I don't care who you are, how much you have traveled, how long you have lived abroad, how much you know about the country you are going to, but there is always the potential of Culture shock. I'm not saying you will always get it, I'm not saying it will be extreme, but the potential is there. I traveled Asia over the span of 7 months last year, coming to China twice within that and preparing for my move through learning about China. I am by no means claiming to be an expert, but I am saying I prepared as much as one could expect me to prepare and I have still had moments of Culture shock and Culture anger.
I think Culture shock comes in stages, then alternates between different feelings/stages. When I first came to China I was filled with love and excitement over my new country. After a couple months, my love and excitement turned to frustration and aggression. How did some of this frustration and aggression manifest itself? When people would stare, I would stare back, until they turned away. I one time stated walking backwards cuz this one guy would not look away, haha he eventually did. I've heard of people screaming in English, hitting cars (I haven't hit a car, but I've stood in front of one and stared down the driver, till it got out of my way), chasing down taxi swoopers (people who jump in the taxis you waved down...sadly happens quite often) and so on. My aggression and anger towards the general Chinese public has subsided and now turned towards those closer to me.
While I love my friends I'm going through the Culture Stage of "Friend Frustration", for lack of better words. And I truly think its culture. I'm sorry, but in my culture if I hung out with you all day I don't want to talk to you that night on the phone! If I don't answer your phone call, please don't call me me again...and again and again and again. I'm probably busy. Work, if I tell you I don't have free time to work, why do you insist on scheduling me anyways to have me cancel on you? Or if you tell me the class is only on Fridays why do you ask me if I have free time the other days of the week? Or if I quit, why do you think I want to come back? I quit for a reason. If we plan on meeting at a certain time, why are you surprised I'm waiting for you at "the meeting place"? I've also been wondering why do you want to invite me to your home and then let me sit on the couch the whole week watching Chinese TV I don't understand? How would that be fun and/or entertaining for me? Or why do you insist on showing me around your University, I'm not interested in whatever it is you teach!! Just because I'm a foreigner and I called you a friend for the sake of my class, does not mean I actually want to exchange numbers. In fact I'm kinda done meeting new Chinese friends, its hard enough to hang out with the ones I have while going through this stage of Cultural adjustment. If I tell you I have a Chinese teacher, stop telling me about how great of a teacher you are and about how much mine sucks, I like mine and I don't like you! These are just some of the feeling that emerge as I go through the stages of Culture shock. This one will eventually subside and I will enter a new stage. Eventually I might move between the stages with relative ease. One day loving China the next day in a rage.
Don't get me wrong as I write this, I love living here, this blog post are for those who want to know the real lifeness of it. If you want to see the smile only, forget about this one. Thank you all.
:)
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