Culture Shock, Stress, Fatigue 3 of 9 (Al Stewart)

Now that you’ve been an expat for awhile, maybe one week, one month, one year, three years, or even longer than that, let’s do a little review, shall we?

First question - What were your first impressions of this place when you arrived, by whatever transportation you happened to be using?  I won’t make you tell me what those impressions were, unless you really want to of course.  I’d be happy to hear from you and have your input.  I can probably imagine, though, some of the impressions you might have had from my own experiences and those of some friends and acquaintances.

Very likely your first impression was an intense one of crowds of people, all of them making strange sounds with their mouths that you couldn’t understand.  A good percentage of those people were probably pushing at you and offering some kind of service like carry your bags, find a taxi, or sell you something.  Salesmen and women are everywhere with carts, stands, and displays of one kind or another, all competing with plenty of volume for your attention (and your money).  This could have been a little jolt of culture shock for you, but not bad.  You very likely were in what they call tourist mode at this point and everything that happened was interesting and aroused your sense of curiosity.

What was your next impression?  I don’t know where on the list this would come for you, but somewhere near the top —  near the beginning of your arrival in this place.  That would be your first encounter with the local bureaucracy, at any level.  In most countries the handling of paperwork is an industry of its own - a culture of its own.  It’s almost an art form, actually.  If you allow it to be, it can actually seem quite humorous to you.  If you’re not too tired and exhausted from the trip when you encounter the paper shufflers and rubber stamp specialists, not to mention those who make little marks on other pieces of paper and slide them through little windows to someone else who frowns at the paper, and then studies you through the small window before shoving that piece of paper somewhere else…  I remember one arrival point when three people handled my passport very slowly, then passed it over to two other people who checked every page and then moved rubber stamps around like someone playing that old game of which walnut shell is hiding the pea.  That wasn’t the end.  The passport went through a small window to another section while I and other travelers shuffled along and the whole routine was repeated by another three or four people, again very slowly. All the while the slow motion passport shuffle was being performed, they were watching us to see if any of us wouldn’t like to make a small donation, which of course would have speeded up the process.  I was pretty tired at that point, but I do recall that it struck me funny as I watched.  I did manage, however, to keep a straight face and I half wished for a video camera so that I could record the whole thing.

Of course, government paper shufflers and stampers are everywhere, but each country adds its own special touch to the proceedings.

I could just about write a book on bureaucracies I have known.  If you have ever gone through the challenge of changing money to local currency or cashing a traveler’s check, then you could add your own chapters.  I remember one bank where I went to cash a traveler’s check and succeeded after almost two hours, two tellers, two offices, and a half hour sitting by a desk in another big office upstairs where the local money vault or safe appeared to be a metal foot locker or trunk chained to the floor next to this lady’s desk.  I had the choice of looking and acting annoyed, smothering a giggle at the humor of the situation, or very quietly waiting with great calm as though accepting that this was the way things were done everywhere in the world, and I had absolutely nothing else to do with my time.  Even though the weather WAS very hot and there was no air conditioning, not even a fan to rearrange the air, and I was tired (again it really did strike me as pretty funny), eventually I did get my money and went on with my day, or what was left of it.

Was this culture shock?  Yes.  Of course this wasn’t my first encounter with such proceedings so it wasn’t so much culture shock as culture surprise.  It could have been pretty stressful if I had been determined to operate on a western-style schedule and had a million more things to do that day.  That’s where I think a lot of our culture stress comes from - trying to operate with western-style time keeping in a culture where time has a totally different meaning.

As you look back on some of your early days in this place where you are now living, you have probably had some similar experiences.  They probably raised your blood pressure just a little with the impatience that you felt.  I think we’ve all had our share of culture stress with local bureaucracies and paper work … and paper work …. and paper work.  Like the places that insist on six copies of each form, on both sides of the page.  Each copy has to be filled out individually because there is no carbon paper.  Then, when you hand in the bundle of papers you find out that you need another document which you can only get at another office several blocks away but it is now closed and you’ll have to wait until tomorrow or next week to continue the process.

We’ve talked about culture shock and culture stress and maybe you’re wondering, Are they the same thing?  Not exactly.  They do come from the same sources and they do overlap, sort of.  You may recall we examined this briefly last week at this time, but in case you weren’t able to listen last week let’s look at the two phrases again.

Culture shock and culture stress - How are they different?

In condensed form I would say that culture shock is what hits you when you first realize that just about everything in this new place is different, so different that some of the things that happen can be quite annoying.  We’ve looked at a few of those already today.  That’s culture shock, especially the differences that hit you when you first arrived in this place.  It can also happen to you at any time.  You may think that you are pretty familiar with the country and culture when suddenly a new situation arises unexpectedly and a way of handling the situation or performing a task that is totally different from anything you are used to is in front of you. You can think of the right way, your way, your cultural way of doing it but that is not the way it is done here.  For a moment you experience another brief (hopefully) or extended sensation of culture shock.  It can happen to any of us.

That’s culture shock.

Culture STRESS, on the other hand, is the continuing effect that these differences have on you and your emotions.  You know what stress is.  We’ve talked about stress on other occasions on this program.

One definition describes stress as a mentally or emotionally disruptive or upsetting condition occurring in response to adverse external influences and capable of affecting physical health, usually characterized by increased heart rate, a rise in blood pressure, muscular tension, irritability, and depression.

I can think of some culture stress situations that would fit that description.

Another condensed definition of stress would be physical or mental pressure, tension, or strain.

One more - stress is a condition or feeling experienced when a person perceives that demands exceed the personal and social resources the individual is able to mobilize.

Those are general definitions and descriptions of stress, but I think you can see where certain continuing cultural encounters can produce those feelings or emotions. That’s why we call it culture stress.

The other day I came across another phrase that is very descriptive, I think, and kind of fits in here with what we are talking about, that is, culture fatigue.

This is not just the initial shock of the new cultural situation.  It is not even the almost extreme pressure on you, your feelings and emotions that we call culture stress, but culture fatigue - the exhaustion you feel from everything always being different, the tiredness that dumps on you from constantly trying to adjust and adapt to ways that are so different from your own, from constantly having to be sensitive to the local cultural customs.

Maybe we can look at this some more next time.

We’re all different and we all experience these sensations in different ways.  The sounds of this place, the smells, the routines, the customs, the foods, the language, the traffic, the stores and market place, the local concept of time, the local pace of life, the local concept of honesty and integrity, people relationships…  You know the things that bring on culture stress and culture fatigue and, yes, at times, culture shock.

They are part of what we all have to go through to adjust to the new culture where we’re living. After all, this is the place where we believe God has called us so somehow we have to adjust, don’t we?

How do we do that?  How do we adjust?  How do we cope?  It’ll be a life long experience.  We probably will never totally conquer culture stress, shock or fatigue but there are some little things we can do to lessen its effect on us.

Here’s one idea I mentioned last - find ways to relax away from the local culture pressure.  For awhile, take your mind off this place and the things that frustrate you.  Read a good book.  Go for a long walk if that is possible where you live.  Get some physical exercise.

Another idea -do something creative like writing your thoughts and experiences in a journal. Write a humorous account of the things you have seen today.  There were some.  Write a humorous comparison between the local customs and what you are accustomed to.

Those are a couple of ideas that might help you to cope with culture stress and culture fatigue.  I can think of some times now, as I look back, when I wish someone had suggested something like that to me.