Phases of Moving - Culture Shock
Jun 8th 2008, 12:10 am
#1
Forum Regular
Thread Starter
Joined: Apr 2007
Location: Canmore AB
Posts: 107
Phases of Moving - Culture Shock
I came acros this article that I thought was really good. It is aimed at students and some of the text over simplified, but it explains the stages of moving and adjusting to a new country. Every one goes through these phases and reacts differently at each phase. I find if you know what to expect it makes it easier to understand what you are feeling at the time.
http://international.ouc.bc.ca/cultureshock/index.html
http://international.ouc.bc.ca/cultureshock/index.html
Jun 8th 2008, 1:33 am
#2
Home and Happy
Joined: Dec 2002
Location: Keep true friends and puppets close, trust no-one else...
Posts: 93,814
Re: Phases of Moving - Culture Shock
I came acros this article that I thought was really good. It is aimed at students and some of the text over simplified, but it explains the stages of moving and adjusting to a new country. Every one goes through these phases and reacts differently at each phase. I find if you know what to expect it makes it easier to understand what you are feeling at the time.
http://international.ouc.bc.ca/cultureshock/index.html
http://international.ouc.bc.ca/cultureshock/index.html
http://britishexpats.com/wiki/Culture_Shock-Canada
Jun 8th 2008, 1:38 am
#3
A rather curious boy
Joined: Aug 2006
Location: Melbourne
Posts: 5,917
Re: Phases of Moving - Culture Shock
It's a fantastic article, I've linked to it more than once. Its also been put in the Wiki on BE - good reading for any migrant!
http://britishexpats.com/wiki/Culture_Shock-Canada
http://britishexpats.com/wiki/Culture_Shock-Canada
Denial
Resistance
Acknowledgement
Acceptance
Many versions - this is the one that works for me.
Jun 8th 2008, 8:09 am
#4
Bendy Bully
Joined: Feb 2005
Location: It's the wrong answer, and there's a light on.
Posts: 281
Re: Phases of Moving - Culture Shock
I think it's a bit rubbish to be honest:
At this stage the newcomer either gets stronger and stays, or gets weaker and goes home (physically, or only mentally).
Why is wanting to go back to to somewhere where you had a better life being "mentally weak" exactly? There's no sugestion in here that where you've moved to just might simply not give you as good a life as you had, and suggesting that people should should tough it out because some magical new phase in life will come along is pretty silly I reckon. Might do for some but others might waste years of their life waiting for this come and it may never do.
At this stage the newcomer either gets stronger and stays, or gets weaker and goes home (physically, or only mentally).
Why is wanting to go back to to somewhere where you had a better life being "mentally weak" exactly? There's no sugestion in here that where you've moved to just might simply not give you as good a life as you had, and suggesting that people should should tough it out because some magical new phase in life will come along is pretty silly I reckon. Might do for some but others might waste years of their life waiting for this come and it may never do.
Jun 9th 2008, 5:18 am
#5
Now on Vancouver Island
Joined: Feb 2005
Location: Nanaimo, British Columbia, Canada
Posts: 6,935
Re: Phases of Moving - Culture Shock
I think culture shock can be very subtle, difficult to recognize, and long lasting. It's easier to be aware of differences in the physical environment -- food, dress, etc. It's more difficult to be aware that the ways in which we expats assess whether or not people are trustworthy or deserving of respect may be different from the ways in which natives assess these things. Judgements of that sort are made subconsciously. We make them so automatically that we often don't even know we've made them.
Sometimes they do come out into the open, and they can be quite funny. My mother was a refugee from Hungary after World War II. After a short time in England, she and her parents made their way to Swaziland. There she met and married my South African father.
My father and his brother and brother-in-law used to love fishing. They taught my brothers and my male cousins how to fish. All the menfolk in my family loved the sport.
I don't know if other Hungarians would agree with my mother, but she claims that the only people who fished in Hungary were village idiots. I suppose the fact that Hungary was a landlocked country didn't help. But ocean fishing in South Africa was very productive, and my father and my uncles caught some magnificent fish that were delicious when they were barbequed. Yet my mother, who is pushing 80, still disdains fishing and fisherfolk. To this day, she has not overcome her view of anglers as village idiots.
