As I was reading the text about culture shock, it was comforting. When I arrived to the US nine years ago, I felt really isolated and never truly believed I was experiencing culture shock because I came from a similar western culture – Australia. However, reading the description and experiences of culture shock from the text, they were accurate in my personal experience. I am not really sure how I survived. My wife is from the U.S and she helped substantially, but looking back it was an extremely difficult time. What finally helped me move on was focusing on a career. After being in the U.S for six months, I decided to become a Firefighter, and with a clear goal I became focused on achieving that. Also, because a fire career was new to me, it was the first thing that I did not have a reference for in Australia, meaning, I was not constantly comparing my new goal to “how it was back home”, and I believe that help me to survive and deal with the crisis.
Since I have lived in many different countries and cultures all over this planet, I am no stranger to culture shock. With every culture it is different and impossible to avoid. My last encounter is easier for me to recall, and that is when I moved to Sweden. I lived there for over 5 years. When I arrived in Sweden in 2005, I did not think culture shock would hit me. I had many Swedish friends, knew about the culture and a little of the language. This only delayed the inevitable. It took a few months for things to set in and I started to realize there were some major and minor differences between my culture (Pacific Northwest of the USA) and the Swedish culture. One such difference that still annoys me today is the ‘Staring’ culture of Sweden. Swede’s stare! I was raised and taught that staring at others is impolite. Most Americans will probably find this to be uncomfortable, and some may react with aggression (as I did one day when I just couldn’t take it any longer). I had been in the country for about two years, and was taking a walk around the lake. Every person I met or passed stared at me, in my eyes. No one said a word, no head nodding, no smiling, just dead stares. I was already aware of this in the culture, but something finally got to me, and I finally stopped someone and very loudly asked, ‘Why are you all staring at me?’ That was another mistake in Swedish culture, talking (or rather yelling) at a complete stranger. He said nothing, walked away and occasionally looked over his shoulder back at me.
It is interesting how something so small and trivial can wear you down. The facial expressions, or lack of facial expressions, in another person. Their body language, is not the same, and trying to interpret that, even when you are well aware of the culture, is not always easy. This was just one of many culture shocks I encountered.
When I returned to the USA however, I experienced reverse-culture shock. Which took me by surprise. I knew about it, and had experienced it before, but I had never been away for such a long time and returned to what I thought was my culture. I had changed, my own culture had changed, I adopted parts of Swedish culture and things here in the USA which use to be common place to me, really annoyed me (speaking very loud or yelling down an aisle at the grocery store to a friend or family member, someone in a store walking up to me asking if I need any help or assistance, the amount of swear words I heard walking down the street, people honking their horn in an apartment complex, and watching people drive around in a parking lot for 5 minutes passing up multiple empty spots so they can find one closer to the front door).
We all survive and deal with this in different ways. Usually you find a local, become friends with them and start talking about our culture differences. I asked a really good friend of mine one day why Swedes stare at people, he said, ‘we don’t stare!’ I kindly asked him to go take a walk around the lake and see for yourself. When he came back his eyes were huge and he said to me, “I had no idea we did this! Every single person I passed stared at me, and I caught myself staring at them.” He said the only explanation he had was, Swedes have to stare, that is how they acknowledge the other person. I said, “well how about a simple hello, or nod?” He reminded me, in Swedish culture, you do not talk to strangers. It is considered rude, because you are invading their privacy. Instead, you stare in their eyes, they stare at you, and apparently in Sweden, that means hello. I HATE IT! But I still love Sweden and wish I never had to move back.
