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Biggest cultural shock you have come across?

731 replies

hibbledobble · 08/05/2017 14:11

What have you encountered while travelling that was your biggest cultural shock?

I'll go first: in Poland I saw families/extended families living 10+ in a 2 bedroom home. The concept of having a bedroom or even a bed to oneself is seemingly unheard of. Everyone sleeps in different beds each night, and beds are often shared. Having visitors in this set up is no problem either: everyone just rearranges. Water also came from Wells, lots of homes had no bathrooms. Ovens were these metal beasts that were plugged into the mains.

OP posts:
SenecaFalls · 08/05/2017 20:14

Those gaps around the doors in toilet cubicles in the USA. It all looks lovely. Until you realise people can see you peeing from a fee angles.

There have been whole threads about this on MN. Seriously, y'all, people don't look. You have to actually try hard to see anything, which at least us native folk don't do. Smile

Very true about many parts of Florida being culturally Southern. (Florida was part of the Confederacy.) Even some of the rural areas around Disney are culturally Southern. But there are lots of good things about this as well as the negatives.

The kettle thing in the US: it's the difference in our electricity. There are faster ways to boil water in the US than in an electric kettle.

CormorantDevouringTime · 08/05/2017 20:10

To be fair Bertie if you get on a tube train going from the centre of London to the outskirts at any time between 2 and 4 pm on a school day there is a very good chance of encountering a huge gaggle of tiny over-excited school children returning to their school from a trip to the Science Museum or wherever.

The horror of some suburban MNers when they first learn that a school might take their PFBs on the dreaded Underground, and the hilarity of urban MNers at their reaction is another type of culture clash.

BoffinMum · 08/05/2017 20:06

Triedandtrusted, we have to put notices on the back of loo doors in many British universities telling people how to use them, as the Chinese students were standing on them and breaking the seats or leaving them filthy for other people (some UK university courses only have about 10% Europeans on them now with a handful of Brits and all the rest are Chinese, this has changed very suddenly and universities had no idea toilets would be an issue for people).

MipMipMip · 08/05/2017 20:04

Switzerland: identikit teens. I wing all over and every one would be described as chav. There was just no individuality expressed through clothing. Who knew I'd miss goths? Grin

Cyprus: was told for the same level of job (waitressing, cleaning etc) you would get the same pay. Fine. Men get 100% and women two thirds! Guy who told us couldn't understand our shock.

SherlockPotter · 08/05/2017 20:03

How rude some Londoners can be. (Keyword here: some)

BoffinMum · 08/05/2017 20:02

YY, Bertie, and decongestants being banned in Germany which means if you have sinusitis you can't sleep for a fortnight. And being fobbed off with herbal teas that claim to be an effective alternative cure.

70ontheinside · 08/05/2017 20:02

My flight being delayed for 2 days when at a conference in the US and realising that I was stranded in a dry city Shock

Dh's face when I explained that a company outing to the local swimming pool with saunas would most definitely not be a good idea unless he wanted to see all of his new German colleagues naked. Grin

Dh discovering Thüringer Mett (similar to steak tartare).

Me discovering pork scratching Shock

Huge culture shock when a relative here in the U.K. died and nothing was done as I expected it to be done. Makes you realise how ritualised death and grief is. I have always taken cultural differences in good humour, but that really threw me.

MaQueen · 08/05/2017 20:01

Our best friends are ex-pats, and they have servants. Just can't get used to it at all. Despite repeated friendly requests not to, their maid insisted on calling me 'Miss MaQueen'.

BoffinMum · 08/05/2017 20:00

In Beijing at the Imperial Palace, a man held a kid of about four up in the air next to us while we were sitting on a bench and allowed her to wee all over the ground right there, not even behind a tree or in a public toilet (I believe there were some). Loads of wee, just like that. Right near us.

EsmesBees · 08/05/2017 19:57

Public defecation in Egypt. Plus the sight of a long dead horse in the middle of a duel carriageway. People were just driving round it.

Sadly, houses in multiple occupation are becoming more and more commonplace in London. The 2 up 2 down a few doors down from our old place had two families living inside, and two more blokes living in the shed. I've also seen what appears to be the informal fostering of children to allow their parents to work. It's like going back in time.

mommybunny · 08/05/2017 19:57

Here's a shock I got when I moved to the UK - not being able to blow-dry my hair in the bathroom anymore! What a pain! The electricity voltage is supposed to be the same as on the Continent, but plug sockets are allowed there in bathrooms. Drives me nuts.

caoraich · 08/05/2017 19:44

astonished nope! Though I think people in retail can refuse to work Sundays. I had a lovely job doing weekend nights in asda at one point. Sundays were pretty dead after 10pm... until the police came in for their sandwiches at 2am shortly followed by pub/club kicking-out-time seekers of random snacks Grin
I was genuinely astounded that 24/7 opening isn't.

BarbaraofSeville · 08/05/2017 19:43

Middling I'm also another UK city dweller indoctrinated with the 'leave it, lock it or lose it' mantra so I was surprised to see that people abandon bikes all over the place in Denmark.

It seems to be the norm to ride your bike to the bus stop, leave it leant unlocked against a fence, or dumped in a nearby ditch, to get the bus somewhere and then return later to find it still there Shock.

caoraich I wondered how long it would be before someone mentioned the difference between Sunday opening hours in supermarkets across the UK.

