Culture Shock
Here
is a story that defines culture shock:
Two
students from Hong Kong came to the United States for a visit during the
winter. Their American hostess prepared
a room for them to sleep in. During the
day, they visited many places around the town and came home tired and ready to
sleep. Their hostess showed them their
room and said goodnight.
In
their homes in Hong Kong, blankets were usually folded and placed at the foot
of the bed. The two students didn’t see
any blankets on their bed. They thought
that Americans were very strange. No
blankets on the bed in the cold winter!
They didn’t want to say anything to their hostess. They didn’t want her to feel badly about not
giving them any blankets. So the two of
them were uncomfortable all night sleeping on top of the bedspread (which they
thought was the sheet) without any blankets.
Please
describe a time when you experienced culture shock. What are some of the things that you felt? What kinds of things are you uncomfortable
with in a different culture? Give
examples.
What
aspects of different cultures were a shock at first, but then you began to
understand and like them? Give
examples.
Even
within our own culture, we can experience a kind of culture shock. Some of the following may be a
cross-cultural experience for you!
Marriage
Raising
children or teenagers
Talking
to people a lot older or younger than yourself
Moving
from the city to the country or the country to the city
Give
examples of how you are learning to make these kinds of changes and what kinds
of things surprised you at first.
Paul
was a Christian who traveled to many different places to talk about Jesus. When he visited Athens in Greece, people
found his ideas very different and
perhaps shocking. Some said
“What does this idle babbler wish to say?”.
Others said, ‘“He seems to be telling of strange deities (gods)” -
because he was talking about Jesus and resurrection from the dead.’ (Acts 17:18)
Have
you ever had people react to you as people in Athens did to Paul? How did you handle it?