Culture shock when you get back home

[linglau]

It's funny, I'd go to Hong Kong for like 3 weeks and when I come back to the UK I've completely forgotten how to form sentences in English (btw I was born in England) and I stumble over my grammar and stutter lol!

I'd love to live out in China or Hong Kong for a longer period of time

[roddy]

Ooooh, people splitting bills and passing cash around the table. Especially if you keep the waiting staff hanging around while you try and divide by 5 and argue about who had a second dessert.

[Scoobyqueen]

If it wasnt already mentioned I miss not being able to just pay to get something done at whatever hour, last minute stuff. In Germany you cant get anything done on a Sunday and you need an appointment for everything eg. nails, hairdresser's, . Even a couple of weeks in China can get you used to the availability of cheap labour and willing service.

[Epickyle]

Hehe nice to see I'm not alone!

I spent two long-term stints at a kungfu school in Yantai, Shandong province and definitely felt some "post-China blues" on my return. Partly due to the culture shock and also lack of job/purpose. Got back from Yantai in June; couple of months later I moved out to Hong Kong for some TEFLing, yay!

[Liebkuchen]

Epickyle- I'm just off to Yantai next week! Would love to pick your brains over Yantai. Can't pm you as you're too new.

If you read this, my email is lroberts1980@yahoo.com

[roddy]

Can't pm you as you're too new.

Fixed that, although I'm constitutionally obliged to suggest you start a 'Living in Yantai' topic and invite him to it

[Epickyle]

Roddy, thanks for giving me some more privileges if somebody starts a yantai life thread I'm more than happy to contribute, would be nice to help people make the most of their time there.

[abcdefg]

Back in Texas now after about nine months in China, mostly Kunming. Driving everywhere in my car instead of walking; there's no public transit to speak of where I live. Enjoying Mexican food. Missing 米线。Find I've already begun thinking in English after only a few days here; whereas in China I think in Chinese -- thinking in the same bad Chinese that comes out of my mouth. Biggest culture shock every time I return stateside is the prevalence of severe obesity. Young and old; so many fat people here.

[WestTexas]

women are significantly less attractive and also not as friendly

[abcdefg]

women are significantly less attractive and also not as friendly

No disagreement there. I am single and those factors are weighted heavily in my decision scale as to where "life is good."

Back in the US I also miss my weekly massage plus the occasional footie. I really miss the liesure and the pampering of the saunas. Nothing even remotely similar here.

[Meng Lelan]

Welcome back to the Obese, Unattractive, and Unfriendly State of Texas! A salad lunch is on me if you ever come by this way.

[abcdefg]

Texas isn't all that bad, but I still look forward to a return to China in December or January. Had originally planned to come back to Texas at the end of August, but pushed it back a month to the end of September mainly because the Texas weather was still real hot.

Would enjoy a salad -- Thanks -- sent you a PM.

[Ailuo]

I think reverse culture shock depends alot on the situation. When i went to taiwan for the first time, i went alone. So when i got back, and no one was interested in China, i felt alone. The next time i went overseas, this time to Beijing, i went with my husand. That time, when we came back, we could talk about the things we missed together. Even now, havn't been to China in 3 years we still have cravings for 大盘鸡 and 土豆肉丝.

[imron]

Unfettered Internet access without having to jump through hoops to get it.

[tooironic]

@imron Are you talking about China or Australia here? Neither of them offers it, me thinks.

[imron]

I'm talking about being in China for a month, and then getting back to Australia, and being happy that I don't have to fire up a proxy just to access basic sites at reasonable speeds.

Internet access is far from perfect in Australia, but at least for the moment it's uncensored (hopefully Stephen Conroy won't get his way on that).

[abcdefg]

It is almost the end of my first week back in Texas after being in China for 9 months. Am enjoying a choice of cheeses, ripe avocados up from Mexico, bagels, V8 juice. (I realize all that stuff is probably available in Beijing in specialty or import shops.) It’s also nice to be able to drink water straight from the tap.

Agree about easier and faster internet, as mentioned above. Am loading up my Kindle using 3G, which I couldn't do in China (though I know it can be done. Mine has some kind of restriction that prevents it from connecting except in the US.)

I miss getting massages, foot soaks and shoe shines. I miss walking a lot in busy streets, bustling with life and enjoying widely assorted street food. I miss the varied small hole in the wall shops, buying cheap junk I don’t really need. I miss easy and inexpensive services like the street corner tailor and general repair guys and the 家政 lady to clean my house for 15 RMB per hour.