BertieBotts · 08/05/2017 19:42

This doesn't really count since it's only online I've come across it but I was really shocked and quite upset by the routine nature of infant circumcision in America when I first found out about it. I just couldn't understand why people were so blasé about the idea of something being cut off their newborn. If it was any other surgery, people would be filled with anxiety and worry but this is as normal to many people as vaccination, and I can't get my head around it. It also baffles me that insurance providers cover it and modern doctors recommend it when there's so little evidence that it has any benefits. You can also add declawing cats and removing the voiceboxes of dogs who are considered nuisance barkers to this alarming list.

From living in Germany, a few things. Yes to whole kindergartens full of children being taken off on trips just randomly with no mention to parents and none of the safeguarding/risk assessment you'd get in the UK. They are also really relaxed about small children being around open fires to a weird extent. I also a couple of times went to pick up DS and his friend would follow me and the staff would cheerfully say "Oh are you going with X today?" Confused Actually, that did stop when management changed but it was slightly alarming! Now DS is at primary school, and his school site is in the town centre and is completely open with a fence only on two sides, and only really to establish the boundary. Anybody can walk in and any child could wander out. Whenever I go in to pick him up even outside of normal start/finish times I never get questioned about who I am or what I want unless I look lost.

Children in public often seem to have their volume control set to a significantly higher level than British children. I think this is partially because they are often allowed out on their own from about 7 and from about 8 or 9 they travel in groups with no adults present commonly, but even when you see really little children with their parents or grandchildren the children speak in ear splitting tones (as they do) but they don't get told to shh or keep their voice down because the whole carriage doesn't want to hear their conversation Confused Schools and kindergartens here also tend to use public transport instead of hiring their own minibus or coach, so you sometimes get on during the day and a carriage and a half is full of bickering/excitedly shouting children Hmm oh and they have the most ENORMOUS school bags which have a tendency to bash into everything when they turn around (and you have to buy the stupid bags which cost hundreds of euros too).

Getting work as an English teacher on the basis of being a native speaker and just being expected to randomly teach groups of children unsupervised with no police background check and no training to teach children or safeguarding training. These groups are often held at crap times so the children are tired, bored of school, hungry and hence awfully behaved but there is often no higher authority to report behaviour to or behaviour management system in place. (I think this is far more to do with a culture of poor practices in the TEFL industry than any particular country, to be fair, but still.)

Also not being able to buy simple painkillers or other off the shelf remedies (e.g. for cystitis, worms, thrush) in ordinary shops and a general perception that such a practice would be horribly dangerous to health.

MiddlingMum · 08/05/2017 19:36

A sort of reverse culture shock: coming from a busy UK university city where you lock your bike the second you get off it. The realisation that on a remote Scottish island, you can leave your bike unlocked at the side of the road, go off and climb a mountain or two, and it will still be there when you get back, luggage and all.

RufusTheRenegadeReindeer · 08/05/2017 19:33

Whole not while!!

RufusTheRenegadeReindeer · 08/05/2017 19:32

India also a long time ago

Walking into the airport arrival hall and everyone yelling at us Shock

Being stared at constantly

While families on mopeds

Families sleeping on mini roundabouts

And a bloody huge rat running across the floor of the cafe...and no one minding!!

Really eye opening!!

RebelandaStunner · 08/05/2017 19:30

Empty booby trapped hotels in Croatia and bullet holes everywhere.
The 'houses' in Jamaica- shacks made of bits of corrugated plastic and the like.
Lack of full sets of teeth on fairly young people- lots of places- Turkey was one.

BuzzKillington · 08/05/2017 19:28

India - first of all the noise, the smell and general chaos of Delhi.

Then the begging, being chased by people with disfigurements and elephantiasis for money, snake charmers and bears being made to dance (this was 20 years ago - I hope it doesn't still go on). It was all shocking.

Deploycharitygoats · 08/05/2017 19:22

The language of car horns.

One short beep: I am approaching a junction and can't be bothered to slow down. Don't say I didn't warn you I was there.

Two short beeps: I am a taxi, do you want a ride?

One long beep: fuuuuuck you (the longer the beep, the angrier the driver)

Iamastonished · 08/05/2017 19:17

"but could they not have hovered like I do"

FGS just use some loo roll to wipe the seat and sit down. I hate hoverers who pee on the loo seat.

"I would do things like shout or whistle across the street to stop a bus"

You would be very lucky that the driver didn't give you the finger.

caoraich are there no Sunday trading restrictions in Scotland?

WetsTheFinger · 08/05/2017 19:06

Oh and as previously mentioned, the racism in Australia. I found it a very unpleasant community on the whole.

WetsTheFinger · 08/05/2017 19:05

Moving to England from Tel Aviv was a massive culture shock. I first lived in Cambridge for university and now in Northumberland and the rigidness that rules and social niceties had to be followed with was really stifling for a while. I would do things like shout or whistle across the street to stop a bus, and be stared at like an alien! Everyone is so quiet and introverted here. If you spoke to someone they would eye you suspiciously. I've learnt now!

caoraich · 08/05/2017 18:58

This is quite Blush

I consider myself pretty well-travelled. Had been to 5 continents by the time I was 20 etc. However at age 21 I was sent on student placement for a month to a city in England. I hadn't been south of the border other than to change planes since I was a kid.

I arrived on a Sunday evening and decided to do my usual weekly supermarket shop, googled the local 24hr tesco and arrived at 9pm to find it closed! I was genuinely astounded, and was halfway through emailing a complaint to HQ about false advertising before my new roommate informed me that in fact they all close on Sundays in England! It's silly but I guess when somewhere is nearby you don't think there will be differences in how you go about your life so don't bother investing in
The Lonely Planet Guide to Middlesborough etc 😂

EnidButton · 08/05/2017 18:54

MsGame were you in New York?