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 😅

In France, not being able to go for a walk on my own, sit on a park bench and read a book, without some bloke following me/sitting next to me and chatting me up. Never happened in the UK!

Leeds.

Elaborate?

I remember starting work in London. I was raised in the Midlands just outside of Birmingham in an ethnically Indian family who had come from Malaysia. In those days the Midlands was industrial and I had seen men running out of work at the end of a shift. The bit that surprised me in London was that men and women in suits were running up the escalators in the tube to get to work- not to bet out of work, but running to get there. Then one day there am I doing the same thing without really realising it! Also the way people would cram themselves into an already crowded tube.

Visiting Nepal and India 25 years ago. Cows on the road that the taxi drivers would dodge. Vibrant colours everywhere. People sleeping on the pavement at night, hundreds of them with nowhere else to go. Disabled people with no limbs begging lying on the floor. The kindness of strangers and simplicity of the lives people led. It brought me up short and made me appreciate my life back in the U.K. so much more. Not that I preferred it, but the contrast was strong.

Marrakesh. I've travelled a lot and never experienced anything like it. I was followed and harassed incessantly. I had to punch some bloke as he wouldn't let go off my arm.

I moved from a busy city in Ukraine to a small UK village 20 years ago.
The day after the night of arrival, I went for walk to find the high street and not seen a single person on the street until I got to the high street. I thought the world has ended and I didn’t get the memo.

😂

Ghost villages in rural France on a Sunday

Not necessarily the biggest one, but the most surprising one for me was the drinking culture in the UK. Not just how alcohol forms such a huge and destructive part of so many people's lives, but the casual acceptance of the prevalence of alcohol and the frequent excuses for drunk people - "Well, he was drunk, you know..." I always want to say, "Well, he chose to get drunk, so it's still his responsibility!"

India. Coming from rural / small town Scotland, it was an absolute mind blower.

More recently, public smacking of children in France. It’s really commonplace, unlike in the UK. There’s no stigma that I can see.

@EVHead Hahaha, yes!!! I remember being in a park in Paris with my younger DSis and my DM. I was 15, DSis 13. We were literally stalked and DM kept yelling at the guys to bugger off, leave us alone, we were children, etc.

Problem is, she didn't speak French so she was shouting in English. DSis and I can speak French, me more so at the time, so we were shouting translations to the guys, they were shouting back, we translated to DM and off we went again. It was so, so funny!

Also, same trip, getting a commuter train from Paris to Rambouillet (from memory). DM was convinced I'd got us on the wrong train and was getting very stressed. The other passengers didn't know I could understand every word of 'fucking tourists, should learn the language, hope they get lost' comments being muttered. That was until we got off the train and I announced, loudly in French, to the whole carriage, what a delight it was travelling with them and I hope they all had a lovely evening 😊

I'm 53 now but remember it like it was yesterday.

In NY one December. Had a stinking cold. Apparently it’s not the done thing to sneeze or blow your nose in public. Twice I was told I was disgusting!

What do they do then? Just keep sniffing? Dont go out?

The constant presence of Christian evangelism in the Bible Belt states of the USA.

When we first moved to Copenhagen back in 2020 ( we are back in uk now) - and for virtually all winter the Xmas lights were left out along with braziers and furry throws and outdoor seating - and everywhere inside was toasty warm - to the point of sometimes being too warm!

It seemed incredibly cheery compared to most of UK in winter

Japan had a lot. Going into supermarkets and genuinely having no idea what something was. Children wearing school uniform even on weekends to advertise their school. The quietness and uniformity. People just obeying the rules. Things like the inability to understand how someone could lose a bus ticket and instead of just saying “no you have to buy a new one” being sent through ten different people all expressing surprise I could lose it. They couldn’t just say no!

Oh and the shop workers having incredibly high pitched voices, acting like children and following you around.

Two spring immediately to mind that really threw me off kilter.

Arriving in India, first time I’d been out of Europe, and seeing the poverty and dirt and destitution everywhere. Cried my eyes out as it was all so raw.

Bangkok after a few months bumming around beaches, standing on a bridge looking down at several lanes of frankly mental traffic in the city centre, then waking down the steps and being hit with an array of sounds, smells, colour and chaos. Cried my eyes out as all my senses were so overwhelmed (but grew to love it!)

Haha! In Marrakech at the moment and the only thing I find annoying is being harassed to buy things and nearly getting run over by motorbikes. I am old, though.

As a 20 year old, being able to buy beer in McDonald's or from a street vending machine in Belgium. Blew my mind 😄

Brought up in England. Big shock to go to Ireland for a funeral, with an open coffin wake, which is the norm in Ireland. Also that funerals are happening a day or too after death, not weeks

Being grabbed and stared at in turkey, even when not wearing particularly revealing clothes (imo).

Public toilets in the UAE being a hole in the floor. It was well built with a plastic seat style spaces for your feet. But nowhere to sit.

Realising that it was totally fine for me to go to the shop in a bikini and flip flops in Brazil. Everyone else was wandering around in various degrees of clothing, including wearing pretty much nothing at all. It was completely normal and no one had the slightest interest in anyone else's wobbly bits.

It was a shock, but a really nice one. SO relaxing.

Yes!! An American I knew was driving me mad, sniffing and snorting every three seconds (literally - I actually checked the clock) and I offered her some tissues in the hope that she'd get the message and blow her flippin nose. "Oh no, that's disgusting!"

Really? THAT'S what's disgusting?!

I had to share a room with her and I swear I nearly throttled her. Gaahhhh.