Have you ever experienced a culture shock?

[Itsmeirem]

[Ladsin2]

I went to Dominican Republic about a decade ago doing so missions work. I went to two poor villages. One was very western, had clearly demarcated private property lines and everyone maintained their homes. People cut their own grass, and they had a small community area that was well maintained where the kids played baseball and gaballito (would get on our shoulders and run around). Very nice place, the people and the kids were nice. The second was a few miles away and was incredibly different. No sense of private property or shared responsibility for communal areas, or sense of shame or pride for maintaining anything. All the homes were in disrepair. Trash (metal glass etc) covered the communal area where kids were playing. As soon as we got off the bus to bring goods the kids started fighting over us. The last two in particular stand out to me. A two-three year old boy got a younger girl on the ground and started beating her senseless. The parents stood around and did nothing. The kids were very violent. The older boys tried to take the girls from our trip into the woods alone presumably to rape them. It was a tape of two cities for me. It taught me at a young age that not all cultures are equal, and that culture makes all the difference in the world.

[Lliam]

I've visited other countries. But my biggest culture shock was meeting my future wife's family for the first time.

I have one sibling a younger sister. She is divorced and has one daughter.
My wife has 10 siblings. Some of them are married and have kids. I stressed out on the plane to Cincinnati trying to memorize all their names. So and so is married to so and so, and their kid's names are...

But when I got to her parent's house, everyone was there to meet me. They weren't in nice neat family groups. It was chaos. Everyone talking and laughing, kids running around.

Eating dinner together was crazy, too.

I had never experienced anything like that in my life. They were good people, though. It was just a shock.

[4ngelic]

since i'm binational i do get reverse cultured shocked all the time, and also i've lived in other countries and travelled abroad so i've also had more direct culture clash.

i think the biggest ones were when i went to germany and in litterally every restaurant they serve you bubbly water as the normal water... (bubbly water 🤮🤮) and also when i moved from america to Europe i would be very smiley and friendly with strangers to be polite and that caused me some problems like dudes thinking i was flirting with them when i really wasn't

[FreyaRed]

With 17 I had a contract in Japan and some things surprised me by Japanese people. It wasn't a culture shock, but it need some time to get accustomed with exaggerated fake kindness in stores and businesses. Lack of space and microscopic bathrooms and toilets in private households and hotels surprised me too. Being a dangerous alien for Japanese men wasn't surprising since 90% of them were much shorter than me. XD

[OlderAndWiser]

Yes, when I started dating a woman from China (now my wife,) I had many surprises - good and bad.

[Kayla45]

Yeah, my first time visiting America.

The food portions are really big, I feel like if I ordered something I’d only eat about half of what was given to me. 😅 Also getting directions was confusing at first, everyone saying “just a few miles up the road” uhhh what? Haha.

[cheapshotbob]

I'm still getting over the culture shock from the past 5 years, let alone the past. I still argue with people but they're only being two genders. anything other than two makes you a nut.

You can call me old fashioned if you want but culture shock can be really annoying when you're the only one that sees the idiocy and some of the trends

[Staximus]

Maybe back in 1999, when I walked down the wrong street in Tijuana at 3 a. m. and drunk Mexicans in the back of a pickup truck started throwing beer bottles at me because I'm white. Normally I wouldn't tolerate that kind of treatment, but I was in Tijuana and didn't want to fight 9 drunk Mexicans.

[strangeatcircleK]

I feel like the transition from 20s to now.

Knowing what feels normal and then having that change

Businesses close, fashions change, music changes, fads change

For example, I grew up with video stores and no cell phones

No smart phones

Pay phones

That is kind of a culture shock

[Ad_Quid_Orator]

Eh depends on how you count it. I'm an American currently studying in Australia and here the winters are like our spring/autumn so most days I wear shorts and a T-shirt. But at the Uni I attend there are many students from SE Asia where it never gets below 25C who wear down jackets and when they see me wearing my outfits, it irritates the crap out of them.

[midnightmoon05]

I left China around 10. I went back as a college student to learn Chinese for a semester. No one was lining up for anything. In some ways, I had to yelled at them… other times I had to join them. It was a mess.

[Anonymous]

Yeah. I went to a friend of mine's wedding which consisted of two places. First we went to Florida and enjoyed a few lazy days on the beach. Then we flew to Vegas. Which was a culture shock with the bright lights and glitz and glamor. It felt like 2 extremes.

[RavVid]

Yes. I am used to a work colleague saying they will do a task or not. found it difficult to handle accepting the task and ignoring it. This was in Asia.

[fonduegirl]

Yeah, in Mumbai. I was visiting somebody.

Women at public transports like bus and train are so darn rude! Like holy mac and cheese! Individualistic culture really pulled a number on them.

They have better skincare though

[Caroline91]

Yes. When I came back from living in South America, I experienced it adjusting to living in the US again.

[NathanDavis]

yes... but I do live in the border between two big ass countries...

[DrPepper12]

Yes! When I went from teaching middle school to high school!

[Caroline91]

Omg! Cuckle. Chortle. Massive belly laughs!!

[DrPepper12]

You have no idea. It was like getting pardoned from HELL! I loathe MS kids, even when my own wete that age! Theyre not human. Theyre just not

[MoroccanPrincess]

When I dated an American man it was very surprising

[Anonymous]

Yeah a few Germans visited our guest house a while back. They all went to the pool butt naked like it's sooo normal.

[jahaims]

Some when I was little and moved from a high population urban area to a farm.

[Luckycharms12]

Not yet I'm sure I will as travel to Asia and other places across the world.

[IslaTheWitch]

every fucking day on this site...

[SweetJoyGirl]

Yes, when my family moved to the US.

[Dargil]

When I learned about suttee in India.

[Straight2thepoint]

Eew liberal woke mind

[Twalli]

Living it 24/7/365.25.

[Charliefretz329]

Many in my world travels

[RedInnocent69]

Minor, but yes.