culture shock

one passage of my book
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coulture shock might be called an occupational disease of people who have been suddenly transplanted abroad. Like most ailments, it has its own symptoms and cure.

culture shock is precipitated by the anxiety that results from losing lall our familiar signs and symbols of social intercourse. those signs or cues include the thousand and one ways in which we orient ourselves to the situation of daily life: when to shake hands and what to say when we meet people, when to accept and when to refuse invitations. these cues, which may be words, gestures, facial expressions, customs or norms, are acquired by all of us when we grow up. they are a part of our culture.

when a person enters a new culture, all or almost of these familiar cues are removed. he or she is like a fish out of water. no matter how broadminded you may be, a series of props have been knocked from under you, followed by a feeling of frustration and anxiety. when foreigners in a strange land get together to grouse about the host country and its people, you can be sure they are suffering from culture shock. another phase of culture shock is regression. the home environment suddenly assumes a tremendous importance. to the foreigner everything becomes irrationally glorified. all the difficulties and problems are forgotten and only the good things back home are remembered.

some of the symptoms of culture shock are excessive washing of the hands, excessive concern over drinking water, food and bedding; the absent-minded stare; fits of anger over minor frustrations; great concerns over minor pains and eruptions of the skin and finally, the terrible longing to be back home.

individuals differ greatly in the degree in which culture shock affects them. there are individuals who cannot live in foreign countries. however, those who have seen people through culture shock and onto a satisfactory adjustment can discern steps in the process.

during the first few weeks, most individuals are fascinated by the new. they stay in hotels and associate with nationals who speak their language and are polite to foreigners. this honeymoon stage may last from a few days or weeks to six months, depending on the circumstances.

but this mentality does not normally last if the foreign visitor abroad has to cope with real conditions of life. then thesecond stage begins, characterized by a hostile and aggressive attitude toward the host country. this hostility evidently grows out of the genuine difficulty which the visitor experiences in the process of adjustment.

there are house troubles, transportation troubles, shopping troubles and the fact that people in the host country are largely indifferent to all these troubles. therefore, they must be insensitive and unsympathetic to your worries. so you become aggressive. you band together with others from you country and criticize the host country, its ways and its people.

if visitors succeed in getting some knowledge of the language and begin to get around by themselves, they are beginning to open the way into the new cultural environment. they take a superior attitude to people of the host country. their sense of humore begins to exert itself. they are now on the way to recovery.

when your adjustment is complete, you accept the customs of the country as another way of living. you operate within the new surrounidngs without anxiety.
you not only accept the food, drinks, habits and customs, but you actually begin to enjoy them.
when you go home, on leave, you may even take things back with you; and if you leave for good, you miss the country and the people.

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