Your Experiences With Reverse Culture Shock

[GarryP]

I doubt you'll experience much shock. It's your home.

I haven't lived in the US since '99 but take to it like a duck to water everytime I go visit.

Perhaps the cost of things you remember will shock you some.

The cost of things is about the only shock I get. I always seem to remember the prices of things from when I lived there, and when inflation takes its toll while I am away, the new prices seem so high to me.

Other than that, well, pretty much nothing is much of a shock to me. Everything else is pretty comfortable, like slipping on an old pair of blue jeans.

You can still do that? My old blue jeans don't fit anymore - they have shrunk.

[IanForbes]

You can still do that? My old blue jeans don't fit anymore - they have shrunk.

Mine still fit because I lose weight when I'm in Thailand for 5 months each year. But, I enjoy my own cooking too much when I'm in Canada, and put the 12 pounds back on.

[samran]

ute driving bogans.

One of the biggest forms of culture shock for me.

[bonobo]

I doubt you'll experience much shock. It's your home.

I haven't lived in the US since '99 but take to it like a duck to water everytime I go visit.

Perhaps the cost of things you remember will shock you some.

The cost of things is about the only shock I get. I always seem to remember the prices of things from when I lived there, and when inflation takes its toll while I am away, the new prices seem so high to me.

Other than that, well, pretty much nothing is much of a shock to me. Everything else is pretty comfortable, like slipping on an old pair of blue jeans.

You can still do that? My old blue jeans don't fit anymore - they have shrunk.

Dang those shrinking jeans! THe quality they put in those things nowadays!!!!!

[Jawnie]

How fat people are (in the US) and how much they eat.

How clean most places are.

How relatively uncrowded the roads and sidewalks are and the empty parking lots.

The fact that there are sidewalks at all.

How nice most drivers are.

How upset pedestrians get if you drive like your still in Asia.

How fussy Americans are about most things.

How <deleted> expensive it can be.

How few Asian women there are - pitiful.

Everybody speaks English.

Edited March 23, 2011 by Jawnie

[stevensdling]

Last time I was in the States, there was an instance where I was in a shopping mall looking for a bathroom.

I walked in and there was a Mexican cleaning lady mopping the floor.

Thinking nothing of it, I proceeded to use the urinal and she starts screaming for me to get out.

I thought I was going to be arrested for indecent exposure.....

Haha, true! Back home you have to wait for the cleaning ladies to finish before taking a pee. I had completely forgotten!

[deejah]

found myself saying

cap poon cap

and sawadee cap way too much

[Tokay]

I got a ticket for trying to drive my motorbike on the sidewalk in LA and the policeman wouldn't take a bribe on the spot. Couldn't understand why.

[mstribling]

found myself saying

cap poon cap

and sawadee cap way too much

Were you speaking to Thais?

Please don't tell me your were speaking Thai to your countrymen back home.

[IanForbes]

Last time I was in the States, there was an instance where I was in a shopping mall looking for a bathroom.

I walked in and there was a Mexican cleaning lady mopping the floor.

Thinking nothing of it, I proceeded to use the urinal and she starts screaming for me to get out.

I thought I was going to be arrested for indecent exposure.....

Haha, true! Back home you have to wait for the cleaning ladies to finish before taking a pee. I had completely forgotten!

:lol:

Oh so true! You forget the casual nature of things in Thailand... like taking a pee at a urinal with a girl sitting beside you doing her nails.

Oh, and for the first month back I'm ALSO saying "Krap un krap."

[IanForbes]

found myself saying

cap poon cap

and sawadee cap way too much

Were you speaking to Thais?

Please don't tell me your were speaking Thai to your countrymen back home.

No, it's just reactionary without thinking. Most of the time I catch myself before saying it, but it occasionally slips out and I get a funny stare. Then I get a hoot of laughter when I explain. But, it's amazing what you can get away with if you smile a lot. And, I do smile a lot at everyone. A smile sure puts the New Yorkers off, though.

[mstribling]

I will admit to occasionally pointing with my lips and going " ugh".

