are banned)

I also found positive things there as well, like the rich history of China, their literature, and also their poetry (I HATE poetry). I don't know much about the president so I'll refrain from discussing until I have a better idea but the media must've done a good job of sweeping scandals under the rug. It was also really interesting to hear somebody else's take on China as well.

 

[rondachewarrior]

This isn't another country, but the US is so huge, different parts of the country have vastly different cultures, values, and even different laws. Laws is the part that makes this a "Culture Shock" story. In the part of the country I live in Marijuana is illegal. I don't smoke. Not a fan of it. But I don't care if others do. And the girl I was seeing at the time DID smoke weed. So, one time we took a trip to Colorado, a different part of the country far from where we lived. We flew there, and in this particular state weed IS legal. So we went to a dispensary (Fancy word for weed store) and that's where the shock kicked in. This place was like an Apple store. Super high tech and contemporary, bustling and clean, with nicely dressed and groomed employees, all for a substance that was illegal only a few hundred miles away. It was genuinely difficult for me to wrap my brain around. We're all in the same country, but here I was standing in a spot where you can openly purchase a product with zero problem, that only a 9 hour drive away purchasing said item would land you in prison for years. That was definitely culture shock.

Just finished my final drafts for my assignments and mostly caught up with coursework but I can now finally reply haha.

Understandable with the whole marijuana thing, I mostly didn't like it when I was younger cos of the smell and mostly because I liked being a productive/functional alcoholic when I was younger. But when I went to North Carolina on a study abroad, I didn't have a culture shock until I heard people casually bring up GUNS in school and saying they had one either in their boot/trunk or school locker.... Yeah, I made sure not to step on many toes while I was there...also how casually marijuana would abruptly get brought up in conversation (NZ is somewhat lenient in regards to weed but not as much as Boone) like, "Yay! Wing Night! Btw did you wanna get high after this?" :neutral:

Now that I've 7 years experience working as a waitress....I can see why you'd want the feeling of your brain melting after dealing with ****ty people for 5-7hrs on end to lose your grip or your faith in humanity....and then I discovered Reddit (lol).

 

[rondachewarrior]

I'm not sure if you could describe it as "culture shock" but I went to Germany for 2 weeks and was basically ready to be back home and in my own bed by the end of week one.... or at least wished that I could go home and then return the very next day. It was an amazing experience and, frankly, was probably the smoothest trip to another country anyone could ask for because I went with my sister-in-law and we stayed with her family the entire time. They didn't charge us anything and were eager to show us around Germany so it was great.

The language barrier was the most frustrating part and, at times, intimidating whenever I spoke to anyone outside of the family. My sister-in-law spoke pretty good German and Serbian (which her family blends the two languages together in their conversations) so naturally I couldn't partake in most of the conversations which only solidified that I was merely along for the ride (which, again, was alright by me, I'm not complaining as it was a very smooth trip and my first time ever outside of the good ol' US). Apparently there is a bit of a feud between Germans and Serbians as there were these two Serbian girls who were working in this shoe store in Frankfurt (beautiful city BTW) who made some snippy comments about us and didn't realize my sister-in-law and her cousin were half and half and could speak both languages. lol

Her uncle spoke the most English out of anyone in her family, which surprised me because I figured her cousins would have known more- being closer to our age and all. Her uncle and I had some great conversations though. He was very funny, generous and passionate about his country so it was great to have him so excited to show a foreigner, like myself, around.

I can confidently say that I am not a fan of German food though. :lol:
Which reminds me, when we first got there, her family had a big cookout and roasted an entire pig... hooves and all... it tasted delicious but it was also a bit nauseating staring into the poor pigs face while eating said pig... needless to say, I had my fill of pork for a couple months after that.
I did love the wineries with all the grapes growing wherever we went. Also, German beer is delicious and some of the only beer I will gladly drink.

