Culture shock

When one visits or moves to a new country, it is to be expected that there be a certain element of “culture shock”. This is a feeling of amazement of frustration at certain elements ion a culture which are unfamiliar. At first this might take the form of wonderment. “Wow, look at how good they do it here. Why don’t we have something like this?” But it can also be a frustration at the smallest things. “What is with these people? Can’t they even do the simplest things? What are they thinking?”

This still hits us every time we visit. Most often it is in things that simply surprise us. Here are some of the things we have noticed on this trip. 

People will talk about religion. From the moment we entered the US, it has struck us, once again, how normal it is for people to talk about Jesus and their faith. Even though this may a polarizing subject for many, most people here have no problem hearing that we work with the church. In fact, they will mention first where they go to church or that they are praying for someone or something. Even the billboards along the highways are full of religious messages. This hits us as a breath of fresh air. 

Choice is astounding and confounding. There must be 39 different sorts of Oreo cookies these days. We don’t even like Oreo’s. (Or at least Scott doesn’t like them. Shirley loves them.) But so many flavors? And a whole aisle of the grocery store is dedicated to breakfast cereal. This is heaven top Scott until he has to make a choice. And when we go to a coffee place, looking for a good dark roast coffee, we first have to wade through the unending choices of coffee desserts on offer. 

And that brings up the next point: sizing. A “grande” should be large. But this is the smallest size of coffee at Starbucks. And it is in no way small. Every normal home will offer a cup of coffee in a mug, filled to the brim (although the coffee itself is nothing to write home about). At the fast-food places, they simply hand you a cup (a HUGE cup) to fill up yourself. And you can get refills anytime you wish. For the life of me I cannot figure out why anyone would order anything more than a small drink under these circumstances. 

Talking about sizing, the cars on the roads all seem to have received the message that bigger is better. It seems every John, Mary and young teenage Tommy drive super cab pickup trucks that thunder past you on the local neighborhood street or on the highway. And they will pass you on the right on the highway! That is something to get used to very quickly if you want to remain safe while driving. 

Something seemingly mundane for everyone here, but very surprising for us was the expectation that you pass over your pay card to pay for things. Now paying by card is not strange at all for us. As a matter of fact, we were paying by “tapping” in Belgium long before they were in the US. But here, one has to give the store worker one’s card, literally allowing the card to leave one’s hand and often leave one’s sight. This means that you cannot be sure what is being done with your card. This is not something that would be done in Europe. I had to ask a few times at the beginning to make sure that they wanted my card in their hand. In Europe a machine would be extended to the payer who would then “tap” and pay. 

These are just a few of the things we notice when we travel again in the US. We are usually back every three years, so there is plenty of time for things to change slightly and be noticeable. There are always the things like how trash and recycling is different. But often there are newer cultural differences that we find remarkable. What are some things you have noticed when traveling in other countries or even in other States?