Friday, June 11, 2004
Culture Shock
There are a couple phases of Culture Shock. First, you move to a new place and everything is new and exciting and you love it. You don't mind the bad things. Then, the second phase sets in and all of a sudden you realize that you are in a totally alien environment but that YOU are the alien. This is where you start to hate the culture that you are in more than anything in the world. Then you start to move back towards a middle ground, accepting the good and the bad of the new culture and ocillate back and forth a little bit until you either figure out your groove or assimilate.
I hit stage two a few days ago. I wanted to leave. I wanted nothing more than to be on the next flight to New York and never return to this country. But I'm hanging in there. I've been through this before (when I moved to college and again when I moved to New York) and I'll go through this again, I'm sure.
It feels like depression but without the paralysis. Imagine the worst job you ever had and then imagine that it lasted 24 hours a day. Then imagine that you had to go to work naked. That's about how culture shock feels in Korea. It's clear that you don't fit in. There are hundreds of rules people follow for what seems to be no apparent reason. The laws here are designed to make sure that you know that you are a foreigner. Fortunately, there are people here that will go out of their way to make you feel more comfortable if you at least make an effort to respect if not understand their way of doing things.
It started when I realized that I really can't communicate any ideas to anyone I know around here. Things seem to happen for no reason in Korea, and things that I expect to happen don't. When I try to speak to someone in Korean, my pronunciation is good enough that they understand me and they assume that I'm fluent ... so they speak at a normal speed. That doesn't help, since I can't understand them at that speed. It happened for the first time at a freakin' McDonalds of all places and I wanted to shake the guy and say "look at me ... do I fucking look like I speak Korean as well as you, you asshat?" But I didn't do that, mostly because I would have been deported within hours if I would have.
But it got better today. I met with Yun Jung's friend, KiSook, and her friend, SokWi, and talked to them. I was so far into culture shock when I met them that I couldn't remember any Korean and I was very frustrated, but Yun Jung insisted that I meet them for help with Korean. Ironically, the first thing I was able to get across to them in Korean was the symptoms of culture shock. I started to feel better when I was finally able to express an idea in Korean. By the time I left, I was feeling a lot better and my Korean had returned. I tested it out tonight when Patrick (the other foreign teacher that I work with ... he's Canadian) and I went out for chicken and beer and I ordered everything in Korean. I was also able to ask which dish was the spiciest and order that one.
So, I'm not out of it yet, but I don't hate Korea right now. It's tougher than I thought to do this. But I'm doing this for me and I'm doing this for Yun Jung and I'm doing this to be able to say "Do your worst, Korea. You might knock me down, but when I get back up know that I will hit back just as hard."
I hit stage two a few days ago. I wanted to leave. I wanted nothing more than to be on the next flight to New York and never return to this country. But I'm hanging in there. I've been through this before (when I moved to college and again when I moved to New York) and I'll go through this again, I'm sure.
It feels like depression but without the paralysis. Imagine the worst job you ever had and then imagine that it lasted 24 hours a day. Then imagine that you had to go to work naked. That's about how culture shock feels in Korea. It's clear that you don't fit in. There are hundreds of rules people follow for what seems to be no apparent reason. The laws here are designed to make sure that you know that you are a foreigner. Fortunately, there are people here that will go out of their way to make you feel more comfortable if you at least make an effort to respect if not understand their way of doing things.
It started when I realized that I really can't communicate any ideas to anyone I know around here. Things seem to happen for no reason in Korea, and things that I expect to happen don't. When I try to speak to someone in Korean, my pronunciation is good enough that they understand me and they assume that I'm fluent ... so they speak at a normal speed. That doesn't help, since I can't understand them at that speed. It happened for the first time at a freakin' McDonalds of all places and I wanted to shake the guy and say "look at me ... do I fucking look like I speak Korean as well as you, you asshat?" But I didn't do that, mostly because I would have been deported within hours if I would have.
But it got better today. I met with Yun Jung's friend, KiSook, and her friend, SokWi, and talked to them. I was so far into culture shock when I met them that I couldn't remember any Korean and I was very frustrated, but Yun Jung insisted that I meet them for help with Korean. Ironically, the first thing I was able to get across to them in Korean was the symptoms of culture shock. I started to feel better when I was finally able to express an idea in Korean. By the time I left, I was feeling a lot better and my Korean had returned. I tested it out tonight when Patrick (the other foreign teacher that I work with ... he's Canadian) and I went out for chicken and beer and I ordered everything in Korean. I was also able to ask which dish was the spiciest and order that one.
So, I'm not out of it yet, but I don't hate Korea right now. It's tougher than I thought to do this. But I'm doing this for me and I'm doing this for Yun Jung and I'm doing this to be able to say "Do your worst, Korea. You might knock me down, but when I get back up know that I will hit back just as hard."
Comments:
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Jay
Greetings. Culture Shock is easier when there is someone you can dig in the ribs with your elbow and question, "Did you see that?" or "Is that far out or what?"
Best wishes,
Brian
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Greetings. Culture Shock is easier when there is someone you can dig in the ribs with your elbow and question, "Did you see that?" or "Is that far out or what?"
Best wishes,
Brian
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