When was the last time a goat was on your trailer? Or in your workshop? Or in your office? Here, it is normal for goats to roam freely wherever they please. It is also pretty common to see people throwing rocks at them when they become too much of a nuisance. Both of these things are a new normal, and a new normal can be a difficult thing to embrace.
Culture shock. Many people have heard the expression, and I, myself, have used it to describe experiences. However, I had never thought much about the phrase beyond a contextual definition that allowed me to enhance the retelling of a story with a clinical flavor. But now, having experienced it firsthand, I would like to share both technical and anecdotal information.
First, I must offer a clarification of terms. While culture shock is the term most often used, if one takes care of themselves properly, it is unlikely that immersion in a new culture will actually produce culture shock. This is because culture shock refers to the point when one’s mind is so overwhelmed, so stressed, by the new culture that one actually begins shutting down. This manifests as intense depression, a “burnt out” feeling or even anger. Basically, culture shock is the end result of mismanaged culture stress. I know it may seem like splitting hairs, but it is a helpful perspective. Culture shock sounds like something that happens to you and that cannot be stopped. Culture stress sounds like any other kind of stress that can be managed and controlled. So admittedly, the headline was a little misleading. I have not experienced culture shock, but I am living with culture stress every day.
A prime example of this would be my reaction when we had a guest visit our house. At the time, I had been told that hospitality is important here, but no one had yet offered an explanation of what hospitality meant in this culture. The result was a nervous anxiety that pervaded the experience for me as I tried to guess what was correct practice. That shows the root cause of culture stress. We do not know the rules of society. At home, I can easily entertain a guest because I know what is expected of me. I even know that those expectations change depending on who is visiting because of certain backgrounds or upbringing. However, on station in a foreign country, I know nothing.
Another case that is particularly stressful for me is dealing with large groups of people. Part of the unease associated with this is intensified because I do not speak the language. One time (well many times, but it was easier after the first) our vehicle broke down in the middle of town. Slowly a crowd of perhaps twenty people formed and was watching us struggle to fix the engine. During this time, I became very uneasy. For one thing, I did not know if it was acceptable that we pulled over off the road into what is basically someone’s front yard. Furthermore, I could hear raised voices and shouting while I worked. Because I did not understand the language, my mind was trying to figure out what was happening based on the sound of the shouts alone, and as a result of being nervous, many of the shouts sounded angry. It became clear though that people were merely calling down the street to their friends and that they were doing so in the hope that their friends could help us.
Hopefully these examples make clear the cause of culture stress: not understanding the rules that govern society where one is and the brain struggling furiously to discover them. The effects of culture stress are more familiar to the average person, but they come with an insidious twist. Culture stress affects one the same way other stressors do. However, it is different in that one does not expect it. In the case of a college student during finals week, he or she can expect to be stressed and prepares to deal with it. But, because culture stress is everywhere, people often do not see it coming. After all, why should be buying bread be the most stressful part of your day?
In my experience, this means that it is easy to be blindsided by the fallout of constant stress. I would need ten hours of sleep just to feel normal. I would often experience huge emotional swings, and minor problems would cause overblown reactions. One day, I made a simple mistake in my engineering work, and for an hour and half I felt like a complete failure and could barely continue to work. The mistake was easily corrected, but under all the unseen stress, my mind could not handle it. Since then, I have improved in my ability to control culture stress, and as my understanding of the society increases, my stress decreases.
There is a final step to the process of managing culture stress. It is very important to continue to engage with the unfamiliar culture. If one ever hopes to be comfortable in the new place, one must work through the strangeness. It is not enough to merely recognize the difference, but rather one must think about and apply the discovery. One last example is fitting here. During my time in the village I noticed that people would often greet elders with a specific gesture. Eventually I discovered that this gesture is for showing special respect to people. As part of applying the new knowledge, not only did I begin to greet elders this way, but I also utilized the gesture for other people I wanted to show respect to. In particular, I greeted the volunteer laborers at a village road repair project this way. As I engaged with the culture in other ways as well, I began to be able to predict and to understand the system that governs society here. Remember, the cause of culture stress is one’s inability to do this very thing, which means as we discover and engage, our efforts will not be wasted. Relax. Take a deep breath. Embrace the newness. If we cannot embrace being wet, we will never learn to swim.
