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 😅

Yes indeed (and I spelled it wrong - the k/c at the start is OK, but it ends in o, not a). The standard way to make cheap red wine (a 1-litre Tetra Brik can still be found for less than a Euro) palatable for teenagers.

do you know ive been so many times and never noticed!

I had the same experience in Tunisia 15 years ago!

I’ve lived in Oklahoma ( well Norman ) and apart from the vast landscape, huge food shops, and twinkies my main surprise was everyone going to church on a Sunday then straight to a coffee shop afterwards.
A real buzz about town that I really liked

Although the KKK shop near Oklahoma Uni campus with a car parked outside with a number plate referencing Jesus was a shock. I’ve Google earth walked past that area recently and glad to see that shop has gone.

I did enjoy the penny beer, stomp dancing and two stepping though. Now you don’t get those in London

I never saw anyone with guns either

💯 culture shock I couldn't believe what I was seeing it's all so strange. Apologies if you took my post as criticism of the Protestant faith it's still very much a mystery to me

That's actually encouraged in the inner city laneways of Melbourne. They are full of bars and restaurants and cafes and rather than having boring walls the council got in some graffiti artists to brigten things up. Some of them are amazing. There's lots of pics on instagram under Melbourne laneways.

Ibiza aged 4 - Everyone made an effort to be nice to me as though they thought I was special, but in reality they just loved children. It was hot and even some of the grown ups had a nap after lunch. The milk was horrible. The postboxes were yellow instead of red and the trees were different.

Fes El Bali, Morocco in my 20s - It’s an ancient maze-like medina. The first time my boyfriend and I were led through it to our hotel, I felt as though I were watching a slide-show on fast-forward.

There were countless tiny shops and I couldn’t so much as glance at a carpet or silver teapot without getting the hard sell - I hated that. When I did buy something, haggling over a glass of mint tea was usually part of the ritual.

Goods were carried through the narrow alleyways by donkeys, or by young boys pulling trolleys. I felt sorry for some of the donkeys and the unkempt stray cats.

People also carried trays of bread dough through the streets so they could bake them at a communal bakery. There were communal bathhouses (hammams) as well.

Many local men hung around the streets and leered at the foreign women. Men (and boys) also kept trying to guide me around in exchange for money. But I learnt my way around by using by nose and ears, as well as my eyes. The bakery smelled good; the tannery smelled awful. In the metalworkers’ square, men hammered out enormous metal bowls, big enough for a wedding feast.

So it's difficult to eat peas, for example. You can herd" them up against the other food on your plate at first, but the last few bites are bound to present a challenge.

It's one of the reasons that we Americans often serve mashed potatoes when we have peas. You adhere those last few bites of peas to your last few bites of mashed potatoes. Job done.

The principles of overtaking in Africa.

It’s basically the other persons responsibility to slow down and not smash into you even when it’s you that’s overtaking and on the wrong side of the road.

As someone whose family are all big francophiles, as am I, I think that book did make some valid points. My French friends & acquaintances who grew up here were quite a lot like the kids she described, & my family felt it stacked up for at least some people they'd met. But she's speaking about quite snobby areas of Paris, & a lot of what she says is common sense & not specifically French. She stil lives there & wrote a new book recently, I wonder what she thinks now? & how her kids feel about the book?
On the spanking thing, my friends certainly weren't spanked. On the whole France can be a bit unprogressive in some fronts, & I think that's one of them.

This is a bit unfair on the Japanese, these are awful issues but many people are trying to change them. Look at the response to Mieko Kawakami's novels, the culture is def waking up to the misogyny, or starting to. MeToo has moved things somewhat at least.

I lived in Houston, Texas until a few years ago. I can't drive because I have narcolepsy. It's incredibly inconvenient to be unable to drive, because driving is the default Texas-wide, and therefore public transit and options for walking are limited - NOT non-existent.

However, I've never encountered anything but sympathy when I have told people I cannot drive. There are certainly no state-wide laws against walking.

Can you tell us where and when this happened, and are you sure you were not stopped for another reason besides "walking" (maybe trespassing; the laws on what is considered private property are quite different than those in the UK, and there is no "right to roam")?

