Job Discussion Forums

[bnix]

It is.....an ailment afflicting some TESOL newbies in almost all overseas venues.Symptoms may include:
1,A sudden and miraculous feeling that the newbie "understands" everything in the new country,even though he or she may have been in the country only a few weeks or months.
2.An irresistable urge to tell other people(many who have been in the place longer)...that if they do not like it..."they should JUST LEAVE!"
3.A sudden feeling that they have arrived on the spot and they are the answer to all of the school's problems.Maybe some of them think they have the answer to ALL the problems.
4.A feeling that they understand all about "culture", maybe only on the basis of an Intro.to Anthro. course they took in their freshman year.
5.A feeling they have "everything scoped out"!(Hey.like Dude, this place is easy! I have been here for two whole WEEKS,and like, no problem,Dude!)

6.Probably the best medicine for this "disease" is a good dose of reality.....but some leave before taking the medicine....and apparently some never take it....even when they become "olbies".

[Wolf]

[Celeste]

Bnix-

You are describing a very real part of culture shock often referred to as the honeymoon phase. When the person in a new place is awestruck by all of the differences and goes about with rose coloured glasses. In this phase, people don't want their sense of euphoria to be spoiled by those of us in later less enjoyable stages of acclimatization. Just sit back and watch them. Smile knowingly to yourself- those rose coloured glasses will come off at some point...

[bnix]

I agree with your points...but some of them are so damned obnoxious during the honeymoon period.And some of them never lose the rose-colored glasses.Maybe they are wearing blinkers...not glasses.Maybe some of them should not be overseas in the first place...Think so?

[woza17]

But on the other hand there are the ones that don't ever go through the honeymoon period and are continually whining about the slighest thing, give me the honeymooners any day over the complainers.
Regrds carol

[khmerhit]

Give me the complainers any day over the backpackers.

[misterkodak]

I'm thinking of branching out of TEFL and going into the "Backpacker Discount Dentistry" industry. Heck, anyone can be a dentist right? All you need is a pair of pliers, a hammer, a cutting utensil of your choice, and some unsuspecting customer. Anesthesia is optional. .. we can always cross the border and go to the duty free for that. If our dentistist is female, blonde, buxom, and has a really "cool" accent, or if he looks like Ken and can play the guitar and tell cool jokes and do stupid party tricks, credentials should be irrelevant. Right?
I mean, all we really want is a good time anyhow. Why should we learn necessary skills? Who cares if our customers complain? They don't even speak English. After all, we'll be back home in 3 months anyhow. Just wait til the guys at the bar back home hear about this!!

[Capergirl]

This stage doesn't tend to last long from what I can remember. Culture shock sets in after a few months and then the honeymoon is over. However, there are invariably a few who will develop what I call "reverse culture shock", which is basically a permanent state of being in love with the new culture and shunning the native culture of one's upbringing. Nonetheless, most find a healthy balance.

I feel that one of the advantages of living and working in other countries is that it does broaden one's mind--even if only a smidgen--and it dispels a lot of the myths of one's youthful miseducation in the home country.

[Shonai Ben]

Reverse culture shock.It does exist.Been there and done that.After several years in Japan and a trip back home,I suddenly realized that I was like a fish out of water,and I was in my home town.Everything seemed strange and I could understand every conversation.Information overload.I couldn't wait until I returned.If I had to stay there I surely would have gone insane.Now I realize that I can never go back to stay permanently.Anyone else suffer from this???

[khmerhit]

Yes, very well put, Capergirl and ShonaiBen (hope that doesnt sound patronizing). Im currently overdosed with RCS, which on top of SARS makes this city on the shores of lake Ontario a very strange place indeed. Er, also, the immigration policy was relaxed since I last lived here-- no small shock either, but Im slowly getting used to it. It's like Taiwan without the Americans!

[guest of Japan]

Shonai Ben, Now you have me worried. I'm making my first trip back to the States next month. It's been two and a half years since I left home.

[cafebleu]

I enjoyed bnix`s initial post and I think the `newbie honeymoon` syndrome can apply to some English teachers who have lived in a foreign country for some time. I met a woman from my country who is in Japan for her third or fourth year. She was so quick to put her fellow foreigners in their place, alway drawing comparisons between the well mannered, nice, dignified Japanese and the embarrassing gaijin.

She would use examples like that of foreign men she didn`t know who were calling out in our capital city, saying stupid things and generally acting like jerks. So according to her, she crossed the road so as not to be associated with them. She made a big drama out of this situation.

I wanted to ask, `Why? Were you behaving like them? Were you with them? Were they your friends?`If I saw the same, I wouldn`t care too much - if many or some Japanese want to associate me with those jerks by virtue of my white skin then those Japanese need to start thinking a little harder about the way they stereotype foreigners. I don`t think the daily examples of rude behaviour I see in Japan from a minority are what Japanese people are about, and I can`t see why it is impossible for the Japanese to make that logical step regarding not stereotyping foreigners based on the behaviour of a few.

She tended to echo Japanese thinking on a number of things that most foreigners would give more reasoned opinions about. Yeah, she probably had the sheep mentality given she had worked in a position of responsibility for a chain school (not being unfair here - I know what kind of `job` those lackeys do at that school) but even so, I couldn`t believe she would trash foreigners so much and be a mouthpiece for the kinds of prejudiced, ill-informed propaganda that is churned out by some Japanese.Sad. Not perpetual honeymoon - perpetual servility without realising that you will never be accepted fully by the majority of the Japanese if you are a foreigner and all your bowing down before them is not going to change that.

[Shonai Ben]

guest of Japan:
Don't worry too much.You will probably be fine.Everyone reacts differently when they return home for the first time.At first I was really excited to be back,but that quickly wore off,and I found myself missing the lifestyle that I was used to in Japan.I found my biggest adjustment was the information overload.Suddenly I could read every sign and understand every conversation.I quess I just got used to turning off my brain and not really paying attention here in Japan.
Have a good trip back home.When you get back be sure to tell us if you had rcs.
Cheers.

[guest of Japan]

Thanks Shonai Ben.

And while I have your attention. Your moniker has been puzzling me for a while. Are you calling yourself a Yamagata dialect?

[RobADED]