What's the biggest culture shock you've experienced?

[Sacredhandbag]

Good or bad?

For me it was definitely the bike culture in Amsterdam - and I loved it.

But also, the over enthusiasm of shop workers in America, the silence in the streets in Japan, and the way Australians are so outdoorsy but can't handle the rain 😅

Cashiers using actual, wooden abbacuses in the shops in Ukraine 🤗

Yeah this is definitely a thing. Have puppy and you’ll be adored. Have child you will be judged. Sorry 😔

India. We had three weeks pootling around in a car, and it was kind of relentless; the sights, sounds, volume, tastes, smells, everywhere was a sensory full house. To be honest, from very early on, I was counting the hours until we left, because it was all too much, but some years later, I look back on it all very fondly.

Not really a culture shock, but an environment shock: Braithewaite in the Lake District in the autumn.

We left the B&B to walk to a pub for our tea, and it was absolutely pitch black with no street lights. I've always lived in big towns or cities, with street lights, car headlights, the light from people's windows everywhere. I don't think I'd ever experienced complete darkness until then - I was terrified!

And going to sleep at night was strange - it was completely dark and completely silent. There's always at least some background noise going on where I live and a streetlight right outside our bedroom window, so it just felt shockingly different. I did sleep well though, so perhaps light/noise pollution affects people more than I'd realised.

French people generally don't drink like the English. Even younger drink far less, binge drinking is not a thing as in the UK and Scandinavia.

I went to Montenegro in about 2005 and we called into a brand spanking new service station. First, the toilet door had no lock and it opened straight onto the forecourt which overlooked the road - DH had to stand on guard. And the toilet was indeed a hole. Talk about a danger wee!

They just say what they mean e.g. I sent my friends a video of an old carol as a kind of Christmas card and my Dutch friend replied to say it wasn't her kind of thing, but it was a nice thought. They can be much blunter than that though.

There's a great influencer you can follow and you'll see what I mean. Unfortunately, I don't know his name.

Living in North Africa the kindness of people, a weird obsession with privacy while gossiping is a national sport, that everyone will get involved if you raise an issue ie. asking someone to move their bag on a bus within 10 seconds the whole bus is involved, what sounds like arguments to us is not it’s having a normal conversation

America the friendlessness of people and directness, the relaxed attitude towards owning a gun (this is even with more left wing people I know), the friendliness very quickly turning to quite aggressive threats of suing, the self referencing everything comes back to self can almost appear paranoid, the shocking poverty and homelessness when there is so much wealth around

Asia no understanding of personal space at all, kindness and in some parts the acceptance and no show of judgement (Thailand), that every tv/radio that is on needs to be played at maximum volume that the sounds is distorted isn’t an issue

I love the fact they are driving round the cow. I too would drive around one and have done a few times 😂
I feel I may love Kathmandu ☺️

So, Wales has no culture? I live a very long way from London and big shops. But I’m surrounded by the culture of my country.

I was so surprised I even took a picture, which the checkout lady found hilarious.

TBH I found it a mite lethal! We had two older friends with us, who weren’t the most nimble, so trying to cross roads in central Amsterdam was ‘fun’ to say the least. And nobody wearing a helmet.
On leaving the hotel one morning one friend only just missed a woman whizzing along at top speed - holding a baby in one arm! 😱. Neither with a helmet.

There was a meme during Covid of people standing at a bus stop in Norway before and during the pandemic. In both pictures they stood the opposite ends of the bus stop!

The first time I landed in London on my own, (14) and made my way out of the airport and onto the underground, no one stared at me and I wasn’t groped or touched once. It was amazing.
I remember looking out the window of the train and goggling at how green and lush the countryside was, how fat the animals were in the fields, at the abundance of fruit and berries in the hedges and nobody taking any notice. I fell in love then and there and have loved it ever since.

Arriving in Delhi at night. All looked unremarkable in the airport and then to go outside and experience the cacophony of noise, the chaos of the traffic, the smells and sights - unlike anything I’ve experienced before or since.

Similarly, Bangkok - the noise and the chaos, but memorably, all the bloody hawking and phlegm. I’m not good with either, so I then went to China where it was even worse!

Sri Lanka beach area for the constant aggro and non stop hassle from hotel staff to bus drivers, everyone was trying to rip you off. Never again! Worse was the old men frolicking with young male boys that turned my stomach.

NYC for the amazing black guys working at the cosmetic counters in the big dept stores - they were so awesome and friendly. I remember thinking that wouldn’t happen at home. Also for the poverty and amount of rough sleeping which was horrid.

Egypt for the sexism and seeing women covered from head to toe……quite a few years back and hadn’t seen it before. I was covered up but had so much staring it made me uncomfortable even though married and with DH. He was offered 200 camels for me but declined lol. I loved Cairo sights but wouldn’t go back.

Ha! I was in Copenhagen last week and I remarked about how many people were sitting outside having a coffee or a beer in the cold! (LOVED Copenhagen by the way!)

Marrakesh was a shock - the main square with snake charmers and monkeys and massive piles of snails for sale.

Well, no, just that we’re in the middle of the least densely populated county of Wales. There’s a lot of landscape, history and archaeology, but if you want actual towns with museums, theatres and living culture it’s quite a drive. We have a small cinema that does live showings of dance and theatre but it’s not exactly the same. As the crow flies it’s not far to ‘cultural’ things but by the time you’ve negotiated mountain roads the actual drive is long.

I notice only small differences when I visit Ireland.
I suppose they may appear bigger if someone expecting everything to be exactly the same.

Where had you come from?

Go to Turkey! 😂 The UK will seem lovely and clean after that.

That can't be true, because as I've mentioned, cafes and bars that don't serve alcohol DO have wine and they're not all touristy places. I've also seen French people drink wine without a meal!

New York. The woman next to me in a clothes shop did a very loud fart, she casually said 'excuse me' and carried on shopping.

No attempt to pretend it wasn't her. Now that's a real culture shock.

Going to Kanyakumari, seeing the big statue in the sea and the many thousands of pilgrims that had gone there to be cured of leprosy, infertility and to be blessed.
It was like another planet and filled me a feeling of eerie eternalness.

travelling in sri lanka with my youngest who (many years ago) had bright white hair. We were staying in a local hotel rather than a tourist destination and she turned heads. Women were touching her hair. She was totally freaked out. It made me realise that the world hadn't 'seen it all'