Culture Shock in the Food Court

     According to Ting and Toomey, Culture Shock occurs whenever someone "uproots themselves from a familiar setting and moves to an unfamiliar one." They go on to say that culture shock is unavoidable, managing it determines how well we adapt and what outcome we achieve.

W Curve Model of Culture Shock

     I was lucky on so many counts taking my 3 week journey to Thailand. 1) I had been living with my husband (who spent the first nine years of his life living there), for about 10 years. Some ideas had rubbed off on me. 2) I was sort of a veteran traveler, even if it was mostly US travel. 3) I took a fantastic intercultural class not too long ago and was trying to immerse myself in French culture and language, which, gave me a fair idea of what it takes to try to embrace a new culture (even for short periods). So to sum it up, I had a good idea of the challenges I would face and decided rigidity was not the attitude to have when traveling to the other side of the world. Much like the attitude I had when I gave birth to my first child: I knew this adventure would be challenging, but it wouldn't be a BAD experience as long as I didn't fight the challenge by trying to make my experience "normal."

And to be fair, three weeks isn't that long, culture shock may have become a greater issue if we were staying for 6 months or more.

    So with all those factors, including the fact that my husband was able to communicate in Thai where I couldn't, made my experience almost panic free.... except for one day at the food court in MBK.

Small section of MBK Food Court

     Mah Boon Krong (MBK) is a massive shopping center/mall in the heart of Bangkok. It's so massive, that I'm not sure you can come close to seeing every store unless you spend every day for at least a year, using a methodical approach of visiting every booth. Well, and then it backs up to Siam Square with more downstairs maze-like markets. If it weren't for the security and metal detectors separating the two you could wander on for days and never see the same thing twice (and very likely end up very lost). By the time I had my culture shock moment, we'd actually visited MBK several times, so it wasn't "new..." yet, still overwhelming. I think we must have gotten back from Phuket because I was still feeling a little sensitive to being hailed as MADAME! all the time (If you appear in ANY way a Farang female, you can expect to be called towards a shop as "Madame" at first sight). Tired, and hungry from a morning with little breakfast and lots of walking, I was finally succumbing to the need for a little refreshment by 3PM. Phil's father was nice enough to lead us up to the 6th Floor Food Court to get a bite to eat. But I wasn't expecting what I saw.

     Unlike other eateries at MBK, you must purchase coupons to get food at the Food Court. A superfluous step really, the customer must know how many coupons to buy for the food stall before getting them (because refunds on coupons are hidden elsewhere on the 6th floor). So, we walked into the middle of a bustling, overwhelming mass of people, smells, foods, neon signs, and sounds. As I stood in the middle of what seemed to be unending, complete unintelligible madness, I couldn't help but feel like it was all WAY too complicated and I was WAY too far away from home.

     I didn't know what I wanted to eat, I didn't know how many coupons I needed. There was too much pressure, I couldn't make a decision fast enough for the waiting eyes of my husband and his father (or really myself). I couldn't make ANY decision. I choked up. My mind went blank... I scanned the crowd for anything... anything, that appeared normal or recognizable, trying not to cry. What made it worse was that it seemed so stupid to have a meltdown in a food court, adding to the stress (which did in fact cause me to tear up).

Thai Boba Tea from Pho Vy II in Columbus GA

     Finally in the midst of my panic I spotted a big cardboard advertisement for "Taiwan Boba Tea" (aka Iced Thai Tea with Tapioca Balls). It was something I understood and I clung to it. I decided to forgo food, just to have something I could understand. As Phil's dad went to purchase coupons, I tried to calm down, tearing up just a few times more before I finally settled my nerves and my sugar levels with my creamy, cool beverage. 

     To some degree I still try to convince myself this incident was a health issue: with occasional low blood sugar issues, my panic could merely have been a symptom... but that's a wimpy excuse. I think the cause was really just that suddenly I didn't understand anything anymore. It might have been a long time building, but I panicked because it just became too overwhelming and I stopped enjoying the differences at the point where I needed something and needed to make a decision. It's certainly something I have to consider the next time I go back. I was willing to be submissive to the situations I expected: "Don't understand the language, well I can't fight that... submit;" "Not sure I'm going to like what I see, smell, taste? Well I can't fight that; I signed up for 3 weeks overseas... must submit to it." (and acceptance is an act of submission in this case, sort of a giving up control to what is out of the ordinary). But sometimes, even the situations we expect become too overwhelming, and that's when culture shock steps in.

     Going back to the W-Curve model of culture shock at the beginning of the blog, you'll notice that some of the stages repeat. Well, that's because culture shock doesn't begin and end in a foreign country. When I returned home, there was just as much a shock to my senses. The frenetic sights and sounds of a claustrophobic Bangkok were very quickly replaced by Georgia's open highways and vast pine tree landscapes. It was WEIRD! I was offended when a sales associate pointed at a product with his feet, not just because it was bad American manners, but because it's offensive to do such a thing in Thailand. And when I wasn't given a straw to go in my canned beverage, purchased to-go from a convenience store, I was a little grossed out that I had to put my mouth on the can. It's taking some adjusting to remember that I was comfortable with this life before I went overseas... but that's perfectly normal on the culture shock model. I just hope everyone else can understand while I'm getting over my culture shock.