Huh, friend went to Germany with her Irish boyfriend and she hated how rude everybody was (then again, she was Australian and it was her first time traveling out of the country from what I knew so the fact that people didn't automatically know English was an extreme experience for her).

I've had the same experience as your sister but I speak broken Thai and with a 'farang' dialect. My first semester of college, I had the privilege of being called, 'very ugly' to my face because the boy thought I couldn't understand it and smugly smiled at me (didn't really help that I let my frenemy at the time convinced me to have blonde streaks in my red hair and a perm).

Oh the Germans can drink alright; many a times me and the Germans survived what resembled an alcoholocaust at parties.....yeah, every country fit their drinking profile...luckily, there were no Russians on the student exchange lol but I would not have minded being called 'comrade'.

I also have a hard time eating anything staring at me (except that one time I ate a caterpillar and a grasshopper in Thailand, boredom called at that time).

 

[rondachewarrior]

I have been to a few states with Dispensaries (Nevada and California) - and man, are they all super clean and business forward. I think that people really want to make sure that they give a good reputation for the product so they can keep the industry from going under. Plus, you probably make more money when you look that legitimate. Still illegal in NY for the time being, but as we run a tea and herb company, I feel there is a market for us to enter when it does become legal.

I suppose my biggest culture shock was when I went to Martinique - a small French speaking island in the Caribbean. Plenty of people speak English, but for the ones who don't, a good percentage get MAD at you for not speaking the same language. I remember being on the beach and ordering food and this lady kept on yelling at me, "Boisson!?" which I now know means beverage, but at the time, I was very confused by it. Eventually her co-worker asked me if I wanted a drink and helped resolve the situation. But man, did I have to learn Dining French quickly while I was there. The trip overall was very fun and the beaches were beautiful. And overall, 90% of the people were great.

Oh wow, noted. I do try my best to learn the etiquette before travelling as I've unintentionally said/done taboo things in my own country. How did you even get a trip there?

 

[rondachewarrior]

I've never had a problem with actual places. My home town is a cultural melting pot and my family isn't a mono-culture either. My biggest culture shock, however, was moving from smaller online communities to reddit, twitter and facebook a few years ago. There is no order, no sense of community and most people just yell at each other. Everything has to be a heated argument.

The best meat is on the head. You usually have to be extremely lucky to get any of it or even the entire head. I guess there are really only two kinds of people: Cover the head and HAND OVER THE HEAD!

Been there, I felt like I was being stoned to death when I decided to put an actual picture of myself instead of a cartoon/game character on the nzgamerforums and everything became discredited because of a bloody profile picture. It is extremely vicious and daunting at times when people find out what gender you are even if you don't bring it up so I learned from then on to just pick an androgynous name and profile picture. I've actually experienced it here as well with 2 members but luckily, they don't go on here anymore so I find myself visiting the site more.

Now Reddit..Reddit is just cancer when you first join and don't get the culture/politics of it. Twitter can just be borderline mind-numbing at times but hilarious, as with reddit. Facebook I've found just has alot of Facebook Serial ****ters: People passive/aggressively posting statuses all the time.

As for the pig, don't go to the middle east or Thailand lol.

 

[UniqTeas]

It was a family trip to Martinique. My parents have been to a bunch of Caribbean islands and wanted to try a new one. The waters in Martinique were amazing. And learning a new culture was great. But my lack of French did inhibit the trip to a degree. Especially when our giant rental van clipped the mirror of one of the locals who got a gang of friends to stand in the street until we paid him a crazy amount of money for bumper damage. Luckily, a police officer was near and knew the guy was a regular street scammer and shooed his gang members away. Not one person in the situation spoke English at all. It got tense for a minute. My stepdad who was driving was ready for a brawl and the dude is the nicest guy you'll ever meet. haha.

Honestly, I want to go to another Caribbean island and just enjoy the beach again. Not the best for red heads, but if I slather myself in sun block - I should be good!

