Never in all my life would I have expected to be here in my 30th year, seeing and doing all things Japanese!
By far the highlight of my teaching career so far, AFS, in conjunction with the Language Immersion award have paid for me to fly to Japan and attend language school here for four weeks in order to upskill myself and therefore improve my language teaching abilities!
As part of their pre-departure pack, AFS provide a brochure on "Culture Shock!!": signs and symptoms, how to create an 'emotional passport' for yourself (to reduce culture shock) and what to do if it does. It mentions the insidious 'delayed culture shock' in all its severity and provides coaching on how to get through this difficult stage!
Culture shock occurs as a result of "the abrupt loss of the familiar, which in turn causes a sense of isolation and diminished self-importance. When an individual enters a strange culture, all or most of these familiar cues are removed. It is like being a fish out of water."
Lol - yes it is interesting getting used to all the new things.... like
* toilets that flush automatically (and have buttons to automatically close the lid, make a noise so people can't hear you peeing and give you a wash with a bidet!!)
*eating fried eggs with chopsticks
*not being able to read anything in the supermarket
*bicycles on the footpath - and no helmets
*pointing to pictures in restaurants and attempting to ask for things
*city blocks that aren't built on grid systems
*crows on the roof and living 6 floors up
*rice and miso soup and chicken and pasta for breakfast
*cold food (even food we expect to be hot!)
*pillows full of plastic beady things - hard like wheat-bags!
*biting into 'bread buns' to find it has a filling.... like cream..... or strawberry.... or custard..... or curry! ..... or red bean paste!
*forgetting your jacket in a cafe and returning for it later and without even asking the jacket magically appears - not just safe and sound but also neatly folded and presented to you with reverence!
Lots of things are different - but thankfully I expected it would be that way and nothing upset me!
The kind of culture shock that I was really surprised by was encountered at our school Cultural Party on my second Friday in Fukuoka. Attending the party were Thai Uni exchange students, an organiser from Hong Kong, some Japanese women; some of whom were from our school, others were organisers of the event, others were from Kyushu University, myself and another teacher from New Zealand and various students from school from all around the world; Sweden, Switzerland, France, Germany etc! What a night it was!
I now believe that languages are a vital tool we should be providing all our children with! I have met people over the past few weeks who speak more than two languages - some more than three or four! They are amazing people - tolerant, easygoing and a very real asset to the world. I have learnt much from many of them. Including this Thai dance, that was taught to us on the Friday night:
A group of beautiful Thai girls and lovely, willing gentlemen, taught us this traditional Thai dance and the rest of the group sang for us while we joined in!
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Language Learning at an International Language School is interesting to say the least!
Now, I find it difficult enough speaking my own language! I find it more challenging learning a second language... but learning a second language in a class of students who don't necessarily use English as their first language.... where I'm listening to French and Swiss explanations and musings relating to our learning as well as English .... well let's just say that between my halting Japanese and my now-altered English (especially as my accent is apparently difficult to understand!) - I am now speaking some kind of Japanese/English with pigeon twist! :)
No, I'm kidding......
Now... about that Culture Shock!
The only Culture Shock (which I must admit was more hilarious than anything) where there was a 'complete loss of the familiar' and I felt like a 'fish out of water' was this:
Performing a traditional midsummer dance in Spring.
Which was also a Swedish dance, that we New Zealanders and French etc were performing in Japan, for an audience of Thai/Japanese/ Hong Kong people
and the song was in Swedish - about frogs
small frogs
with no ears
and no tails!
Just watch it - you will laugh -
:)
Many thanks to Nils..... for the 'culture shock' :) It was hilarious!
You are wasted as a teacher. It is time. Time to retrain as a Thai dancer.
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