Reverse Culture Shock @ Malaysia: Part 3
Part 1: This is my fourth week back in KL. I had to get over the initial reverse culture shock of the Malaysian way of doing things (i.e. my father was telling me how his Toyota was high-jacked last year on the Subang Highway, the way the people manage their bags of rubbish beside the recycling containers).. the reason for that is because I have got used to the fact that there aren't that many cases of cars being high-jacked, or cases of snatch thiefs in Toowoomba/ or Sydney as compared to Malaysia!!
Part 2: Now, I have to deal with another kind of problem... REVERSE CULTURE SHOCK.
The reason I am writing this is to actually leave a note to myself (I am so thoughtful!) to myself if ever I experience this from my visit back from overseas in future..
Reverse Culture Shock is the the shock that is experienced by a person who returns to their own homeland after having lived in a foreign land for an extended period of time.. as from my understanding, I realise by now that the only people who can actually understand what I am trying to write here about are those who have actually stayed overseas in a foreign land for an extended period of time.
and I don't mean those who have travelled a lot for one or two weeks overseas. Here, I mean those who ACTUALLY had to adapt to a foreign culture for a least more than 6 months to be able to say that they have adapted to a new culture altogether to have experienced a similar thing...
Now, from the time I left Malaysia to finish my final years of studies in Australia, I had stayed in Toowoomba for a total of almost 2 years, then spent one month in New Zealand, and then almost 12 months in Sydney and finally before heading home to Malaysia, I headed off to South Korea & Japan for about a months. In all these countries, the climate has always been temperate (cold dry winter and all!) during those times when I was there.
I still have trouble adapting back to normal humid hot weather in Malaysia after four weeks, somuchso that I am cooped in my bedroom with the airconditioner turned on for the past four weeks!
It's very hard to know how oneself has changed until they actually return to their homeland, will they only know the difference... I think that people (at least from what I have realised) will expect me to not have changed from the past two years.. but as Ai Ling puts it (when I went to visit her in Japan), my three years in Australia has actually helped me to look at things from a better perspective, including how things work (political & all, including the universities). So thanks, Ai Ling...
Anyways, I have actually avoided meeting people from my cellgroup in the last three weeks due to the fact that I was still trying to adapt back to Malaysian way of doing things, and was more interested in looking at the new shops and new additional items they had for sale in the shops.. I just couldn't handle how some of them can go on yakking and yakking without realising that it I am having a different experience eventhough we might be in the same place.
I remember a couple of weeks ago,Bell was wondering why I had to choose to meet up in IOI Mall, but I had to explain to him that it might be ordinary to him (he lives near there) but to me it was almost a completely new place as I hadn't been there in ages! I don't even dare to drive down to Sungai Wang, or Sunway now as there are a bunch of new roads there and who knows what they have done to the streets there... !
Somehow, I realised that some people have changed (as in our friendship no longer meets a need for us to meet any longer in the same way that we used to.. ) no names here, but I am sorry, eventhough we supposedly had a closer friendship in the past. Some have just grown a bit to be too demanding on my attention, and I just have to manage it... and make new friends.
Anyways, here are some of the ways I know now to try to handle / manage Malaysian people's expectations:
- My dad expects that I listen to whatever he says (of course, I have learnt to deal with that in a more graceful manner after observing his responses...)
- I realised that people actually put those "IF MY CAR IS BLOCKING YOURS, PLEASE CALL THIS NUMBER 01*-*******" placards on their windscreen.
- Somehow, people expect me to be dressed my Sunday Best when I go to church.... However, since I have got so used to wearing just sometimes a simple top & shorts, or what I normally wear to church which is up to my above my knee length (both in Toowoomba & in Sydney), I just give the excuse that I haven't had time to go shopping and none of my previous clothing in Malaysia fit me any more! LOL. It's either that, or I will use the excuse I've been Australian-ised. DEAL with it which they normally can't really rebutt!
- I explain in advance that I will have a HongKong-like Cantonese-English accent if I mix those two together. I think my mother has learnt to deal with it
- I have learnt to deal with the fact that Malaysians do not separate their garbage to organic, plastic, and metal...
- I have learnt to deal with the fact that Malaysians treat recycling bins like rubbish bins.
- I have learnt to deal with the fact that inflation in Malaysia is high...(compared to their salary)
- I have learnt to deal with the fact that Malaysians double and triple park. (its rude behaviour) so if their car gets scratched, and the alarm goes off, that is their problem!!!!!
- I have learnt to deal with the fact that a lot of Malaysians cross the road without giving heed to the traffic. So they should deal with the fact if someone honks them out of their DREAM LAND!!! (WHERE are their brains??)
