Culture Shock

The phallus parade at the Fertility Festival in Japan

For anyone who likes to travel, culture shock is something you are likely to experience at some stage in your life. For us Traveling Houses, it was moving to Germany and living in a little farm village as the only English-speaking Americans, or our move to Japan where we found ourselves in the middle of a phallus-worshipping festival (more appropriately called a Fertility Festival)—definitely a strange sight for this Army couple! Trips to locations of some of the world’s most ancient civilizations—like Egypt or India—certainly put this Soldier and Spouse out of our comfort zone as well.

The term describes the shock of moving into a culture which is vastly different from the one you are accustomed to, and it can happen all over the world. You’re most likely to experience this culture shock when visiting a far-flung country rather than one of your neighbors—like visiting Canada for Americans—as the differences are likely to be more pronounced, but you can get culture shock in any place where the traditions and norms are very different from those you’re used to. Even Deanna—the spouse of our Soldier and Spouse duo—experienced the culture shock of the American South when she moved from California to Alabama as a kid and would come home from school crying because she couldn’t understand her English teacher!

While on a rickshaw in Delhi, India, we witness this electrical wizardry!

Culture shock can be a bit of a difficult hurdle to deal with, especially if you’re on holiday and you’re trying to fit in. Sometimes it won’t hit you straight away; to begin with, you’ll be so wowed by the new country, so interested to see the sights and explore, that you won’t feel anything but positivity and even euphoria towards the country.

If you’re only staying for a short while, this euphoria probably won’t wear off for the duration of your vacation, but on a longer trip—like ours to Egypt, recounted in Chapter 12 of our book Soldier and Spouse and Their Traveling House—once it fades, you might start to experience frustration at the differences. You might feel the travel network is disorganized, the people are rude, the social norms are ridiculous, or any number of other things are just wrong and inefficient—simply because they aren’t what you are used to.

American fast food doesn’t taste the same in Egypt.

You may find these shocks in any area of everyday life, from whether the hotel porter receives a tip or not, to whether you’re expected to serve your own food in a restaurant, or even whether it’s polite to wear a hat indoors. Peeing (or going #2) in a hole in the floor with no privacy doors, as opposed to the variety of individual western porcelain commodes, will surely tip you over the edge. Trust me, I know (hence the title of our book’s Chapter 12 as “Egyptian Disaster”). You might find yourself breaching social decorum completely by accident, and public humiliation probably isn’t something you want to add to your bucket list.

After a while, you will likely find that you begin to adjust and things may start to make more sense. As day-to-day tasks get easier, your frustration with the differences will fade and you will see more logic behind them. I’ve read that it’s healthier for your colon to poo in squatting fashion as opposed to sitting on the John! You might even embrace the opportunity to learn more about the traditions of the country you’re staying in, which will enrich your holiday and make it stand out in your memory.

One of the best ways to prepare for culture shock is to do some research before you go on vacation. That isn’t to say you need to turn your trip into a chore of education and studying, but knowing a bit about the country you’re visiting and the sort of behavior and experiences you can expect will undoubtedly help you to feel more comfortable once you’re actually there. Getting out library books, reading online, or talking to friends or family who have been to that country are all great ways to prepare; information is so readily accessible and we have become such an interconnected world that this is a great opportunity to increase your knowledge and make sure you get the absolute best out of your stay abroad.

Traveling Houses

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