Culture Shock

There are many different types of cultures from all around the world that have their own different types of food, art, customs, religions and languages. I think it that being amerced different cultures for the first time will be a unique and amazing experience. Culture shock is what can happen to a person when traveling to different places. There are four different phases of culture shock. The first one is called the honeymoon phase. This is when the culture is beautiful and people find it fascinating. The next phase is called the negotiation phase. This phase is when you become depressed because you miss your old culture and this phase usually happens two to three weeks after arrival. Then the adjustment phase. In this phase everything it seeming familiar to you and everything appears normal because you have become use to the culture. This phase happens you traveler anywhere from six to twelve months after arrival. The fourth and final stage of culture shock is called the reverse culture shock, which is when you return back to your home country and go through the stages again to the culture in the that country. When traveling to Thailand I expect to go through the honeymoon, negotiation and part of the adjustment phase because of how long I’m planning on staying there. The thing that I know will shock me the most will be the currency. Most people would not necessarily find this a big culture shock, but I know that I would. I have only ever used Canadian money to buy products sold in Canada. Buying something in a different currency will “shock” me because I don’t think I will actually understand what the value is. I also think I will have trouble with counting out the specific amount of money I need to give to waiters or cashiers because the money is so different. To prepare for using money in Thailand I would read about the money and currency values and memorize what each coin represents and what it’s worth. I think I would also bring off a piece of paper with me that had the money values on it (kinda like a cheat sheet) just to make sure that I know I’m paying the right amount of money. Another thing that would be a big culture shock for me would be the food. I have been to Thai restaurants before and the food was great. However in the Thai restaurant I’ve been to they have never served insects as an appetizer. In Thailand eating insects is like a common snack. Insects are usually fried in a wok and can be server hot or cold. One of the most common insects are called Jing Leed, which are similar to crickets.  Other bugs that are eaten are Maeng Kee Noon, Non Mai, non pai, Tak Ga Tan, and Maeng Da. I that I can’t really prepare for this. I would absolutely want to eat some insects while in Thailand bust I guess I’ll just mentally prepare for it a couple of moments before eating.