Reverse culture shock

[quote=“Dahudze”]

  • “Whoa! Commercials in English!”

  • All that space on the lower part of the TV screen–and no subtitles!"

  • “Good Lord, this supermarket is huge.”

  • “When the hell did Americans get this fat?!”[/quote]

Food and Direct TV is a deadly combination!

No worries, the land of the FAT and Medical research dollars will market something very soon that will melt away fat cells so Americans won’t have to do anything different, like walk to the mailbox.

Btw, Direct TV is available even in the most rural areas, where they tend to grow larger couch potatos!

Except when there’s snow and heavy storm, of course.

I think that most of us get hit by a reverse culture chock when we return. I was the first time - however it wore off rather quickly. Second time? Not sure how that would be. However, I guess that I would settle in a rhytm rather quickly.

In supermarkets back in the old country, even crowded ones, everyone walks in a bubble. No one shoves past. No one even makes eye contact. It’s creepy. I start wanting to bang trolleys just to confirm my existence. (I don’t, of course, because I’m English)

I was looking around for Taiwanese people the first time I went home. I found myself looking at other foreigners (well they weren’t foreigners, they were locals) or should I say westerners and feeling that their faces were very thin and their noses were too big.
It made me a little uncomfortable.
When I went to get a hair cut they thought that I was an American, and this is at home in New Zealand. Geez, did my accent change that much! I know my spelling has changed but I hadn’t noticed my accent - but they sure did!!!

So, YES, REVERSE CULTURE SHOCK - IN A BIG WAY!

Now I have a Taiwanese wife and son, so when I go back I don’t feel the culture shock the same. I have my own little travelling Taiwan. It’s great, no one can understand a word we say, except when we go to Singapore :smiling_imp:

I feel more like I’m “coming home” when I fly into CKS than when I fly into LAX. And here in LA, I feel more “at home” when I’m out in my college town than in my parent’s town… even though that’s where I’m living now.

I suppose that’s partly because growing up here, I always felt a bit out of place and it wasn’t until moving away that I was able to expand my world, find more possibilities, and to make “my home.” In Taiwan, especially, I had full responsibility for making it my home, and I made it a very comfy home for me. But now I’m back in the US, pursuing a new career.

Back in my hometown, there is still some remnant of the claustrophia of my youth and I’m trying to come at being here as if it were all new to me instead of falling into old, familiar ruts. Get into new ruts, I guess. As soon as I get comfortable with that, I’ll probably itch to move on again!