This is going to seem minor, but it was a shock to me.
I grew up in Texas. I lived in very metropolitan places -- near downtown Dallas, and near the Houston medical center. So I never thought that I was culturally isolated or anything.
When I finally left the state for a job, I went to Los Angeles, circa 2007. In my first week there, a lady pulled up next to me on the street and asked me where the courthouse was. I had a vague idea, but explained that I was new to the area so my advice should be taken with a grain of salt. People familiar with the LAX area will know that the nearby courthouse is a tall building with something resembling a crown or halo, I pointed her toward that.
It wasn't until a couple of minutes later I realized what seemed strange about the encounter. The lady was of African-American descent.
I thought back on 3 decades of living in Texas, and I cannot once remember being approached by a black stranger and asked a question. Not one single time. Houston has a large homeless population, I had many encounters with panhandlers. I couldn't remember one single black person.
In fact, as I thought about it, a HUGE difference between Texas and California was that black folks on the street behaved very differently. In California, they looked you in the eye, they said "hello", etc. In Texas -- at least, up until I left in 2007 -- black folks were strictly "heads down, eyes on your own business". Even thinking back on some black friends and co-workers, I realized that they behaved very differently in public than my white friends did.
The whole thing made me sad for my black friends back in Texas. And now that we know how police treat black folks, I guess I can see why they behaved the way they did.
Little kids taking a shit literally wherever in China. They have special pants (NSFW?) so they can just crouch down and take to take a dump in a shopping mall, the street, the subway ...
Going to sound weird but going to one of my childhood friend's house
He had a loving family where everyone was happy and helped each other. They communicated with each other happily about things that interested them. They were unafraid to share what was on their minds and what they were passionate about. They asked each other to do things without threatening or screaming. When they did have disagreements they talked them out. They'd say, "I love you," without a hint of pain or irony.
It was jarring. It threw me off. I went over to his place a lot (like literally almost every day for the time were friends) and it wasn't until I had been going to his place for a few weeks did it dawn on me that I had never seen his parents argue.
And honestly one of the most eye opening experiences from when I was young about how a family is supposed to function.
I guess you could say it was culture shock because my relatives operated on a culture of fear, hatred, and a lack of love. The phrase, "You have to love me, I'm family," was uttered entirely too many times. Violence and the threat of violence was the only motivator my relatives used.
I was friends with that guy for 3 years. I'll never forget his parents telling me that they saw me as family. I'd say those years did more good for shaping who I am today than all the years I spent with my relatives. I look back fondly on the time I spent with them. I wish it didn't end the way it did though.
I hope they're all doing well.
I must admit that I eventually got used to it and even started enjoying this attitude, which I also took part in, but I was quite amazed by the Finns.
For work reasons, I had to spend three months in Espoo and the interaction with my colleagues was strangely cold in social interactions. Examples:
- In the office canteen, they would sit next to you and start eating without even greeting or making conversation. I wondered why they had chosen to sit next to me.
- When they finished eating, they would get up from the table and not say goodbye.
- The scrupulous respect for personal space: in queues, crowds, etc.
- Small talk was generally non-existent. People often preferred to stay quiet rather than chat about the weather or other common topics. Even in an elevator, silence was the norm, not the exception.
- During meetings, the Finns would often speak only when they had something substantial to contribute. The silence in between wasn't considered awkward, but a moment of thoughtfulness and respect for others' ideas.
I ended up enjoying this way of social interaction. It seems to me that one uses less energy in social situations. There's less stress about having to make conversation or engage in small talks.
Love you Finland.
How prevalent alcohol culture is in the West. I'm Southeast Asian and it's more common for us to drink sugary drinks and have food at the local corner restaurant at night instead of having alcohol when we spend time with friends.
When I studied in the West, it really struck me how the only place you really could hang out at night was the bar, and alcohol was often the preferred drink. And they normally closed at 12am, so you can't even stay out that late.
Personally I'm not very fond of inebriation just due to the issues it creates (not that my friends were alcoholics and got blackout drunk every time we hung out), so I found it kind of bad that it's so socially accepted to see a need to get drunk in order to tolerate socialising with friends.
