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Sign up with Google Sign up with FacebookQ: Culture shock is a real pain in the you-know-what. How'd you work through it?
I guess we each have our own ways to deal with this, besides managing it to keep it under control. My "cocktail" will have lots of patience and understanding, a bit of wisdom and tolerance, some humility and topped with a sincere desire to learn new customs, cultures and tradition. Of course, no need to say that I can not forget that what is a shock to me, it is every day occurance to others.
giadrosich:
Thumbs up as a countermeasure, because I agree with what you said!
I was lucky to meet a couple of other Canadians that had arrived in Harbin around the same time as me. We bonded I guess you could say, we vented, played hockey and went to the gym and of course shared a few beers to help ease the transition. 6 years later we are still friends.
I married a beautiful local girl, lol.
So it is in my benifit to show furthur understanding and compassion when it seems I have just run out of both. But, even if I hadn't gotten married, I do want to learn what I can about the culture at large, history, and people that surround me. The shock comes when preconception runs smack into the brick wall of reality, and you quickly realize that the thinking (or, as is more the case, lack of) behind the action just doesn't square with what you are used to. That is the wonder, and the curse, of living in a foreign country.
There are still some things I haven't "gotten over," but these days, I'm much more plyable. I just laugh to myself, shake my head, and realize, as HappyExPat said, that's not the way I would do it, but it is the way it's done here.
Great answers, thanks, I like them. The down point I don't understand either; that was a very useful comment.
I use a similar approach to that suggested by few of the others here. The culture shock presented itself in a few stages to me. When I first arrived I was in such a state of excitement that I only looked at the big picture and just glossed over many of the things that generate debate on this forum. I had also lived with my Chinese born partner in Australia for a while so had some understanding of things Chinese. After a short settling in period I found I started to take notice of and at times be initially irritated by many things that are taken for granted or just endured in China. To be honest I often got very angry or frustrated but I have always been good at being able to quickly calm myself down and I try and think each situation through by analysing things and finding out more of how and why locals behave that way. I also am building up my knowledge of what is socially accepted or not in China. The hardest things for me to overcome (don't think I will ever get used to it) are the almost complete lack of thought for the future when making/fixing/maintaining anything and the frustration when trying to use logic/science/evidence when discussing some long held belief. I can present the best arguments in the world to my misses or local friends and they will still think what they choose to do is right even if their only proof is "somebody(insert any fiends name)told me" or it is the way they have always done things.
981977405:
These comments really made me think. Thank you very much.
I think a period of alcohol and misery is necessary.