[BangrakBob]

driving a car on a street where there is no traffic and wondering which side of the road you are supposed to be on

[PhoenixRising]

I hadn't been back in over five years. When I got to the immigration desk at the airport, the officer demanded to see a second piece of identifcation or I was not getting in. I strugged to look for an old expired driver's license (explaining how tired I was) until I realised that this was the first time in my travels to nearly 30 plus countries where the immigration wouldn't just take my passport. I nearly got refused entry into my own country! And then he said, "welcome home" after I finally produced a three year expired D.L.

Next thing I knew, there was a stranger holding up my name on a card on my way through the departure gate. My mother was suppose to pick me up! She didn't want to make the 45 minute drive because there was snow on the ground the night before. On our drive, the taxi man got really angry at me for asking about where I can exchange foreign currency until he yelled out, "LADY not many people go to Thailand!" And that's when I finally hit my wall with culture shock in my own country!

[StreetCowboy]

driving a car on a street where there is no traffic and wondering which side of the road you are supposed to be on

That seems quite normal; what is unusual is that back home in farangland - you worry about it, rather than idle passing interest...

I remember my bewilderment in the US,

finding myself driving the wrong "Why is everyone driving straight towards me flashing their lights - ah! Drive on the right... wait a minute, I am on the right... must be a one way street"

, until I realised that I had probably missed the no-entry sign because it would have been on the right hand side of the street...

and here, my confusion the first time that I encountered a "drive on the right" street...

SC

[geriatrickid]

I'll have 20 Bhat with you that the biggest culture shock you'll get will be the Food & the sheer size of it..

Umm, I had breakfast at an Australian owned joint in patong this morning. Big American type breakfast; Toast, 2 eggs, beans (ewww), tomato, big sausage,(even bigger than a naughty part), ham, bacon (oh my cholesterol levels), big plate of fruit, and pot of Nescafe (ugh). I left 1/2 of it behind. too much. Last night we went for dinner, just the 2 of us; My tiny thai friend ordered 1 fried fish, a few tiger prawn, more shrimp, some rice, a Penang curry for me with chicken and some drinks. The little varmint ate almost all of it. Me? I had a bit and I swear I gained 1kg. He probably pooped it all out this morning.

Reverse culture shock for me is the discernible nastiness of airline staff in the west. Even the saggy frumpy TG desk agents are more pleasant to deal with than western air personnel. Culture shock for me is going into a Thai restaurant back home and getting the vietnamese staff's version of Thai food. It is one of my greatest pleasures to eat whatever I like here all of which is affordable.

last night, I dropped by a bar to say hello to a manager I hadn't seen in months. I was greeted like a long lost brother. That would never happen back home. (And it wasn't for my money, as I had one drink and it was on the house. ), Nowhere else would the owner's g/f come up to me and say oh my you are getting fat. Where else would a waiter come running up to hug me and mean it. I had a massage the other day and the lady massaged my upper bum. (Don't get any ideas, she was 60+) The massage people here (the non sexy places) have no problem touching your feet or climbing on you. No masseuse in the west would do that.

[mstribling]

Sorry GK. You had an English breakfast. Americans don't eat beans, hot dogs and tomatoes for breakfast.

My god. I am fantasizing about Cracker Barrel now. Thanks.

[lingyaiyai]

after living here for 8 years I will be going to the UK to live in about 2 weeks time. should be fun

I will not bother with telling anybody about my life here as I doubt very much that they will believe me anyway.

Some of us might!

[lingyaiyai]

I am always surprised by the fact that water from the cold tap really is cold (in the UK).

[Wrong Turn]

livinthailandos:

I'm sure some of you have experienced this before, reverse culture shock, basically when you go back to your home country and experience culture shock after being gone from your home country for a while. As I have been living and working in thailand for the last 3 1/2 years. I've decided to go back to the US for a 3 week visit.

You would think I would remember my own experiences from last time I was in the US, but after not being in the US for 3 1/2 years seems I don't remember much. I would like to hear your comments or experiences on this matter or what you faced when you got back to your home country. look forward to everyones postings

I found (and do find) that certain little things in the USA annoy me.