Having culture shock can definitely make you relook at your situation and see what you can do differently. I was born and raised in a small town in Oregon. I have never been outside of the US and have only been to a few states where I have family. One summer my husband and I took our son and a friend to Vallejo, CA to an amusement park. Vallejo is just outside of San Francisco and quite a big city. Vallejo is populated with a lot of different cultures and was quite intimidating for me due to the size and different cultures that I had not been around in my lifetime. In the town I live in the majority of the population is white and once in a while you might have African Americans that come for our community college programs. The majority of the population in Vallejo is Hispanics and African Americans with a huge population of gangs as well. There were several situations that we were in while in Vallejo that I felt really uncomfortable in mainly because I did not know what was expected of us so that the situation would not turn bad. I have never been around gangs in my life so that was very scary for my family and I. One night we were leaving the motel and we had just gotten into our vehicle to go to dinner, and we saw a car moving through the parking lot very slowly. As we watched closer, we noticed that a group of men were going from car to car opening doors and windows then cleaning the cars out. Everyone who was around that saw it just went their own way and did not say anything. I was mortified and wanted to stop it but knew better or we could be put in a sticky situation. We conformed and moved on just as everyone else did that saw what was happening. If that would have happened in my town I would have confronted them without hesitation. Seeing that happen has really opened my eyes on how you need to act around different cultures.
I have not been outside of the country except for Canada while driving through. Being in Canada for three days is not enough to really experience a culture shock but enough to see significant differences. My real culture shock occurred from moving to Alaska to Oregon. Alaska politically is a conservative state. It is not called the "Last Frontier" for anything. When I moved to the Portland area, it took me two weeks before I had a full night's sleep. I could not get over how noisy it was and wondered if people ever slept. I found first hand that the culture of Portland did not like guns and that there are so many people who do not like meat. I was sometimes afraid not to say from Alaska because I have eaten bear, rabbit, moose, caribou, and salmon. That is natural for me. I had never seen tofu before until I came to Portland. It was hard for me to get over this shock of the different variety of foods and viewpoints. As I have lived in this area for over ten years, I have come to incorporate those values but have still retained my own cultural identity. I still consider myself an Alaskan and it is a source of pride.
Culture shock: A few years back I went on a gray hound bus to go see a friend down in Arizona, I never thought the bus was going to have problems or stop in places that was not on the ticket. So here I am a small town gal on the bus wearing a read Tommy Hilfiger sweater, stuck in Chico California. I was not a where at the time of my issue, until I was on the phone with my friend that I was going to see. I was telling him that I was burning up in my sweater, but I didn’t want to take it off because I was wearing a shirt that said “Oregon Rules you all suck!” It was a ducks shirt, for the silver war game. I was not proud of this shirt but it was loose cotton. As I am on the phone telling my friend this he is laughing at me. I turned around to find myself surrounded by a bunch of guys and “thug” like girls wearing nothing black. I was freaking out. I was telling my friend that I had an issue, and by the tone of my voice I know he could tell. This “group” of people were not pleased, had I said something that upsetted them or did I do something wrong? But how could I have done something, when I have only been at this bus stop for no more than ten minutes. One of the ladies there who wore black, dyed her hair black, black make up on vary strong and too much if you were to ask me, she had pointed at my sweater and said the color brings out eyes. My friend on the other line had asked in disbelief, “Are you wearing red Alyssa?” I had chuckled and responded back “yes”. From there I don’t remember too much other than my friend on the phone is going off on my and calling me crazy for wearing that color in California, and this group of “thugs” pointing a laughing. All I could say at the time was that I was from Coos Bay, Oregon, and that I am sorry for wearing a color that they felt if I were being disrespectful to them. I know I had said much more out of sacredness, but I don’t remember much other than the “thugs” walked away. I ran to the bus, crying because I thought I was going to die. I must of said that because my friend on the phone said “They won’t kill you, there are witness!” I have told this story a couple of times, and every time someone asks me “Will you ever do that again, ride the gray hound?” I repeatedly state every time “NO!” I know this isn’t the best culture shock, of my experience; but I feel that every other story is about the temperature culture shock. I was born in Roseburg, Oregon so temperature occasionally does take its toll on me from time to time, but who wants to hear about someone who is uncomfortable with what they are wearing, even if it’s a swim suit, if you knew me I am white as all can be, no matter how much sun screen I put on I still burn. And who wants to hear about the allergy like symptoms of the culture difference? They are the same in their own words.