 

[Angel]

I went to Russia with my dad when I was about 16 in 1998 - it was very much an impromptu trip for a week; my dad just rang me up one afternoon and asked if I had a passport and would I like to go to St Petersburg for a bit with him? So I agreed, even though I had no real idea of what to expect.

Turns out, it was a bit mental - everything was so incredibly different. Plus it was towards the end of the economic crisis over there, so things were fairly unstable and I could never get used to the sight and sounds of machine guns everywhere. Coming from a country where guns are not allowed as standard, it was unnerving for me to see soldiers marching, hear guns firing occasionally and be treated with suspicion everywhere I went.

Getting in a taxi was, in a word, horrifying. Crazy driving (my stepmother is Russian and she still drives like a blind lunatic even now she lives over here in the UK), outrageous costs and constantly arguing with the driver about everything from the fare to the door that wouldn't shut properly to the destination. With the rouble being practically worthless, we had to carry US Dollars around, which in turn made us targets for beggars and pickpockets everywhere. I've never carried money in my shoes before so that was new...and weird.

The hotel was oddly decorated and the breakfast every morning was token-based - you had to present a little paper token to be allowed in and then the buffet was mostly cold meats, salted fish and buckwheat pancakes. Caviar is disgusting, by the way. And having it for breakfast every day was almost traumatising.

Walking down the roads in St Petersburg was bizarre - there'd be a shop, a designer outlet, some run down buildings and then a palace or gold statue...there were these little kiosks dotted about all over the place, about the size of a garden shed, that sold everything from cigarettes to mops. To get money out of the bank, you had to be escorted by armed guards to check your identity with the embassy - the whole process of getting out just $20 took an hour or more.

The Russian Mafia were very prevalent at that time - you could tell it was them because they were the only people to have Mercedes (still really old ones, but definitely different to the standard Lada that everyone else drove) and huge fur overcoats. We went for dinner in a restaurant one night and whilst we were waiting for our food, a big group of men walked in and were given the best table, all the staff hurried over and waited on them hand and foot. My dad, being a typical Brit, was ready to complain when our guide had to hush him and warn him that we probably wouldn't leave in one piece if he did.

During the day, you'd see men just grouped together, doing nothing but smoking and drinking and all the women had the jobs. But by night, those same women were often prostituting themselves to make more money. One evening we saw a guy selling kittens out of a cardboard box and "renting" them to the working girls so they could hold them for 10 minutes and keep warm (it was about -8 degrees C).

My dad now spends a lot of his time in Russia as part of his dual citizenship requirements and has a dacha in the forest where he pays the mafia to protect it. They use bears. I can't even...

I haven't been back since that first trip and I would like to - but like with everything it comes down to money and time. Neither of which I have much of at the moment. It is still one of the most interesting and bizarre trips I've ever taken and the Winter Palace was just stunning. Goats Milk ice cream at 1am was a massive bonus too...

 

[UniqTeas]

That is beautifully written, extremely detailed, and terrifying in a wonderful way.

I assume modern Russia is probably a little bit different. But it doesn't seem all that different from a political stance. lol. So who knows!

Glad you survived the trip. The only way your story could be more worrying is if wasps came out of the buildings at night too.

 

[Angel]

And small children.

 

[UniqTeas]

Right. Can't forget about those horrible small children.

The Russian equivalent is a herd of small dirty children with hundreds of wasps forming coats around their bodies.

 

[rondachewarrior]

I went to Russia with my dad when I was about 16 in 1998 - it was very much an impromptu trip for a week; my dad just rang me up one afternoon and asked if I had a passport and would I like to go to St Petersburg for a bit with him? So I agreed, even though I had no real idea of what to expect.

Turns out, it was a bit mental - everything was so incredibly different. Plus it was towards the end of the economic crisis over there, so things were fairly unstable and I could never get used to the sight and sounds of machine guns everywhere. Coming from a country where guns are not allowed as standard, it was unnerving for me to see soldiers marching, hear guns firing occasionally and be treated with suspicion everywhere I went.

