loner w/a boner Posted October 9, 2003 Report Share Posted October 9, 2003 Hi guys. Maaaaajor blind spot here. I'm not an experienced traveler, and haven't researched the subject of culture shock. A well-traveled friend of mine said I was going to feel it--big time. He told me of his military service in Europe. There were certain soldiers that would venture off base--once. From then on they would just sit in their barracks. I believe he said such a person was referred to as "barracks rat". If I were in Germany, even in the confines of military service, I would do something. Visit castles, discover the greatest beers in the world--something. So, what am I missing here guys? Aside from the language, I'm not in much shock at all. Bangkok's a big city. It's got pollution (I breathe better here than I did at home), crime, and poverty. In other words, just like any other big city in the world. Are some people "immune" to it? Does it just happen to people who aren't emotionally prepared for radical cultural differences. I know this sounds like a "dead brain cell" question, but I just don't get it. Can any of you explain to me, by citing examples you are aware of, where a foreigner has exhibited culture shock here in BKK? It could make for some very interesting reading. Thanks P.S. While with the above-mentioned friend, I saw a lovely well crafted coo coo clock. He mentioned some place he got it. If I recall, it was from a small clocksmith's shop in the Black Forest. Anyway, I asked him, "Isn't that in East Germany?". He just smiled. At the time of the clock's, er, "acquisition" he was a US soldier and it was some 5+ years prior to the fall of the wall. I just love a good story--especially one with intrigue. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest Posted October 10, 2003 Report Share Posted October 10, 2003 you would get a huge culture shock if you would go and try to stay in a thai village. you would get a huge culture shock if you would go and stay in a slum here. places where hardly anyone speaks your language or knows anything of your culture, nothing is geared towards you, where there is no other westerner around to relay your experiences to. where you will have to learn to adapt to a culture you have not the slightest idea about. and then there is the reverse culture shock, when you have spent sufficient enough time in such a foreign environment that you have started to adapt, and then return to your own culture, where nobody of your friends and associates will be able to understand the changes you went through, and you will suddenly find out that you horizont has expanded in a way that you deal with every aspect of your own background in a completely different way than before. the period of that confusion is often much more severe and lasting than the initial culture shock. you won't get much of that culture shocks though if you mainly stay around sukhumvit and other areas geared towards the western tourist. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest Posted October 10, 2003 Report Share Posted October 10, 2003 Not quite a Bkk tale, but in the same vain. I was living in Kunming and having dinner at the Holiday Inn. Got talking to 3 expats who were living in the hotel, worked for a Tobacco company. Me.."So where are some good spots to eat around here" They.."Don't know, we always eat here." "Always?" "yes, have breakfast here, take a lunch, driver picks us up, come back here for dinner" "So, you don't ever go out and eat". "No way, eat in a local place...hahaha...never." "So, how long you guys been here?" " Two years." Now that's culture shock ! And these guys are senior technical people. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
jp1 Posted October 10, 2003 Report Share Posted October 10, 2003 LHL, For some 'gwailo' ignorance in bliss. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
lembeh Posted October 10, 2003 Report Share Posted October 10, 2003 there are several very informative web sites on culture shock (and acclimatization), and a search will help you find some. "Culture shock" is somewhat of a misnomer, IMHO. It does not suddenly "dump" on you so to speak, but is rather a gradual accumulation. Its that *everything* around you is subtly "wrong" in many ways, and the input you are getting is "out of kilter". Culture shock can manifest itself in many ways. Feelings of "isolation" and alienation, a feeling that everyone around you is doing things the "wrong" way, and that the (insert your country here) way is "right". Everyone undergoes it to some extent. Those that get through it go on to adapt to the new surroundings. For some, they will never over come the feeling of "wrongness", and returning to the home culture is the only option. Culture shock generally manifests in 6 months to a year (or some times even longer) IIRC, before that is the "honeymoon" phase where everything is wonderful and new. Its after that stage that problems can set in. -j- Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest Posted October 10, 2003 Report Share Posted October 10, 2003 Says josh_ingu: there are several very informative web sites on culture shock (and acclimatization), and a search will help you find some. "Culture shock" is somewhat of a misnomer, IMHO. It does not suddenly "dump" on you so to speak, but is rather a gradual accumulation. Its that *everything* around you is subtly "wrong" in many ways, and the input you are getting is "out of kilter". Culture shock can manifest itself in many ways. Feelings of "isolation" and alienation, a feeling that everyone around you is doing things the "wrong" way, and that the (insert your country here) way is "right". Everyone undergoes it to some extent. Those that get through it go on to adapt to the new surroundings. For some, they will never over come the feeling of "wrongness", and returning to the home culture is the only option. Culture shock generally manifests in 6 months to a year (or some times even longer) IIRC, before that is the "honeymoon" phase where everything is wonderful and new. Its after that stage that problems can set in. -j- Yes, I get all this...on returning from LOS. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Fiery Jack Posted October 10, 2003 Report Share Posted October 10, 2003 I once lived in an area of a Japanese city well-known for its excellent Korean restaurants . Another British guy lived in the same building. From both his and my balcony window you could see and hear (and smell ) a whole street of busy Korean "yaki-niku" restaurants (marinated barbecued meat: 'bulgogi' in Korean) . He'd lived there, in the same apartment, for 14 years (couldn't speak a word of Japanese, no Japanese friends, sat watching BBC satellite TV and rented videos all the time ): I'd only been in Japan for about a year . Anyway, I met the dude in the elevator one day and he said, "I'm in a panic . A friend of mine is coming over from the US tonight. I want to take him for a meal, but he doesn't like Japanese food. He's a real meat eater. Any suggestions?" I said, "Just take him to one of the yakiniku places across the road. He'll love it." The cat looked at me like I'd just cracked into broad Swahili and blurted out, "Yakiniku? What's that...?" jack Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
SiLeakHunt Posted October 10, 2003 Report Share Posted October 10, 2003 That reminds me of the time I was doing community service in a city a few miles south of my own (I'd exposed myself out the coach window to a welll to do couple on the way back from a Wigan Athletic match in south London who turned out to be the local magistrate and his wife) Anyway a mate of mine was coming to give me a lift home so I asked the foreman (who was driving past on his horse and cart) "Do you know where there's a good take away?" He took off his cloth cap, scratched his head, wiped his clogs on the horses arse and said "Take away what's one of them. I could get the Mrs to put some oatcakes on." That happened in early 2003 Cheers Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
rovineye Posted October 10, 2003 Report Share Posted October 10, 2003 Says Fiery Jack: I once lived in an area of a Japanese city well-known for its excellent Korean restaurants . Another British guy lived in the same building. From both his and my balcony window you could see and hear (and smell ) a whole street of busy Korean "yaki-niku" restaurants (marinated barbecued meat: ''bulgogi in Korean) . FJ, Speaking of which, is there one of these in BKK? I know a Thjai girl who used to live in Korea. We went to a Koren restaurant (somewhere around Soi 15 off Suk?) but no good. Did not have bulgogi. Any recommendations? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest Posted October 11, 2003 Report Share Posted October 11, 2003 i think there's one in washington square, and lots of korean restaurants in that multistory place with all the korean karaokes and the korean supermarkets somewhere around soi 13 or 15. also oshi in discovery centre has a small korean corner. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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