Culture Shock!
Here’s an events summary of yesterday at my first attempt to list them.
- First day of housekeeper.
- Went to market for fruits and vegetables.
- Lunch with a traveler friend from the states and the expat she’s staying with
- Dinner with Daya, a friend of a friend, and a couple of Daya’s friends of friends
However, more time than any of those particular activities was spent on remote-communication related activities.
In other words, I spent approximately four hours calling people on skype, writing on this blog, sending emails, and posting on facebook.
While I often reach out to people to say “hello” and stay connected, I normally do so purely from a positive place. These last few days have been a little different. This reaching out is coming from a needier place. Additionally, I am feeling mildly sluggish, and slightly depressed sporadically throughout the day. Classic symptoms of post-honeymoon culture shock.
While I am surprised to feel this way on the one hand, on the other, it makes perfect sense to me that I am experiencing culture shock. I’ve traveled for longer periods of time just fine. However, this is my first time really living outside the US, so I am going through feelings of vulnerability I have not felt before.
Best summary of my internal dialogue right now:
“While I might be depressed or sluggish any given moment, I am enjoying the process as a whole. On the one hand I am experiencing feelings of depression, but on the other hand, I am feeling new feelings, the novelty of which balances out the depression whenever I remember to take a step back.
Perhaps I am experiencing a meta version of culture shock.”
You didnt tell us anything about the market visit, housekeepers first day or dinner with friend’s of friends – do tell!!
Very true! Thanks for calling me out on that. I’ll try to catch up tomorrow.