As I was reading the text about culture shock, it was comforting. When I arrived to the US nine years ago, I felt really isolated and never truly believed I was experiencing culture shock because I came from a similar western culture – Australia. However, reading the description and experiences of culture shock from the text, they were accurate in my personal experience.
ReplyDeleteI am not really sure how I survived. My wife is from the U.S and she helped substantially, but looking back it was an extremely difficult time. What finally helped me move on was focusing on a career. After being in the U.S for six months, I decided to become a Firefighter, and with a clear goal I became focused on achieving that. Also, because a fire career was new to me, it was the first thing that I did not have a reference for in Australia, meaning, I was not constantly comparing my new goal to “how it was back home”, and I believe that help me to survive and deal with the crisis.
Since I have lived in many different countries and cultures all over this planet, I am no stranger to culture shock. With every culture it is different and impossible to avoid. My last encounter is easier for me to recall, and that is when I moved to Sweden. I lived there for over 5 years. When I arrived in Sweden in 2005, I did not think culture shock would hit me. I had many Swedish friends, knew about the culture and a little of the language. This only delayed the inevitable. It took a few months for things to set in and I started to realize there were some major and minor differences between my culture (Pacific Northwest of the USA) and the Swedish culture. One such difference that still annoys me today is the ‘Staring’ culture of Sweden. Swede’s stare! I was raised and taught that staring at others is impolite. Most Americans will probably find this to be uncomfortable, and some may react with aggression (as I did one day when I just couldn’t take it any longer). I had been in the country for about two years, and was taking a walk around the lake. Every person I met or passed stared at me, in my eyes. No one said a word, no head nodding, no smiling, just dead stares. I was already aware of this in the culture, but something finally got to me, and I finally stopped someone and very loudly asked, ‘Why are you all staring at me?’ That was another mistake in Swedish culture, talking (or rather yelling) at a complete stranger. He said nothing, walked away and occasionally looked over his shoulder back at me.
ReplyDeleteIt is interesting how something so small and trivial can wear you down. The facial expressions, or lack of facial expressions, in another person. Their body language, is not the same, and trying to interpret that, even when you are well aware of the culture, is not always easy. This was just one of many culture shocks I encountered.
When I returned to the USA however, I experienced reverse-culture shock. Which took me by surprise. I knew about it, and had experienced it before, but I had never been away for such a long time and returned to what I thought was my culture. I had changed, my own culture had changed, I adopted parts of Swedish culture and things here in the USA which use to be common place to me, really annoyed me (speaking very loud or yelling down an aisle at the grocery store to a friend or family member, someone in a store walking up to me asking if I need any help or assistance, the amount of swear words I heard walking down the street, people honking their horn in an apartment complex, and watching people drive around in a parking lot for 5 minutes passing up multiple empty spots so they can find one closer to the front door).
We all survive and deal with this in different ways. Usually you find a local, become friends with them and start talking about our culture differences. I asked a really good friend of mine one day why Swedes stare at people, he said, ‘we don’t stare!’ I kindly asked him to go take a walk around the lake and see for yourself. When he came back his eyes were huge and he said to me, “I had no idea we did this! Every single person I passed stared at me, and I caught myself staring at them.” He said the only explanation he had was, Swedes have to stare, that is how they acknowledge the other person. I said, “well how about a simple hello, or nod?” He reminded me, in Swedish culture, you do not talk to strangers. It is considered rude, because you are invading their privacy. Instead, you stare in their eyes, they stare at you, and apparently in Sweden, that means hello. I HATE IT! But I still love Sweden and wish I never had to move back.
Thank you, Adam, for bring such informative experience to COM 325 class.