Getting in a taxi was, in a word, horrifying. Crazy driving (my stepmother is Russian and she still drives like a blind lunatic even now she lives over here in the UK), outrageous costs and constantly arguing with the driver about everything from the fare to the door that wouldn't shut properly to the destination. With the rouble being practically worthless, we had to carry US Dollars around, which in turn made us targets for beggars and pickpockets everywhere. I've never carried money in my shoes before so that was new...and weird.

The hotel was oddly decorated and the breakfast every morning was token-based - you had to present a little paper token to be allowed in and then the buffet was mostly cold meats, salted fish and buckwheat pancakes. Caviar is disgusting, by the way. And having it for breakfast every day was almost traumatising.

Walking down the roads in St Petersburg was bizarre - there'd be a shop, a designer outlet, some run down buildings and then a palace or gold statue...there were these little kiosks dotted about all over the place, about the size of a garden shed, that sold everything from cigarettes to mops. To get money out of the bank, you had to be escorted by armed guards to check your identity with the embassy - the whole process of getting out just $20 took an hour or more.

The Russian Mafia were very prevalent at that time - you could tell it was them because they were the only people to have Mercedes (still really old ones, but definitely different to the standard Lada that everyone else drove) and huge fur overcoats. We went for dinner in a restaurant one night and whilst we were waiting for our food, a big group of men walked in and were given the best table, all the staff hurried over and waited on them hand and foot. My dad, being a typical Brit, was ready to complain when our guide had to hush him and warn him that we probably wouldn't leave in one piece if he did.

During the day, you'd see men just grouped together, doing nothing but smoking and drinking and all the women had the jobs. But by night, those same women were often prostituting themselves to make more money. One evening we saw a guy selling kittens out of a cardboard box and "renting" them to the working girls so they could hold them for 10 minutes and keep warm (it was about -8 degrees C).

My dad now spends a lot of his time in Russia as part of his dual citizenship requirements and has a dacha in the forest where he pays the mafia to protect it. They use bears. I can't even...

I haven't been back since that first trip and I would like to - but like with everything it comes down to money and time. Neither of which I have much of at the moment. It is still one of the most interesting and bizarre trips I've ever taken and the Winter Palace was just stunning. Goats Milk ice cream at 1am was a massive bonus too...

Holy **** dude....there's culture shock and then there's INTENSE. I'd pay good money to see this as an independent movie, book, or a youtube video lol. Even I felt hypervigilant reading this.

Looking back, was there any point in time where you felt you conducted/acted or would do differently? Just cos when I was 16, I was often told off for addressing or doing stuff that was taboo without being aware of it.

Judging by this one reply I'll even pay you to write my university essays :lol:

 

[Angel]

Looking back, was there any point in time where you felt you conducted/acted or would do differently? Just cos when I was 16, I was often told off for addressing or doing stuff that was taboo without being aware of it

I was a very nervous person at 16 - extremely socially awkward and very emotionally immature. So whenever I was confronted with a situation that I found difficult, I just shuttered down and went in on myself until it all went away.

Case in point: at passport control, with a gun pointed at me, I just inwardly panicked and couldn't react in a normal way to the security officer so I must have come across as unbelievably suspicious. I was fidgeting and blinking rapidly, looking around everywhere and sweating. My dad is blind, so he is of course oblivious to things like facial expressions and, y'know, firearms in the vicinity, so he was just humming away to himself waiting for the stamp to be put in his passport whilst I was certain we were going to be arrested and thrown in some sort of gulag for the next 15 years.

It happened again when we were trying to cross the road which was at least 4 lanes wide with people driving like absolute lunatics, sometimes on the wrong side. Trying to get my dad safely across the road without getting hit was a pretty stressful exercise! I kind of went into some weird out of body state...I just couldn't cope for an really intense 2 minutes or so.