When and if I return to the US, I may have difficulty in adjusting, or perhaps not.

I definitely don't like the many aspects of US culture, now that I've lived in Thailand for several years.

Is this culture shock, or is it a change of perception of my native country's culture?

I think it's both.

[rmacdon61]

Last time back to Canada, it was pointed out I had lost my "eh" at the end of my sentence?????????

Go figure eh???

Going back tomorrow, will try and remember eh!!!

[hpwheelman]

Hmm, One way or the other lived out of the US since 2003. Other then a short amount of time in 06. Lets see, turned left at a red once, forgetting the traffic direction, The size of the normal fries and drink and even burgers at fast food joints are larger then the largest they have here in Thailand. That was shocking. I just didn't feel like I fit in any more... Don't like talking to people because it is annoying how little they know or care about the outside world. Even worse is how little they know about the reality of our own country (USA). Generally bothered by the lack of desire by most to leave their hometown.

[F1fanatic]

Let's just hope that none of us are as stupid as an earlier poster's wife (a couple of years ago) who got off the plane and asked why the air-con was on outdoors.

He thought it showed his wife to be cute and loveable.....

[StreetCowboy]

Let's just hope that none of us are as stupid as an earlier poster's wife (a couple of years ago) who got off the plane and asked why the air-con was on outdoors.

He thought it showed his wife to be cute and loveable.....

Sadly, we have little choice about how stupid we are. Ignorance we can do a little about.

Let's just hope that people are polite enough to correct our ignorance and ignore our stupidity.

SC

Did you ever find out why the air con was on?

[mstribling]

Let's just hope that none of us are as stupid as an earlier poster's wife (a couple of years ago) who got off the plane and asked why the air-con was on outdoors.

He thought it showed his wife to be cute and loveable.....

Thai girls are so cute when they say things like that.

[BigCan]

For me it hits in the toilet.

I sit there for a full minute, with the tissue in my hand, looking around for the bin.

[blazes]

I stayed in Thailand 1968, 69 and 70. When I went back to the States I went back to college.

A lady from the student newspaper wanted to do an interview with me to find what it was like for me to come back to the States after so long in SEA.

She asked what were the major differences that I was having a hard time adjusting to. I told her sleeping with one woman at a time and paying for beer and cigarettes. The beer, booze and cigarettes were free to the military.

That was the end of the interview. She closed her notepad and walked out and slammed the door. The whole think lasted 10 seconds. Needless to say the interview never made the newspaper.

Now I have no intentions of ever going back.

Good story...made me laugh...but what does the word "now" mean at the end? You [in 2011] have no intention of moving back because of something that happened in 1971?

Taken 40 years to make up your mind?!!

[tim armstrong]

Last time I went back to Oz, my sons had to stop me from walking on and all over the road, and I was not pissed. We had a Saturday big breakfast in a suburban coffee shop and I couldn't help notice how clean all the kids were. I wanted to roll a few in the dirt. In fact everyone was clean and wholesome and - the same. It was me, not them, but everything seemed so regulated, no chaos,only a few motorbikes, everything worked, and it was just a bit boring -- I think?

[Jingthing]

American tipping customs for restaurants are shocking. I am now used to more Thai level tipping at restaurants, though I do tip here. In the US, if you tip 10 percent of the total bill you may get sneered at (even if the service was awful), they aren't really happy unless you tip 20 percent of the bill, and if you don't tip at all, you might want a bodyguard (which I understand as they are taxed as if they get a minimum tip) and of course never go back unless you fancy eating snot and spit or worse.

Edited March 28, 2011 by Jingthing

[vranish]

Don't anticipate too much shock returning to the states. Maybe it's because I'm with so many other farang all the time? After only three months in China a few years ago, I was totally overwhelmed by all the white faces when I landed in San Francisco. Less farang there, so you're used to striking up a conversation with every other foreigner you see. It honestly took willpower not to start running my mouth at every California housewife who walked by.

All this time in Asia also seems to have developed into a severe prejudice against the obese that I'm certain to take home with me.