Reverse Culture Shock?
suxiaoya
June 15, 2010, 08:14 AM posted in General Discussion
suxiaoya
" I'm finding that, to some extent, you're out of the loop as you choose to be."
Interesting point. I feel increasingly out of the loop with a lot of what's going on in England. Yes, we can get hold of local/national news over the internet, and can even listen to streamed radio, but it's just not the same. We have to search it all down from China; it's not an effortless intake of information as it is from home.
What compounds this as an issue for me is that a lot of subjects which really meant a lot to me before, such as national current affairs and politics, seem less relevant to me now - so I don't really care as much. I'm less and less inclined to hunt down the information. It's a viscious circle.
Aaah, I just miss reading (quality) Sunday papers from cover to cover :-(
xiaophil
June 16, 2010, 12:06 AMI forgot to tip once after coming back from China. I felt quite bad when that happened, actually.
Someday when I return to the US to live, I will miss open farmers' markets. I will also miss carrying my wife on the back of my bike. Well, I might still carry her on the back of my bike if I can find a suitable rack thingy for her to sit on.
suxiaoya
I'm going to miss the markets, too! I quite often don't go into a supermarket for two weeks because I can do all my shopping in the markets and little conveneince stores nearby my home. I wish it were easier to shop like that all the time at home. It's possible, but you need to make more of an effort in most towns in England.
waiguoren
June 16, 2010, 02:03 AMNot really. I consider myself fairly adaptable with regard to living in different countries/conditions.
But now that I am back in Australia after spending the best part of 3 years in China, I find myself doing, and rather enjoying all the things I couldn't do in China; for example, I'm spending an inordinate amount of time fishing these days, driving my car (I used to walk everywhere in China) and watching AFL on TV!
I think the biggest 'shock' coming back to Australia is the cost of living; rent, petrol, transport, food. Thats when I yearn for free rent, 6 yuan 'gaifan'（盖饭） and a 2 yuan ticket on the subway!
jen_not_jenny
July 02, 2010, 09:42 AMOn one trip to the States, I caught myself falling into a habit I intensely dislike here: staring at people. I was in a cafe in New York and two Chinese speaking girls walked in. I'm guessing they were ABC, as they spoke English with completely American accents, but they spoke to each other in Chinese. At one point, one of them said to the other, in Chinese, "Why is that woman staring at me? What's with her?" I was SO EMBARRASSED!!
suxiaoya
Haha, that's brilliant. I have caught myself doing something similar: looking over at other people's food in a restuarant, to gauge whether their dishes are something I'd like to order. As you can imagine, that does not go down very well in England, but it seems quite normal to stare at EVERYTHING here, so I hardly think anything of it...
xiaophil
Haha, it's not like you can say, "So sorry, I learned this habit from Chinese people." Then you would've done yourself in twice.
jen_not_jenny
I think they were speaking Cantonese, if memory serves...so if their background was Hong Kong, I probably could've gotten away with your explanation. They would have been very understanding, in that case. ;)
Frank(shaoxlee)_Shenzhen_China
When I order in restaurant, I often stare at the food other people ordered. But do not murmur this tastes bad.(Some times I will, I am sorry)
Because it 's more live a check if it looks good in color.
Frank(shaoxlee)_Shenzhen_China
Why not stick your tongue out at them and say nothing ?
To show you understood what they said.
pretzellogic
June 15, 2010, 09:20 AMFortunately (or unfortunately), I head back to the US pretty frequently. So I don't really get a chance to miss the US culturally. But I noticed that when we left the US to come to China, I was pretty much aware of the most of the pop music acts in the US. I returned to the US about 2 months ago, and then found out that there is this new person on the scene called Lady Gaga, and she's everywhere, on videos, the radio and so on. What's worse, I was talking with a few people in Beijing, and I found out that Beijing radio stations are playing Lady Gaga here as well. So its just that I'm out of the loop. :0)
When I was a kid, we lived out of the US for 2 years, and that was radically a different experience for me. But, assuming you can afford these things, with internet access, a laptop/netbook, television programming available worldwide, I'm finding that, to some extent, you're out of the loop as you choose to be.
When we lived in Lanzhou, we lived in a 6 floor walkup with only the solar water tank on the roof for hot water. So there was no hot water at during the winter, and getting the thermos full of hot water so that I could take a shower was a hassle. I did look forward to heading to the US (or at least Beijing), where I could go back to taking 24-hour hot water for granted, and squandering hot water resources.