Believe it or not it was a trip to Memphis for training from Canada. I am not well travelled by any means. I made it into Memphis and after a short ride, arrived at my hotel. The people who worked there were some of the most lovely people I have ever met. Southern hospitality was in their soul. I even got to sit down one afternoon with some other guests and hotel staff to discuss differences in politics, healthcare and so on. It blew my mind when people were telling me the expense of just having a baby delivered at their local hospital. I could not wrap my mind around not wanting socialized healthcare. It was the first evening in the hotel, I decided to turn on the local news for Memphis. This was the first real culture shock. The violence. Shootings, stabbings, robberies. I honestly went from feeling like this place is amazing, to this place scares the sh!t out of me. I could not understand why in a place where I had met such beautiful and lovely individuals had to live in a place that was so violent. So after my training week had finished up I decided to head to Beal street and walk around the downtown core a bit. Beal was very much what I had imagined. Kind of felt like a tourist trap. Anyhow I ventured off the beaten path and headed into the town to do some shopping around. I had left a local record shop and heard the ranting of some biker coming out of a building. He was yelling the most racist things if I have ever heard. I was floored. Most of the racists I have encountered where I live are old asshats who keep it secret. But this man out in the street let his hatred fly.
Memphis was this weird crossover world where I was treated like gold and at the same time had to feel afraid for my safety. It still blows my mind the racism and bigotry people still face. It has stuck with me for years.
I went to India (New Delhi, Goa, Chennai, Jaipur) as a middle class Canadian.
People hanging off the side of busses, monkeys running around everywhere, open sewage, cows eating garbage on the side of the road, literally everyone staring at me, tons of people following me trying to give me directions to tourist sites, different views on personal space.
Shit was wild.
Went to Ireland for a couple weeks. I was expecting a bunch of rowdy angry drunks, and instead was met with warmth and hospitality at every turn, and constant singing/music everywhere.
Truly mind blowing
I graduated from high school in 1995. The community I grew up in was incredibly diverse. It was a decent sized city (100k+) and we had about 3,000 students the year I graduated.
That summer, we went to rural Idaho for a family reunion. It was probably the first time in my life that I visited a place that was exclusively white. I’m a white dude myself, but like I said, grew up in a diverse community.
The lack of diversity was a giant culture shock to me. I was in a small community with a population that was about half the size of the school I had just graduated from.
10 years ago I was visiting friends in Melbourne. They casually proposed going out and hanging out like you would at around 11am on a Saturday. It was 9pm on a Tuesday. Blew my mind that most things were open and operating.
Where I live if you haven’t eaten by 8pm, you better enjoy McDonald’s because it’s the only thing open.
How big "anti-imperialism" is as an ideology in countries ravaged by America and the former Soviet-bloc.
I'm of Iraqi descent and whenever I visit home I see people supporting extreme ideologies like Islamism or Stalinism or some unholy mix between the two, which is always nuts for me. They are super-political, but they never vote, because that means the "imperialist system wins". They use anti-imperialism as a justification for anti-LGBT, anti-feminist, anti-democratic, anti-religious and anti-secularist hate.
Otherwise the people are very nice, but if any major political/cultural topic is being mentioned, they go full doomer mode.
I get why anti-imperialism is so big in Iraq, but actually experiencing it, is really crazy.
I grew up in Liberia in the 80s and had to leave due to the civil war. (Remember General Butt-Naked? Yeah, that war in that country) It was a crazy time, not one big shock but a string of many smaller things. For example, I would look out the school window and see a horde of students wielding machetes overrunning the school grounds - I can't remember what they were protesting.
But coming back to Europe the biggest culture shocks were functioning waste disposal and utilities, and how clean everything was. Also it was hard for me to relate to people's problems, because they seemed so trivial. Took me a while to adjust.
I spent a few years in the US, coming from Scandinavia. It took several months before I was able to navigate the whole "strike up a conversation with anyone"-thing. The issue wasn't so much being "forced" into conversations (which I got used to fairly quickly) as it was knowing when these interactions were considered over by the other party. I'd often, unintentionally, overstay my welcome. The general vibe and attitude were also quite different.
The biggest shock was however moving back home. I'm originally from one of the larger cities in my home country, but ended up in a tiny village through a series of coincidences. Going from a multi-million US city to a tiny Scandinavian mountain village was rough. Went from a place filled with outgoing people to a place where the cashier in the local store still took me for a tourist after having lived there for a year. An almost impenetrable society. I've been here for a decade now, and have long since realized that I will always be "that guy from XYZ". On the plus side, it's nice not having to deal with people beyond my own family an coworkers. On the negative side I have almost no sense of belonging here outside of my wife's family who are all local.
