Ioanes Resl

We’ve seen what the first two phases of this condition can do to a person and now we would like to round it up by the final two stages.
Phase three, or the adjustment phase is where the individual is getting assimilated by the new culture. And there are a lot of ways how and when this can happen. One big thing is that you now know “how things are working”. You feel a psychological balance, more confident. You don’t feel so isolated anymore and get back your sense of humor (in case you are blessed with the dark talent of making cynical jokes all the time, you may have never lost it in the first hand).

Depending on the source the next phase is the Enthusiasm. You just love it. But not the pink glasses kind of way. You know every coin has two sides and try to enjoy the best your new home has to offer you. In case of Central America it would definitely be the nature and the relaxed atmosphere you can encounter in a lot of places (just maybe not on the road) and a lot of opportunities.
That’s pretty much it. You may wonder what can there be more than that. Thing is, there is the chance that you may go back to where you come from and there comes the reverse culture shock. Now it’s the other way round and you can’t remember how you could have ever lived here. All the new customs you so painfully learned the last month or years are of no use here.
But there are plenty of things you can do to avoid a cultural shock. First off, the language. Learn it! A language is the most valuable thing you can acquire (beside thousands of credit card numbers found on the internet maybe). Get out! Don’t stay at home all day long. Go to bars/café/cinemas/theater/etc or for a walk. There are a million ways to get to know other people and to dive into a culture. Get a job. Nothing gives you more insight in a culture than to work with people. Take care when working in an expat enclave. The cultural shock is a social thing and from my experience hermetic groups tend to radicalize instead of dissolving any existing problem. It’s of no use to sit together with fellow countryman mocking the local customs. It just makes it worse. Of course, nothing against a joke here and there and to spend some time together with people from the same cultural origin but be careful not to drown in self pity and presumptuousness. Maintain confidence in yourself. Life is chain of events not a simple line. You never know what you get from going through such a tough experience. And of course, look for help. Talk to others but try to stay polite and open minded.
According to Wikipedia, there are three types of outcomes of the adjustment phase. The Rejectors, the Adopters and the Cosmopolitans. The Rejectors are the one’s living in a ghetto, behind high electrified razor wire secured walls and 24/7 security. They have a hard time and can’t really adapt to the new culture.
The Adopters peel their old culture of and wear their new culture with pride. Usually they stay in the country and like it a lot.
The Cosmopolitans have no problem relocating. They adapt to a certain level but don’t get assimilated and don’t lose their culture.
Kind of black and white, but after several conversations with all kind of people I found all three types of persons, some also overlapping.

I’m going to keep on following this topic because it had a huge impact on my life. If I’d done my homework in advance I may have gotten of a bit smoother than I did. It took me about 14 month to come to phase four. It really helped me to live in another country beside Costa Rica to appreciate some things, while I’m missing others.

Links
Wikipedia
kwintessential

This entry was posted on Sunday, March 29th, 2009 at 12:56 and is filed under the world is evil. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.