I see other expats in effect viewing locals as village idiots, e.g., when British expats disdain North Americans for not "getting" satire. Sometimes I find myself thinking similar thoughts about people for a variety of reasons. When I catch myself doing it, I do try to revise my thinking. I try to take the position that their different world view is as valid to them as mine is to me. But there probably are times when I do it and don't even realize I've done it.
x
Sometimes they do come out into the open, and they can be quite funny. My mother was a refugee from Hungary after World War II. After a short time in England, she and her parents made their way to Swaziland. There she met and married my South African father.
My father and his brother and brother-in-law used to love fishing. They taught my brothers and my male cousins how to fish. All the menfolk in my family loved the sport.
I don't know if other Hungarians would agree with my mother, but she claims that the only people who fished in Hungary were village idiots. I suppose the fact that Hungary was a landlocked country didn't help. But ocean fishing in South Africa was very productive, and my father and my uncles caught some magnificent fish that were delicious when they were barbequed. Yet my mother, who is pushing 80, still disdains fishing and fisherfolk. To this day, she has not overcome her view of anglers as village idiots.
I see other expats in effect viewing locals as village idiots, e.g., when British expats disdain North Americans for not "getting" satire. Sometimes I find myself thinking similar thoughts about people for a variety of reasons. When I catch myself doing it, I do try to revise my thinking. I try to take the position that their different world view is as valid to them as mine is to me. But there probably are times when I do it and don't even realize I've done it.
x
Jun 9th 2008, 5:53 pm
#6
Forum Regular
Joined: Mar 2007
Location: UK-France-UK-France
Posts: 242
Re: Phases of Moving - Culture Shock
I think culture shock can be very subtle, difficult to recognize, and long lasting. It's easier to be aware of differences in the physical environment -- food, dress, etc. It's more difficult to be aware that the ways in which we expats assess whether or not people are trustworthy or deserving of respect may be different from the ways in which natives assess these things. Judgements of that sort are made subconsciously. We make them so automatically that we often don't even know we've made them.
Sometimes they do come out into the open, and they can be quite funny. My mother was a refugee from Hungary after World War II. After a short time in England, she and her parents made their way to Swaziland. There she met and married my South African father.
My father and his brother and brother-in-law used to love fishing. They taught my brothers and my male cousins how to fish. All the menfolk in my family loved the sport.
I don't know if other Hungarians would agree with my mother, but she claims that the only people who fished in Hungary were village idiots. I suppose the fact that Hungary was a landlocked country didn't help. But ocean fishing in South Africa was very productive, and my father and my uncles caught some magnificent fish that were delicious when they were barbequed. Yet my mother, who is pushing 80, still disdains fishing and fisherfolk. To this day, she has not overcome her view of anglers as village idiots.
I see other expats in effect viewing locals as village idiots, e.g., when British expats disdain North Americans for not "getting" satire. Sometimes I find myself thinking similar thoughts about people for a variety of reasons. When I catch myself doing it, I do try to revise my thinking. I try to take the position that their different world view is as valid to them as mine is to me. But there probably are times when I do it and don't even realize I've done it.
x
Sometimes they do come out into the open, and they can be quite funny. My mother was a refugee from Hungary after World War II. After a short time in England, she and her parents made their way to Swaziland. There she met and married my South African father.
My father and his brother and brother-in-law used to love fishing. They taught my brothers and my male cousins how to fish. All the menfolk in my family loved the sport.
I don't know if other Hungarians would agree with my mother, but she claims that the only people who fished in Hungary were village idiots. I suppose the fact that Hungary was a landlocked country didn't help. But ocean fishing in South Africa was very productive, and my father and my uncles caught some magnificent fish that were delicious when they were barbequed. Yet my mother, who is pushing 80, still disdains fishing and fisherfolk. To this day, she has not overcome her view of anglers as village idiots.
I see other expats in effect viewing locals as village idiots, e.g., when British expats disdain North Americans for not "getting" satire. Sometimes I find myself thinking similar thoughts about people for a variety of reasons. When I catch myself doing it, I do try to revise my thinking. I try to take the position that their different world view is as valid to them as mine is to me. But there probably are times when I do it and don't even realize I've done it.
x
When I was at my lowest with homesickness, I was at the bread van one morning and the woman who lives across the road came out and all of a sudden I decided that she was a 'country bumpkin' because that's how I felt at the time.
Reading this reminded me of that day lol.
Racheal x