All of this was compounded by the fact that me and my dad were not especially close for various reasons and so I didn't really know him all that well. So a blind man and a socially inept teenager were perhaps not the best travelling companions!

Everything was such a contrast to the UK - if I get to go back to Russia I would definitely be more confident generally. It's been over 20 years as well, so things have definitely changed and are in many ways more stable. I am less intimidated by life now and I think I'd be more curious than frightened if I saw things that would ordinarily unnerve me.

I probably did commit several faux pas whilst there, but was so utterly unaware of much outside of myself, I have no idea what they were. I would also make more of an effort to learn some phrases too - I think if you're going to another country, the least you can do is try to learn something like yes, no, please, thank you etc.

Failing all that, my Russian stepmother is a formidable woman and I'll just hide behind her whilst she verbally abuses everyone for me. When she's not busy insulting me, of course. Or driving like a mad woman. Or kicking off on the middle east for no apparent reason. She's great but a walking advertisement for political, social and possibly economical incorrectness.

 

[bSTAR_182]

Huh, friend went to Germany with her Irish boyfriend and she hated how rude everybody was (then again, she was Australian and it was her first time traveling out of the country from what I knew so the fact that people didn't automatically know English was an extreme experience for her).

I've had the same experience as your sister but I speak broken Thai and with a 'farang' dialect. My first semester of college, I had the privilege of being called, 'very ugly' to my face because the boy thought I couldn't understand it and smugly smiled at me (didn't really help that I let my frenemy at the time convinced me to have blonde streaks in my red hair and a perm).

Oh the Germans can drink alright; many a times me and the Germans survived what resembled an alcoholocaust at parties.....yeah, every country fit their drinking profile...luckily, there were no Russians on the student exchange lol but I would not have minded being called 'comrade'.

I also have a hard time eating anything staring at me (except that one time I ate a caterpillar and a grasshopper in Thailand, boredom called at that time).

That’s why I let my in-law and her family do all the talking. lol

I’m sure things could have been completely different had we not had her family who lived there with us.


As far as culture shock goes though, @KennedyKiller had a point about different states being very different.
I went to California and while the state itself is beautiful, there’s a lot going on that... well is different. The amount of homeless people that we saw there (granted some of them could have been hipsters) was pretty overwhelming. One of the girls I went out there with had a buddy who said many of the homeless make it a career especially around the holidays where they can apparently really milk it on the streets.
Apparently it is so bad that the state passed a law which allows them to defecate in the streets... which we got to see the aftermath of that on more than one occasion. Also the homeless people there will quickly tell you off if you don’t offer them money.

That entire trip was awful though... sadly the company I went there with ruined the experience. One of the girls I completely cut out of my life following that trip and then the other girls and I just drifted apart.

 

[KennedyKiller]

That’s why I let my in-law and her family do all the talking. lol

I’m sure things could have been completely different had we not had her family who lived there with us.


As far as culture shock goes though, @KennedyKiller had a point about different states being very different.
I went to California and while the state itself is beautiful, there’s a lot going on that... well is different. The amount of homeless people that we saw there (granted some of them could have been hipsters) was pretty overwhelming. One of the girls I went out there with had a buddy who said many of the homeless make it a career especially around the holidays where they can apparently really milk it out on the streets.
Apparently it is so bad that the state passed a law which allows them to defecate in the streets... which we got to see the aftermath of that on more than one occasion. Also the homeless people there are quick to rude you out if you don’t offer them money.

That entire trip was awful though... sadly the company I went there with ruined the experience. One of the girls I completely cut out of my life following that trip and then the other girls and I just drifted apart.

Yeah, Califorina is a cesspool...unfortunately. Because like you said, it's beautiful. But yeah, the homeless epidemic in CA is insane. Epesicially when they learn they can make roughly $100,000 per year just panhandling, and it's legal as long as they pay taxes on it. Or that used to be the case. I'm not from CA so I don't know if the laws have changed.