Culture Shock free essay sample

Chapter Nine Lecture Idea 2: Culture Shock Culture shock is precipitated by the anxiety that results from a person’s losing all of her familiar signs and symbols of social interaction. When a person enters a strange culture, familiar cues are removed. Without these unwritten rules regarding appropriate behavior, people may experience frustration and anxiety. Studies show that predictable stages occur when people enter a new culture, country, or environment. The length and intensity of each stage varies from person to person. The following steps are involved: Honeymoon phase—The person is fascinated by and eager to explore the new environment. Sometimes the honeymoon lasts for such a long time that an outsider might assume that the person has already passed through the other stages and considers the new culture home. When the person finally moves into the next phase, her behavior can come as a surprise to those who have made this assumption. Immediately I was in awe of the way that people lived with their big houses and beautiful homes. Strangers that I met immediately loved my accent and although I spoke English it wasnt American English and that was hard sometimes for them to understand me. I worked as a nanny for a family and they had a hard time understanding my vocabulary for many things. For example, â€Å"a Tap† for me is something that water comes out of instead of â€Å"a Faucet†. Everything seemed fun and new to me, but then after a few weeks I realized that theres a huge difference between the two cultures, and I started noticing things I did not notice before. I started having a hard time with some things that were an everyday norm for people native to the USA. For instance, every Sunday back in South Africa we had a big lunch with my family. My first Sunday here I walked downstairs just to discover that people here dont do Sunday lunches and my employer told me that that was more of a Thanksgiving tradition. I looked at her like she was from another planet and soon discovered that I am not in South Africa anymore. According to Robert Lenkeit, â€Å"†¦.. he emotions people have when prolonged exposure to another societys culture makes them feel hopeless, homesick, disoriented, angry, depressed, frustrated, or all of the above† ( R. E. Lenkeit, 2008, p. 55) I became homesick and lonely because I missed all the little things I was used to and that I took for granted for so many years. I felt further alienated due to the lack of effective communication with the family and could not make any friends, and most of all I was living in one of the riches cities in CT. According to the Collins English Dictionary, culture shock leaves a person feeling frustrated and you always have the feeling that you are constantly judged, and you are left feeling isolated and angry. I cried every night, and tried my best to fit in, I changed my hair color, started wearing clothes that I would never wear at home, took driving classes and took some classes at the college, to learn the American english. I started making friends, and tried my best to lose my accent and slowly my anxiety , anger, frustration turned into adjustment, a feeling of belonging and I became less and less homesick. The better you are able to adjust to the differences, the greater the ability you will have in empathizing and communicating with those with whom you come in contact† ( (Piet-Pelon amp; Hornby, 1992, p. 2). I understood that my believes, culture,body language and my norms were standing in my way to a better understanding of a new culture. I have been living in America for 12 years and will soon become a citizen of this wonderful country that opened so many doors for me. My advice to anybody visiting another country would be, be brave, respectful and to go into any situation with an open mind. Everything goes well for a while until frustration and anger surfaces and before you know it adaptation is something that comes naturally. Communication, respect, and the ability to stay open minded to other cultures is very important, it will only makes the transition easier. Bibliography Books: Lenkeit, R, (2008)Introdusing cultural Anthropology, USA, McGraw-Hill Companies, Website or Webpage:Online Encyclopedia(n. a), (n. a) (2013) Culture Shock, Wikipedia. Wikimedia foundation Ink. Online document: Pelon,P. amp; Hornby(1992) Culture Shock, http://www. oired. vt. edu/cesa/currentstudents/cs_culturalshock. htm