Culture Shock, Stress, Fatigue 4 of 9 (Al Stewart)

Could something as ordinary and simple as what appears to be a common dessert snack cause a form of culture shock?  Well, let’s look at what happened to a young man, very young, a boy, who had lived most of his life up to that point as an expat child in a country that was far from what would be considered to be his home country.  Almost nothing in that country seemed strange to him.  After all, he was raised in it.  The food was normal to him, the sounds and smells were normal to him, the customs of the people seemed normal, the fact that they spoke a different language than he and his parents spoke in the home didn’t seem at all unusual.  He could understand quite a bit of it and speak some of it, not bad for a boy his age, but then children have a remarkable talent for picking up languages.

Then one day he and his parents left this ‘away from home’ place that had been home for awhile and started a long trip.  It was a normal kind of trip that was and is taken periodically by expats and expat families.  Some call it furlough, home assignment or some other descriptive name.  On the way they stopped for a visit in a crowded seaport in another country.  It was a hot day — very hot — and his parents decided to buy him and themselves a little treat.  It was something he had never had before but this boy was always ready to try a new food — a new taste sensation.  However, he wasn’t totally prepared for what it did to him when he took his first bite.  His first reaction was that it was burning his mouth.  You see, he had never had ice-cream before or anything that cold.  Where he had lived there was no refrigeration so no ice-cold drinks and no cold desserts, like ice cream.   The sensation for him was not of cold but of burning.

For a short moment, that first taste of ice-cream was for him sort of a case of culture shock, although a small one.  He got over it quickly.  As I said, he adapted quickly to new foods and after a bite or two he got over his culture shock and enjoyed it.  He still does.  I know, because I was that boy.

Foods can be trigger-point for culture shock for some of us as adults.  For a lot of us we arrive in a new country with years of eating behind us which has accustomed us to food tastes, food appearances, food textures, food smells, food temperatures and food sources.  We have established in our minds what is NORMAL for food and we expect that we will find that normal food everywhere we go, or at least something close to it.  Then we arrive in this new place and one of the first things we encounter is food that doesn’t taste quite like anything we’re used to.

For some this is an exciting adventure, sampling new foods, experiencing new flavors and spices.  For others it’s a matter of culture shock.  Sometimes they get over it fairly quickly, sometimes they don’t.  A lot of that depends on your own personality and background.  Some expats cling with desperation to foods and tastes of home, like the young lady who moved to a European country and, among other things, had her mother send her regular mailings of packages of a processed cheese spread and some other food items she was used to from home.  She was having major problems with culture shock, in this case with the local food.

A slight sense of adventure would have helped.  It certainly could have relieved some of the culture stress she felt because of her perceptions of the food and this helped to develop into some very strong sensations of homesickness and some form of depression.  No, to be fair, it wasn’t just the food.  She had a difficult time with many cultural differences, but the food was a constant three-times-a-day thing —  plus snacks.

So how do you handle that?  Well as I said, developing a small sense of adventure goes a long way to relieving the stress.  Explore the local markets and food stores.  Do it often so that the smells, aromas and colors start to become familiar.  Even just once a week try a new local food specialty.  Remember one of the rules of entering a new culture - it may be different, but that doesn’t make it wrong.

Speaking of food-related culture shock, how about the different methods of eating?  different ways of using utensils, cutlery or other objects for transferring the food from the dish of some form to your mouth.  Or maybe no other objects except your hands.  There’s more than one country or culture that considers it quite normal to dig into your dish of food with your hands, or even into a central dish with hands of others coming from all sides of the table.  Culture shock? Very likely, especially the first time.  In most of these cultures that use their hands as the primary implement for eating there are sometimes special rules about which hand to use, how the hands are to be used and from which part of the central dish you are permitted to acquire your food.  It can also be an acquired skill.  Without practice it can prove to be a messy procedure.

In this case a sense of adventure is a wonderful asset and a sense of humor?  Of course.  You’d better be able to smile a lot and to even laugh at yourself and your efforts.