German living in Canada since 2018. Couple of things:
- There's no bread culture. It's all toast, with the exception of French breads. But I saw brown colored toast sold as pumpernickel. A travesty.
- The love for bland food. I know, there was a demonization campaign against salt in the 80s or something. But you gotta get over it. Feels like you're saving salt from the cooking to put it on the road in the winter.
- The healthcare system is a joke. "bUt It'S bEtTeR tHaN iN tHe Us." As if that's difficult. Only difference is your dumpster isn't on fire, yet.
- THE ABSOLUTE TRASH THAT'S SOLD AS TOILET PAPER! Honestly my biggest pet peeve. TP here is flimsy and overpriced. >1$ for a roll of 2-ply or >2$ per roll of 3-ply, but both tear if you so much as look at them the wrong way.
Growing up homeschooled in a cult in the American South, escaping, and then moving to Brooklyn. Kind of a roundhouse-kick to the id, ego, and outlook on literally everything
When I started using the internet, it was a shock, because I got in contact with people from different places and realized how poor I am :(
Even today, I get cultural shocks here and there. Just this week, someone mentioned what they consider the bare minimum specs for a phone they consider to be viable for simple usage, and guess what? My phone doesn't have half of these specs.
Visited Guatemala and while driving down a rural road saw a kid around 8 years old riding a horse wielding a machete. Also saw the military with AK’s patrolling the mall.
The first time I ever left the country was to go live in Indonesia for a bit. They were soo many things, and it started the instant I got there. At the airport, I remember seeing a huge sign that said "Welcome to Indonesia! Death penalty for drug traffickers!". Also, the traffic was so wild in the taxi ride from the airport to my apartment. All the cars, horse carriages, 10 times as many mopeds/motorcycles as cars, bajais (tuk tuks), all weaving so chaotically I had to close my eyes.
Having a maid/cook, people who did our laundry, and finding out how common that was.
Having to bribe a cop for being out late at night with a guy (I'm a woman), but only having to give him the equivalent of like $5USD.
Everyone staring at me ALWAYS. Random people asking to take photos with me all the time 😆.
Haggling at basically every store/market except the fancier/chain ones.
Squat toilets. Also seeing shoe prints on standard toilets and signs telling people not to squat on those toilets.
Armed guards and metal detectors at most malls and hotels. Every time we'd come home our car would have to go through an armed security checkpoint and they'd check inside the car and open the trunk etc.
Definitely my trip to Qatar.
Once I was standing in a public place, there was a performance on a temporary stage. I was approached by the local law enforcement, I couldn't be there. Left side of the stage was for families only, right side was for everyone. Restaurants sometimes also had 2 doors, as if they were different restaurants. Left was for families, right was for everyone else.
Male friends holding hands and kissing in the face, as a gesture of friendship. Not that holding hands is weird, just found it odd on a country that stones gay people. Public affections between male and female was very rare.
All women wore hijab, others wore an additional piece of cloth that covered her entire head. It was very awkward to see them driving cars in this attire.
Then there was Ramadan. That made life a while lot harder.
Visited canada a few days ago.
I thought that the people would be super nice, in my experience they don't. People working in tourism are super friendly but we felt that the people are super harsh with tourists.
We even had a group of kids saying out loud "I don't like people with big backpacks" (And no my backpack was not touching them or on a seat) or a security officer saying that he does not work on the information department so he was not helping us.
I have family there and I got to meet some incredible people but I felt that they were super hash sometimes.
Also Canada is beautiful!
I’m American. Moving to Hong Kong for 3 years was a huge culture shock and a huge middle finger to “American exceptionalism”.
But moving back AFTER the worse of the pandemic??? Holy shit. A massive shock - there was a sort of post-apocalyptic exhausted survivors vibe to everyone and everything.
It was truly culture shocking to see.
Moving from a rural 10,000 population town, to a multi-million population major city.
Becoming a civilian again after being in the military was interesting. Simple things felt weird all the time; I kept feeling like I had to show my ID to buy groceries, stuff like that. But probably moving to the East Coast (NoVA) from Colorado in 2002 was the biggest. I was in absolute shock at the price of housing, hours of commuting every day, and most of all, how horrible the people were. Mean, rude people, angry all the time and intentionally threatening on the roads. Being there made me cry a lot in the first year.
