Look left then right!
When I left for England I had a lot of culture shocks. I knew about many of them when I came over but it still surprised me because who doesn't put eggs in a cooler but on a shelf? And why aren't there any proper hot dogs? Is it too much to ask for Ball Park hot dogs or Hebrew National? Hot dog buns too maybe? And what is up with burgers and KFC? Oh no, that is so not chicken done right. And then, of course, it took me ages to learn to look right then left when crossing the street. I had to relearn how to cross the bloody street.
So yeah, there were a few shocks but, eventually, they became second nature and I didn't even notice them after a while. But how have I managed since I have returned?
The very first thing I noticed was the size of the bottle of Diet Coke I got when I got off the plane in Seattle. I am not used to seeing a 20 oz bottle of anything and lemme tell you, it is much larger than anything back in merrie olde England. So are the cans of Diet Coke (12 oz is larger than a 331 ml can of soda).
I keep expecting to have these huge moments of reverse culture shock but they really aren't coming, perhaps the two cultures are too similar or maybe it's because I'm native to California and I was only gone for a little over a year. And I'm not too sure how to feel about it. Maybe it's a good thing, or maybe it's because you can take the girl out of California but you can't take the California out of the girl.
I must admit though that I am still looking right then left and I need to get out of that habit. It's not a good idea when you're driving. And I have gotten into the wrong lane to make a left hand turn but I caught myself before any cars came my way. And I have picked up some British modes of speech that I was not aware of. For example, I was speaking to a friend on the phone and I said, "... maybe we can meet up tuesday then ya?" Apparently adding 'then ya' at the end of a sentence is not very American. Who knew?
When I left for England I had a lot of culture shocks. I knew about many of them when I came over but it still surprised me because who doesn't put eggs in a cooler but on a shelf? And why aren't there any proper hot dogs? Is it too much to ask for Ball Park hot dogs or Hebrew National? Hot dog buns too maybe? And what is up with burgers and KFC? Oh no, that is so not chicken done right. And then, of course, it took me ages to learn to look right then left when crossing the street. I had to relearn how to cross the bloody street.
So yeah, there were a few shocks but, eventually, they became second nature and I didn't even notice them after a while. But how have I managed since I have returned?
The very first thing I noticed was the size of the bottle of Diet Coke I got when I got off the plane in Seattle. I am not used to seeing a 20 oz bottle of anything and lemme tell you, it is much larger than anything back in merrie olde England. So are the cans of Diet Coke (12 oz is larger than a 331 ml can of soda).
I keep expecting to have these huge moments of reverse culture shock but they really aren't coming, perhaps the two cultures are too similar or maybe it's because I'm native to California and I was only gone for a little over a year. And I'm not too sure how to feel about it. Maybe it's a good thing, or maybe it's because you can take the girl out of California but you can't take the California out of the girl.
I must admit though that I am still looking right then left and I need to get out of that habit. It's not a good idea when you're driving. And I have gotten into the wrong lane to make a left hand turn but I caught myself before any cars came my way. And I have picked up some British modes of speech that I was not aware of. For example, I was speaking to a friend on the phone and I said, "... maybe we can meet up tuesday then ya?" Apparently adding 'then ya' at the end of a sentence is not very American. Who knew?
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