However, if an expat has a serious problem with food going from hand to mouth and that expat is expecting to spend an extended time in this culture with these people and their eating habits, then that expat is going to go from culture shock to culture stress very quickly.

An interesting little side light here …I did a little research and found that while knives, of some form, and spoons, of various forms, go a long way back, the fork is a relatively new invention. As a matter of fact, according to many sources the fork didn’t come into common use until sometime in the mid to late 1600s according to our calendar. Before that time, before the fork was invented and adopted, Americans and Europeans nearly always used their fingers at meals as people in many other cultures still do today.  Or, they might slice off a piece of meat or other food with the knife, then transfer a piece of the food to their mouth with the tip of the knife - a practice that I think was not without its dangers.

Interesting ….

Anyway, back to our expat who has a problem with hand-to-mouth eating.  

If the problem is a cultural thing, then as I said earlier developing a sense of adventure would help a great deal.  Also a sense of humor would be a wonderful asset.

If the problem is a matter of a serious personal concern for hygiene, or cleanliness, and this happens to be a very serious concept for the individual,  then of course washing or cleansing the hands immediately before eating could be a remedy.  If the facilities are available.  In any case it is likely going to be a stressful situation.

I recall one young man who had a problem with a situation like this.  He refused to use his hands for eating and while others picked up morsels in their fingers, he used a spoon. The culture shock of the eating customs was too much for him.  Fortunately, his hosts were understanding.

Could this be an offensive thing to the hosts from the local culture?  Well that, I think, would depend on the local culture and how much contact the hosts had experienced with visitors from cultures other than their own.

Here’s a question to think about.  Does the refusal of an expat to adapt to local eating customs create a barrier to the acceptance of that expat by the local people, and if that barrier is created, is there also a resulting barrier for the good news about Jesus that the expat is bringing?

It’s something to consider.  Are the customs and habits of your personal culture more important to you than building your relationships with the local people…and the message you want to share with them?

Before we go too far with this we need to remember that not all local customs are necessarily good, just as not all local customs of your home country are necessarily good just because they are familiar.  Again we come back to that question - Is it wrong, or is it just different?

Remember - in some countries, maybe your home country, it is quite normal to pick up a piece of chicken, a slice of pizza or a sandwich and transfer it to your mouth.  In another country this might seem barbaric and people from that country would consider that such foods should only be eaten with knife and fork.

Those cultural differences of how to prepare, present and partake of food are all over the place. They always will be.  The question is, can we adapt?  Can we fit in somewhat and somehow with the people we are living with, and who we are trying to reach with God’s love?

Remember, in Bible times it was quite common to break off a piece of bread and dip it into the central dish, or scoop out some of the food in that central dish with the piece of bread.  Jesus did this.  This custom is still common in that part of the world.

Not all new food experiences are shocking really in a cultural way, or stressful, unless  your food tastes are somewhat restricted.  Actually, while some are quite different, they can be kind of fun if  you let  yourself think of them that way.

For example, how about pieces of cold hot dogs / frankfurters with cucumbers and tomatoes for breakfast? or the local version of pizza with cold peas and cold corn for a topping? or how about a very thin pizza with a fried egg in the middle? or a bun made from corn meal with a fire breathing hot chili pepper hidden in the center…which you don’t find until you take a generous bite?

As I said, not all culture shock is stressful.  Some of it actually can be fun if you allow it to be; if you approach it as a new adventure, a learning experience.

I’ve been quoting from time to time from a list of things to do to help cope with culture shock and stress.  One of the suggestions in that list kind of fits in here.  Recognize that some of the frustrations are really very minor items and don’t spend your mental and emotional energy on those minor things.  To grab an old expression — don’t make mountains out of molehills.  It’s something that can happen very easily when you spend too much time thinking about what seem to be negative things around you and it can be very destructive.  Try to laugh off the small irritations.  Don’t let these little bumps in your life’s experiences, those molehills, grow into something bigger and more oppressive.