Well that's me never going to Marrakesh 😳

In the shopping centre lifts, people were employed to press the button for the floor you needed to go to and they sat on a stool next to the buttons all day

this was normal when I as growing up in north east Scotland in the 60’s and early 70’s when I moved. The job was usually done by someone who had a disability and each time the lift stopped at a floor the lift attendant would shout out what was available on the floor so you knew when to get out.

It really would be the dream destination for my adult autistic daughter!

I don't understand (sorry). Is it that the parents were feeders, or that they were concerned about their children becoming overweight?
Very interesting either way!

Moving to and living in China. The culture shock is immense, even after living in another asian country. The little things I've noticed are that people don't generally get out of the way for each other on the pavement, the next-level queuing (it really is something to behold - even as a Brit!) - even queuing to take a photo with me or my children if we stand still for a second! Also the genuine kindness of the Chinese if you need help and can find a way to ask for it. The biggest shock is the pace of change and the technological wonders at your fingertips. The ease of life is amazing, once you know how to access it. The electric vehicle revolution - the quietness and cleanliness of roads after living in an asian petrol-fueled city.

I had a similar situation in a small town in Turkey. I didn’t feel unsafe but seriously wtf.

Like what?

Marrakesh

I got sick once on the street in NY
Tummy bug
Ran to a hedge

A lady called the police on me 😞😞😞😞

I'm in Japan right now. Currently sitting in a very busy cafe and other than the low background music and the occasional clink of a coffee cup, we could be in a library! It's so quiet. Was in a different cafe the other day and 3 American men came in and were talking really loudly and I had to resist the urge to say to them "we use quiet voices here" 😂

And when I go to use the loo, I will leave my handbag coat etc at the table, knowing 100% they will be there when I get back. (I'm here alone).

I've been to Japan a few times for varying lengths of time. I'm well aware of the problems that exist here but none of it is things that really affect tourists. I have never felt less than 100% safe.

For me the culture shock happens when I go home to London. In Japan I become a "softer" version of myself and then have to go back to the noise, grit, rudeness and dirt and harden myself again.

In the early 90s I took my then boyfriend/now husband to meet friends in Belfast (we lived in London). He almost had a heart attack when he spotted a soldier hunkering down in Marks and Spencer’s doorway with a massive gun! It was so normal to me I didn’t even think to mention the army presence to him! The hovering helicopters freaked him out too, as did the flags and painted cobblestones.

I think my funniest one was when I was reading a newspaper in Australia and there was a full page ad advertising Dogging courses.😀 Dogging here means something quite different to the UK.😀

The Khmer Rouge was a communist regime that ruled Cambodia from 1975 to 1979.

They forced people out of cities into labor camps, banned religion, and targeted intellectuals, ethnic minorities, and anyone they saw as a threat.

During this time, millions of Cambodians suffered from starvation, forced labor, and violence, with around 1.7 to 3 million people dying.

The Killing Trees are something that (in my opinion) people should be aware of as Auschwitz

People resorted to eating frogs and tarantulas and drinking the blood of cows to survive. People with glasses were killed as they were judged as being academic.

So the parents that grew up during or just after the Khmer Rouge have huge trauma that has shaped how they view food—it’s not just sustenance; it’s security, survival, and love.

So, their focus on making sure their kids are well-fed comes from a place of deep fear that their children might ever experience the kind of scarcity they or their parents endured.

Going off topic here but it fits with the Paris theme.

I was about 13 heading to Paris with my mum who would not fly so it was train, train, ferry, train, train.

On the first train in France I was sitting opposite my mum, some older French men were sitting at the other side of the aisle and a group of English students were behind me.

They were being loud and obnoxious and generally being a pain.

Then one of them threw a half eaten apple over his shoulder that hit my head and rolled down my face.

My mother turned into Maggie Thatcher on acid, stood up and told them off in no uncertain terms, I can't remember all of it but, "a disgrace to Britain" was included along with me wearing glasses and I could have lost my eye.

She then sat down and although we had no idea what the older men were saying but they certainly approved of my mother's speech.