Reverse Culture Shock

Reverse culture shock is real. It is what us ex-patriots experience when we re-enter our first culture. I went overseas several times in college and experienced it then, but I never went overseas for for years at a time, just months. The really "hard to deal with" culture shock comes much later, but these are my first impressions so far.

1. American is so diverse! We cannot stop staring at all the people of different ethnicities. I think that AB believes she is Asian since at home everyone except for her parents are Asian. It is great!

2. From my perspective, people are so much more polite in the US. I have missed male chivalry! In America men I do not know have held the door open for me. People apologize when they bump into me. Also, other than those nasty kids at the movie theater, no one has cut in front of me in a week. Wow.

3. For the most part, it is much much more clean. I am no longer the only person washing my hands in the public restrooms, and everyone is using soap! I have not seen snot rockets, adults picking their nose, adults cleaning out their ear with their fingernails, flying lugies, and so far no one has defecated in public. The servers at the restaurants have washed their hands, and most importantly WE CAN DRINK THE TAP WATER!!! Even after a week here I still cringe inside whenever I fill my cup from the tap, but I just keep telling myself "it is okay."

4. Ummm...I am a little out of place in the US. Today when at Chipoltle KB and I walked off without bussing our table. Thankfully our family caught it and took care of us, but in Asia we are not supposed to buss our tables. Gosh, that would have been rude of us.

5. I get to use my credit card for purchases that are not just online. In Asia we have to carry around a huge wad of cash everywhere, and I have a constant fear that I will not have enough at the grocery store and I will have to explain (not in English) that I need to return part of my purchase because I do not have enough money. This is especially embarrassing because everyone is watching me anyways, and because most of our cashiers like to yell out how much we spent to appease everyone's curiosity.

6. In the US I think a lot of young girls have lame fathers and mothers who do not realize how trashy their daughters look. Some of the "clothes" I have seen the young girls wearing here in the US cover just about as much or less skin than that of the prostitutes in our lovely Asian hometown. The amount of unnecessary skin that young "ladies" show in the US has always shocked me when I have returned from a more conservative country. I am not saying all shorts or tank tops are bad, but if the shorts could double as panties and if the top leaves nothing to the imagination, then yes it is bad. Put on some clothes hoochie mammas.

7. What is up with all the teenage mothers? I am 100% pro-life, so do not confuse me with with wanting less babies born. It is just the amount of babies conceived by high school aged mothers that concern me. Everyone knows the statistics regarding the difficult future for both the baby born to a teenage mother and for the mother, yet why can't people outsmart their hormones? We waited, and we are not weirdos - I think.

8. Fur coats in Houston? Russians wear them to help them survive their -50 Celsius winters because they are the warmest coat in existence . I litterally started laughing when I saw a woman wearing one at church here in Houston. It was not even freezing outside. Maybe it was faux, but probably not. Whimps.

9. What is Twitter? It sounds worse that Facebook.

10. Lastly, I was horrified when I caught myself almost telling my friend her baby was cold because he was just wearing a onsie inside his warm home. If you have read my past blog posts, you will know I am frequently accosted by my annoying but well- intentioned neighbors telling me that my baby is cold...when I can clearly see that she is not.

BONUS - Today I committed the ultimate no no. I asked a woman, who was clearly wearing a maternity top, when she was due. Yep, she was not pregnant and had never been pregnant. People, please protect me from myself! How could I forget? Have I become socially awkward now? I am terrible, terrible, terrible.