I lived in China for a year after college, and that was basically fine since I was already pretty knowledgeable about the country and I went into it expecting to be off balance and that there would be a lot of new things. What was a surprise was the culture shock when I came back to the US. I don't think that the jet lag helped, but I remember feeling really really out of sorts for about a week and just generally in a bit of shock about how different life was here having largely not been exposed to it for a year.
Recycling accessibility and street art displays. I live in a place where it's either plain boring wall or grafitti(am super ok with that, they look cool), it just caught me by surprise when I saw some colorful walls with surreal art in Western Europe. Also how people are much warmer and relaxed.
Reverse racism in China and to a less extent Japan. Only really exists for white people. Better pay and more attention just for being white but it get old really quick. I’ve actually found that it’s city people who are more annoying about it. When I got to the countryside I find them more kind. With all the things wrong with America, I am thankful for it not being an ethnostate.
Probably moving to a big city from a prondomity Mennonite village I grew up in. I am not a Mennonite myself, not religious either, just grew up in that kind of environment. A tiny unfinished suburb surrounded by miles of corn fields and cows.
Highlights include
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having to idea how public transit worked I was riding the bus without paying for the first few months because I didn't realize I needed to.
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saw my first homeless people, saw women dressed "imodestly", and tall buildings. These are not things that bothered me but certainly things I should have seen prior to my 20s. I had no clue how to interact with people outside my bubble.
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having grown up with many siblings and close friends I was hit with a lot of loneliness. Definetly a low point.
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I also had none of the skills needed to survive life on my own in a big city. Schools teach budgeting but they didn't teach me to avoid scammers, where to shop, how to get places, housing, access to health services ect.
I'm still learning about 15 years later. Now it's about assertive communication skills, legal knowledge, cultural histories, how to pay respects to indigionous cultures and why its important to do so, im understanding local politics and how to work with it.
Frankly that's my favorite part of all this. I'm (slowly) learning, and feel like I am growing from being a part of the culture and not in a bubble.
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Up until recently (quit due to long-covid and being over-worked), I was a caseworker for adults with severe mental illness who lived in residential care facilities (RCFs). The RCFs are not 'old folks homes' but they would generally have some older residents. Average age was about 40-50s. I was a 3rd party and not associated with the various RCFs themselves, but rather an outside agency. I was also a mandated reporter, which put me at odds with the shady operated RCFs.
These RCFs in my region could best best be imagined as a 'retirement community'/ALF, but the people they would house would range from 18 to any age older. There would be people who were housed for mental illness, developmental disability, substance use disorder, and a lot of revolving door DOC (Department of Corrections) folks. Almost like assisted living meets half-way house, and the next step up is a level II locked facility.
Starting out, it was like walking into a whole other world. Walking thru privately (and often poorly..) operated RCFs was like stepping into another country and having culture shock. It's quite a different world when things like being screamed at, barked at, threatened, witnessing manic and psychotic episodes and aggression/fighting/violence erupting spontaneously become routine and feel mundane.
At any given time, I could have on my caseload 50+ year old adults who have the cognitive abilities and personality of children 8 - 14, and a psychopath who did 20+ years for murder. To be honest, the DOC folks were usually my favorite to work with. Their regimented lives and direction from authority figures made them easy to work with, but you've also got to be keen that they're not working you. But they usually had good senses of humor and we'd have fun working together. I was the person on my team given all the clients the other caseworkers were afraid of (my supervisor's words).
Once I was experienced, I remember always being amused by new people (whether my agency or RCF staff, outside nursing/home care, etc.) and witnessing their culture shock. The thing is, it wears off pretty fast. Well, that is if you're one of the type of people who stick around. Those positions have a very high turnover rate. I loved working with the population I did. I hated my eventually exploitative working conditions and collapsing healthcare industry that nearly killed me. I want to continue working in this field, but the healthcare industry in the US is such a nightmare right now....
I live in America, and I would say America. During COVID I was completely shocked on how stupid we were about masks and vaccine guidelines. I am nearly 40 now but at the time I didn't know this country was so stupid.
South American bidets.
Not the pathetic little add-on ones you sometimes see in Australia, but stand alone bidets with enough water pressure for the water jet to touch the roof of the bathroom! A shot of high power jet of water to the crotch at 3am when I was only half awake is something I will not forget in a hurry!
Returning to the US from living in Estonia for several years as a teen. Nothing made sense at all to me culturally, and in many ways still doesn’t.