Don’t mean to be politically incorrect, but it’s also a fact that I sorely miss those sweet Yunnan girls, many fresh from the countryside -- should explain that I'm an old dog and that age seems to be less of a handicap with women in China than in the US. Admittedly that's anecdotal and is probably one of those YMMV things to boot. (Your Mileage May Vary.)

[Ludens]

Like lots of people, I mainly miss the overall liveliness of China. Combine this with some exoticism, and you'll find you're likely to find your home country boring as hell.

[Meng Lelan]

The worst part of being back in the States is getting text messages in just English, never Chinese.

The minute I land in China my text inbox is chock-a-block with Chinese texts asking if I'm there yet or where I am or where to meet for dinner or if I have time to see so-and-so who is a long time friend and so forth. It's great.

The minute I land in the US my text inbox is chock-a-block with English texts from my Ex or my Boss blaming me for this and that. It's hell.

[Matty]

I don't find it so shocking, but I do find it quite disappointing.

Day 1) The Airport

I get almost interrogated at the airport since I don't know where I'm going to live yet.

Them) Where will you be staying?

Me) I'm not sure.

Them) With your family?

Me) I don't know yet

Them) With friends?

Me) I haven't looked into it yet

Them) Will you be staying in Sydney?

Me) It's possible

Them) You wont be living on the street will you?

Me) I hope not...

Day 2) The Bank

Go to the bank to get my expired bank card fixed and listening to a man yelling at the woman for something that was his mistake while watching his wife pour the entire tray of free lollies into her purse. The thought dawns upon me... Not back to this again again.

Day 3) Asking for directions

One evening I couldn't find my way to my friends house, where I was staying, I was lost... However I knew it was near the main entrance a local school. I saw a person walking on the other side of the street and I decided to ask for directions. I started walking in the persons general direction and the person turned around and added some speed. I called out that I needed directions and the person began to run as if I was going to mug them or something. I continued my near aimless wandering until I eventually found my friends house. - My friend was out of town so couldn't help me, I just had his key.

Day 4) The Train

The train I'm supposed to take has broken down and now I'm going to have to take a bus. (This happend 3 times while I was there, I think I took the train a total of 6 time.)

Day 5) Thank you

So I filled my car with petrol and went to pay, as I opened the door and allowed someone else to enter first they said thank you. I had no idea how to answer... thoughts: "bu yong xie", "bu yong thank you", "no need thankyou", .... "he's gone, too late now"

Day x) The Fight

Walking down the street I get threatened and attacked by three teens since I don't look like the type who can defend myself. A throat grab and throwing one to the ground fixed it, but I really hate putting up with that crap.

Day x) The Internet

After searching for internet access I found that in the CBD of my town I could only get ADSL 1 with a maximum of "1500 kbps Down/256 kbps Up". With a 20GB transfer limit and it wasn't cheap... I really missed Chinese Internet. I get a better speed on youtube with a proxy via Hong Kong in China than I got in Australia.

Day x) Dating

The dating system is really messed up (DD/MM/YY) and the use of words that are just confusing. I keep thinking October is the 8th month and counting out months on my fingers. 十月 is just so much simpler. (Yes that was a play on words)

Day x) The traffic

The traffic I find terrible, in China I feel safe crossing the roads, the drivers are predictable and quite good at driving. The driving system in China may be quite complex and daunting to those who don't understand it but I still believe the drivers are quite skilled. I feel unsafe crossing a 2 lane street in Australia while I feel safe crossing 4 - 6 lane streets in China.

Day x) The law

Everything is illegal in Australia.

Day x) The government

They force you to vote, which for me would involve numbering several random people I don't care about and know nothing about or else I'll be fined. Listening to news about how the government is just wasting money arguing with other parties and trying to get elected next time while doing nothing to help the people.

Day x) The Food

A real pizza is a nice change, but for the most part I couldn't stand the food.

End of Days) (I know I didn't use days as originally planned, but I'll just use the excuse that I can't count higher than 5)

Ok, so I can't edit that post... "ReferenceError: CKEDITOR is not defined"

The above post was about Australia, was going to add that to the top of the post...

Day x) The Boredom

There is really very little to do in Australia most of the time, it seems the most popular pass-time is getting drunk or bragging about how you got so drunk the night before that you can't remember it.