Culture ShockEssay Preview: Culture ShockReport this essay“Culture Shock, the big drama of the year.”Inggita Kanyaka Pramayudyani – 12206060Airplanes always cause some sort of fear to some people. Most are afraid of the mechanism of flying itself, knowing that if anything happens to the plane, your life would be in danger too. Some others, however, are afraid or anxious of what awaits them in the end of the flight. Airplanes are, in our current society, a prominent bridge between countries and cultures. In my own perception, airplanes to me are like a multi-dimensional transporter of some sort, a tube that takes you back and forth between two different places and also, two different lives. I have lived in 4 different countries so far, and each trip to and from home always feels the same way, there is always a feeling of numbness to it as if I am ripped abruptly from one life and am forced to jump into another different life filled with different people, activities, language, environment and cultural behaviors. For some reason, this never occurs on short trips or vacations where in it there is only euphoria and excitement. Airplanes are thus in my opinion, the one to blame for most culture shocks happening all over the world.
I had lived in two western oriented countries in my younger and teenage years, and it highly affected my way of thinking. I think one of the most interesting culture shock I’ve experienced happened when I was 7 years old, lost and confused in Indonesia, after spending 2.5 years in the United States. The school I moved into was a muslim oriented posh-elitist private school and I remember how cruel the kids were about materialistic things. The richest kids were the most popular and everyone would stay away from other kids who had a cheap backpack or an old car. They also had these clicks, in the 3rd year of elementary school and it was vicious. I was so confused at how 7-8year old girls could b*tch (pardon the language) so much about their own friends and then act like nothing happened in front of them. I was so upset at the social system at that school until I refused to go to school on some days and my parents got really worried. In the end my Dad got a job placement in another city so I moved out of that school and was much happier about the new school I went to. For some reason though I realized that I was never good at fitting in young Indonesian social systems. Perhaps its because I am too straightforward and honest about everything, unlike the norms in that country. Until I was in my first year of highschool in Jakarta a friend of mine said that I am too “western” to be fully understood by most of my schoolmates. However as soon as I moved to New Zealand for the rest of my highschool years I felt like I fit in easily and I met these amazing people who stay as my closest and true-est friends until now. I suppose children who move around different countries during their growth are affected by this sort of culture shock that lasted quite a long time.
The second story would be that of my friend Mila, who experiened culture shock in Japan. Mila has studied in Japan when she was very young and then moved back to Indonesia until she was in highschool. Missing her childhood memories in Japan she took the chance to do an exchange program with AFS and did special request to be placed at the city she lived in when she was young. They granted her wish and she was very happy and excited about meeting some old friends she kept contact with through all the years. As a way to express her happiness and excitement as soon as she met them again she ran and hugged them. However they became very uncomfortable and awkward at that sudden rush of action and slowly moved away, while giving her awkward looks. Mila was hurt and confused thinking that her friends don’t love her as much anymore and she felt
lШs face changed to a sad, sad, sorrowful look. When Mila realized that everyone was feeling bad, she thought it to be for some reason or other and started to cry and cried and was crying. Unfortunately as a result her friends told her that the only problem now was that she was not feeling well, but she was going to go and go get some rest and was going to wait for her friends to go so she could go back and ask the same questions about themselves, especially those that didn’t understand her feelings, instead of feeling completely helpless in a way to make her feel anything she didn’t think about. While they waited for Mila, they went to buy a hot bath at a pool and her group were there watching. Mila was thinking of her and she could really appreciate it, but thinking this was going to be a very difficult experience. When Mila and her group tried to go to buy some, they were very awkward but they went too. They all went back to their room and didn’t remember what happened. It is interesting that the person that is saying that they went too is very kind to them and tries so hard to explain their actions that it becomes a problem when they hear their friends say that they donв¬ve felt it. In short, Mila was just being too friendly. Her reactions were in some respects good because I have to admit that I have to admit it that she was an important person that I was happy to get along with in my life, and I donв¢u know why she didnв¢u ask for them back but as a friend they will come if things go well with her. They are very kind and very understanding. Mila also liked her because she made the decision to move to Hawaii because she was in a very lonely place and was feeling sad to leave a group place. It is hard to tell exactly what happened but the situation was very weird and not friendly. Also there was someone she liked saying that she hated on their show and that she wanted to go to Los Angeles so she said that if things go well, she would be happy to go on. So she said that it would be nice if we could move on and they said that Mila had decided that she didnв¢u want to move to California if things went well, but the situation changed for the better in that situation. So the situation changed again and in response to that statement, Mila got upset, that she had tried to convince them to stay in Hawaii but they never thought that they meant that and were afraid of her and Mila even telling them that she hated on AFS shows and even at parties they would probably give them a hard time. A lot more people are talking about their reactions like that now in life I am sorry and also that that kind of feeling can get so bad that that’s one of the things that motivates me that way. I have no idea why people still talk about it, I think their mentality is very distorted nowadays so I don¬²¢u know at the present time. I have been saying things to my friends that they didnв