Culture Shock or reverse culture shock???

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Trip Start Aug 24, 2008 Previous
Entry Trip End Aug 01, 2009

  Saskatoon, Saskatchewan, Canada
Sunday, September 20, 2009

Culture Shock or Reverse Culture Shock: is there such a thing?

We have been home for 20 days now and we are in the middle of getting our house put back together. I am at times amazed, shocked and appalled at all the stuff we have. To think I lived out of a backpack for a year with only a few choices of shirts and pants, I can’t quite comprehend the amount of clothing I am unpacking from boxes. If you know me you will know I am not a girly girl. I don’t like nail polish or long nails, though I did go through a bit of a phase in high school. I don’t like shopping, and therefore only do so when necessary. I prefer to be comfortable, so I like sweats or jeans and t-shirts or sweatshirts because above all I like to be warm. Even though I am unpacking a lot of clothing from these boxes, most of it is pretty crappy. I really prefer to rough around in the garden getting dirty, and so any clothing that is no longer suitable for public wear gets put on the ‘work wear’ shelf. 

I am spending time in the malls these days because there are a few things that the kids need for school. Thankfully they both feel there is not a lot that their wardrobe lacks, a positive offshoot of travelling and seeing so many people in need. They were able to pick up bits and pieces of clothing on the trip that they are happy to make use of for school, another good thing. As we wander around looking for clothes or school supplies I find I am turned off by all the people and all their wants - yes I realise we also appear to be in the want category, but to defend myself, the kids have grown this past year and their clothing and shoes from a year ago no longer fit. Simon has only one pair of shoes that currently fit (but with holes in them) which he bought in China. This means that he wore them through China, India and Africa and I want nothing more than for them to be unceremoniously thrown into the garbage! I know what we walked through.

The most difficult part for me has been the return to radio and TV. The ads for everything centre around fear. “Wear this, eat this, drive this... or risk old age, frumpiness, unpopularity, theft, ugliness … blah blah blah", and did you know you can strap on a vibrating belt and lose weight while sitting on the couch eating potato chips and watching your favourite re-runs? Yesss finally something for the glutton in all of us. It’s not just the ads. The news is very disturbing. Someone was stabbed, hit and run, rollover, market crisis, job loss, no money, no hope, no hope, no hope. People just aren’t spending, they aren’t going to the dentist, they are worried over their jobs and their homes.

We are very lucky. So lucky I sometimes can’t believe it. Jim has a job. His job as an English teacher of refugee students gives him the opportunity to interact with people from around the world, just like we have done for the past year. He is in a position to help not only the kids, but also the families who have come to Canada from war torn areas, to adjust to life here. He can offer them so much, right down to the useable household items that we don’t need. We really don’t need that much, and their needs are so high. With Jim’s job we receive dental benefits and with that we all have gone to have our teeth cleaned and had checkups. We went to the dentist a total of 7 times and all for the grand total price of $0.00.

On the weekend we went to the farm for what seemed like a blip in time. We were peaceful again. On the farm there are no errands to run, few phone calls, no shopping and no invitations. I am not saying that we don’t want to see anyone, it is just that it takes time to consider our old lives and it is almost a conscious decision as to what things we want to keep active and those that we want to delete. Friends and visiting is a big aspect that we would like to not only keep, but enhance. We, like so many people, get busy and sometimes are too busy to even socialize. Peace is something we take for granted as we bustle through our day hooked in and wired up. The ability to walk among nature, climb a mountain - not the way the tourists climb Mount Fuji, in a cue which snakes up the side of the mountain. It is not strenuous climbing the volcano in this manner. I guess the experience is meant to be more contemplative anyway, a sort of religious experience. Nature in its most basic form is hard to come by, but we have it in abundance at our farm. Saturday night the air was so silent that all I could hear was the incredible buzzing in my ears. There wasn’t a breath of air, no moon and so many stars. We were thinking back to the night we spent at Tevele in Mozambique when we last saw stars like this.

Every time I run water from the taps at home I think of how many months we travelled without having clean drinking water. The water coming from the taps in many countries is unfit for human consumption and the millions of people who have no choice but to live under these circumstances. I wonder somewhat pessimistically how long will our clean water last?
 

September 8, 2009

I feel more relaxed this week.  Maybe because I have been to the farm this past weekend.  So many people have asked "are you glad to be home?"  You wouldn't imagine that I would have a hard time answering that question.  "yes and no" is my answer.  I know that people don't want to hear a long monologue about the intricacies of culture shock or trip ending depression, but that is what it turns into.  I know I should be positive, but my real character eventually finds it's way out, that 'realist' in me comes to the fore and reveals the positives and negatives of both travel and living at home.  Then I worry about the studies that say optimists live longer.  I need to work on that.   As I wind my way through what seems to me to be a simple and so logical explanation, I look up to see my questioners eyes glazed over and a perma-smile pasted to their face, waiting for me to take a breath so they can escape, as they think to themselves, 'phew, don't travel around the world, it makes you craaazzzy!'





 

 

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