Learning Journal 27

I thought the article about "Coping with Culture Shock" was very interesting.  It was funny because on the second page of the article it basically says, the basic make up of another city will probably be the same as your town, there will be tall buildings and taxis and stop lights, etc.. . . . but I was thinking, I don't think Tonga is really going to look like that right away.  So from the very beginning, it's probably going to be a culture shock, because the make up of the island is quite different.  As the article listed different things that one could have culture shock to, I tried to pick the ones that most worried me.  Some of the things he listed were: confusion over role behavior, surprise or disgust about some of culture characteristics, loss of familiar surroundings, being rejected (or not accepted) by community members, and sense of doubt when old values are brought into question.  Although all of these are concerns, some worry me a lot more than others.  I have been thinking about how scary and depressing it would be if the community members rejected me, or just didn't like me.  I'm not worried that they won't be friendly or nice to me, but it's really scary for me to think about them never really liking me or letting me into their community.  Of all of the things listed in the article, this scares me more than all of the others.

A couple of suggestions on how to deal with the culture shock really stuck out to me, first being prepared. We have been working on that for the past few months, so I feel like I'm getting prepared as much as possible.  I think it's really great that we have learned things about the culture here though, because I feel like if I would have just gone there without knowing certain things it would have been a lot harder.  For example, the dogs that are deserted on the streets, or eating horse, or letting someone else take your child and raise them.  All of those things would have been a lot more surprising and upsetting if I would have seen it there without knowing about it before.  Another suggestion he gave that I thought was really helpful was to become familiar with local ways of communicating.  I think the best way for me to overcome my culture shock, and feel like I can be accepted in the community, is to learn as much as possible about what the do, how the communicate, and what is acceptable and expected.  Although I think there will obviously be some shock when I get to culture, I think this article was really helpful in helping me to deal with that shock.