- I have come to understand that getting "Thirsty Hippos" (de-humidifier) is a necessity in the shoe cabinet to ensure that the shoes don't get moldy... then again, if they (the shoes) aren't mine, it doesn't matter that much either anyways!
Related Links:
- International Centre: Reverse Culture Shock
- Can You Survive Reverse Culture Shock.
Part 2: Now, I have to deal with another kind of problem... REVERSE CULTURE SHOCK.
The reason I am writing this is to actually leave a note to myself (I am so thoughtful!) to myself if ever I experience this from my visit back from overseas in future..
Reverse Culture Shock is the the shock that is experienced by a person who returns to their own homeland after having lived in a foreign land for an extended period of time.. as from my understanding, I realise by now that the only people who can actually understand what I am trying to write here about are those who have actually stayed overseas in a foreign land for an extended period of time.
and I don't mean those who have travelled a lot for one or two weeks overseas. Here, I mean those who ACTUALLY had to adapt to a foreign culture for a least more than 6 months to be able to say that they have adapted to a new culture altogether to have experienced a similar thing...
Now, from the time I left Malaysia to finish my final years of studies in Australia, I had stayed in Toowoomba for a total of almost 2 years, then spent one month in New Zealand, and then almost 12 months in Sydney and finally before heading home to Malaysia, I headed off to South Korea & Japan for about a months. In all these countries, the climate has always been temperate (cold dry winter and all!) during those times when I was there.
I still have trouble adapting back to normal humid hot weather in Malaysia after four weeks, somuchso that I am cooped in my bedroom with the airconditioner turned on for the past four weeks!
It's very hard to know how oneself has changed until they actually return to their homeland, will they only know the difference... I think that people (at least from what I have realised) will expect me to not have changed from the past two years.. but as Ai Ling puts it (when I went to visit her in Japan), my three years in Australia has actually helped me to look at things from a better perspective, including how things work (political & all, including the universities). So thanks, Ai Ling...
Anyways, I have actually avoided meeting people from my cellgroup in the last three weeks due to the fact that I was still trying to adapt back to Malaysian way of doing things, and was more interested in looking at the new shops and new additional items they had for sale in the shops.. I just couldn't handle how some of them can go on yakking and yakking without realising that it I am having a different experience eventhough we might be in the same place.
I remember a couple of weeks ago,Bell was wondering why I had to choose to meet up in IOI Mall, but I had to explain to him that it might be ordinary to him (he lives near there) but to me it was almost a completely new place as I hadn't been there in ages! I don't even dare to drive down to Sungai Wang, or Sunway now as there are a bunch of new roads there and who knows what they have done to the streets there... !
Somehow, I realised that some people have changed (as in our friendship no longer meets a need for us to meet any longer in the same way that we used to.. ) no names here, but I am sorry, eventhough we supposedly had a closer friendship in the past. Some have just grown a bit to be too demanding on my attention, and I just have to manage it... and make new friends.
Anyways, here are some of the ways I know now to try to handle / manage Malaysian people's expectations:
- My dad expects that I listen to whatever he says (of course, I have learnt to deal with that in a more graceful manner after observing his responses...)
- I realised that people actually put those "IF MY CAR IS BLOCKING YOURS, PLEASE CALL THIS NUMBER 01*-*******" placards on their windscreen.
- Somehow, people expect me to be dressed my Sunday Best when I go to church.... However, since I have got so used to wearing just sometimes a simple top & shorts, or what I normally wear to church which is up to my above my knee length (both in Toowoomba & in Sydney), I just give the excuse that I haven't had time to go shopping and none of my previous clothing in Malaysia fit me any more! LOL. It's either that, or I will use the excuse I've been Australian-ised. DEAL with it which they normally can't really rebutt!
- I explain in advance that I will have a HongKong-like Cantonese-English accent if I mix those two together. I think my mother has learnt to deal with it
- I have learnt to deal with the fact that Malaysians do not separate their garbage to organic, plastic, and metal...
- I have learnt to deal with the fact that Malaysians treat recycling bins like rubbish bins.
- I have learnt to deal with the fact that inflation in Malaysia is high...(compared to their salary)
- I have learnt to deal with the fact that Malaysians double and triple park. (its rude behaviour) so if their car gets scratched, and the alarm goes off, that is their problem!!!!!
- I have learnt to deal with the fact that a lot of Malaysians cross the road without giving heed to the traffic. So they should deal with the fact if someone honks them out of their DREAM LAND!!! (WHERE are their brains??)
- I have come to understand that getting "Thirsty Hippos" (de-humidifier) is a necessity in the shoe cabinet to ensure that the shoes don't get moldy... then again, if they (the shoes) aren't mine, it doesn't matter that much either anyways!
Related Links:
- International Centre: Reverse Culture Shock
- Can You Survive Reverse Culture Shock.
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