ReplyDeleteHaving culture shock can definitely make you relook at your situation and see what you can do differently. I was born and raised in a small town in Oregon. I have never been outside of the US and have only been to a few states where I have family. One summer my husband and I took our son and a friend to Vallejo, CA to an amusement park. Vallejo is just outside of San Francisco and quite a big city. Vallejo is populated with a lot of different cultures and was quite intimidating for me due to the size and different cultures that I had not been around in my lifetime. In the town I live in the majority of the population is white and once in a while you might have African Americans that come for our community college programs. The majority of the population in Vallejo is Hispanics and African Americans with a huge population of gangs as well. There were several situations that we were in while in Vallejo that I felt really uncomfortable in mainly because I did not know what was expected of us so that the situation would not turn bad. I have never been around gangs in my life so that was very scary for my family and I. One night we were leaving the motel and we had just gotten into our vehicle to go to dinner, and we saw a car moving through the parking lot very slowly. As we watched closer, we noticed that a group of men were going from car to car opening doors and windows then cleaning the cars out. Everyone who was around that saw it just went their own way and did not say anything. I was mortified and wanted to stop it but knew better or we could be put in a sticky situation. We conformed and moved on just as everyone else did that saw what was happening. If that would have happened in my town I would have confronted them without hesitation. Seeing that happen has really opened my eyes on how you need to act around different cultures.
ReplyDeleteI have not been outside of the country except for Canada while driving through. Being in Canada for three days is not enough to really experience a culture shock but enough to see significant differences. My real culture shock occurred from moving to Alaska to Oregon. Alaska politically is a conservative state. It is not called the "Last Frontier" for anything. When I moved to the Portland area, it took me two weeks before I had a full night's sleep. I could not get over how noisy it was and wondered if people ever slept. I found first hand that the culture of Portland did not like guns and that there are so many people who do not like meat. I was sometimes afraid not to say from Alaska because I have eaten bear, rabbit, moose, caribou, and salmon. That is natural for me. I had never seen tofu before until I came to Portland. It was hard for me to get over this shock of the different variety of foods and viewpoints. As I have lived in this area for over ten years, I have come to incorporate those values but have still retained my own cultural identity. I still consider myself an Alaskan and it is a source of pride.
ReplyDeleteCulture shock:
ReplyDeleteA few years back I went on a gray hound bus to go see a friend down in Arizona, I never thought the bus was going to have problems or stop in places that was not on the ticket. So here I am a small town gal on the bus wearing a read Tommy Hilfiger sweater, stuck in Chico California. I was not a where at the time of my issue, until I was on the phone with my friend that I was going to see. I was telling him that I was burning up in my sweater, but I didn’t want to take it off because I was wearing a shirt that said “Oregon Rules you all suck!” It was a ducks shirt, for the silver war game. I was not proud of this shirt but it was loose cotton. As I am on the phone telling my friend this he is laughing at me. I turned around to find myself surrounded by a bunch of guys and “thug” like girls wearing nothing black. I was freaking out. I was telling my friend that I had an issue, and by the tone of my voice I know he could tell. This “group” of people were not pleased, had I said something that upsetted them or did I do something wrong? But how could I have done something, when I have only been at this bus stop for no more than ten minutes. One of the ladies there who wore black, dyed her hair black, black make up on vary strong and too much if you were to ask me, she had pointed at my sweater and said the color brings out eyes. My friend on the other line had asked in disbelief, “Are you wearing red Alyssa?” I had chuckled and responded back “yes”. From there I don’t remember too much other than my friend on the phone is going off on my and calling me crazy for wearing that color in California, and this group of “thugs” pointing a laughing. All I could say at the time was that I was from Coos Bay, Oregon, and that I am sorry for wearing a color that they felt if I were being disrespectful to them. I know I had said much more out of sacredness, but I don’t remember much other than the “thugs” walked away. I ran to the bus, crying because I thought I was going to die. I must of said that because my friend on the phone said “They won’t kill you, there are witness!” I have told this story a couple of times, and every time someone asks me “Will you ever do that again, ride the gray hound?” I repeatedly state every time “NO!”
I know this isn’t the best culture shock, of my experience; but I feel that every other story is about the temperature culture shock. I was born in Roseburg, Oregon so temperature occasionally does take its toll on me from time to time, but who wants to hear about someone who is uncomfortable with what they are wearing, even if it’s a swim suit, if you knew me I am white as all can be, no matter how much sun screen I put on I still burn. And who wants to hear about the allergy like symptoms of the culture difference? They are the same in their own words.