Culture Shock

Culture Shock

What is culture shock?

Culture shock is the feeling of uncertainty, confusion, or anxiety that people experience when visiting, doing business in, or living in a society that is different from their own. Culture shock can arise from an individual's unfamiliarity with local customs, language, and acceptable behavior.

My Experiences with Culture Shock

I don't have much experiences with culture shock due to me not being the most travelling person around. I have been in one region for most of my life so small groups are what really astonish me.

 

One experience was with the group of my own race, the koreans. The situatino was one in which there were people that were previosuly known and had just returned from the cool modern South Korea. Mostly it was the girls that had changed extremely. Some of them had some makeovers and trendier clothes brought to the church which is a little off putting with modern fashion. The more disturbing part could have been the korean trend of acting all cute which was not only seen with them sometimes, but a recent encounter of a travelling korean artist being all "cute" and making every word a bit cuter was kind of off puting and weird to me. 

Another experience with culture shock would be the less resourceful people I met during church missions. I met some unfrotunate adults that had medical conditions that changed their whole lives and other people that have hardened bodies due to the endless physical labor they need to fulfill in order to put food on the table. From this experience I have realized how lucky I am to be born with a silver spoon, only needing to worry about education and having devices to help me along the way. 

One last culture shock was the use of shoes in most households. As a korean, taking off shoes before going through a house is the norm for everyone, for the filth gathered is to stay outside and not bring into private spaces where cleanliness is appreciated.

Non-Material

Ideas and type of mindset a culture has. One being the korean trend of being cutesy and the nicaraguan mindset of manlier men and a burlesque comedic sense. 

Material

The objects of daily use unique to the culture. Physical objexts that could include special accesories, clothing, etc.

Ethnocentric View

Taking my latin korean mindset to view this cultural characteristics to grade them according to me is ethnocentrism.

1. The trend of cutesy behavior is just way too weird, especially when the boys are kind of doing it. Me growing in latin countries females are not the type to be much cutesy in their behavior, but a bit more tough.

2. The lower resource life is one that I have not lived in. The idea of working as a minor has never crossed my mind because of the lack of necessity.