Adjusting to a new job is hard. Adjusting to a new country is hard. Adjusting to an entirely different cultural viewpoint and mindset is really, really, really hard.
You can google the differences between Eastern and Western frames of reference and get a general understanding of what I'm talking about. (This is a pretty good link. Or if you want a slightly longer read, click here.) Basically, it's entirely different. And sometimes it's incredibly frustrating.
For example, when students are being scolded here, they look down to show respect. If they're really sorry, they will smile to try to appease the scolder. And while my mind understands that, the rest of me is shouting, "Look me in the eye, damn it! Stop smiling, I'm mad at you!" because it just feels so disrespectful to me. So I have to take a deep breath and walk away, because otherwise I'll be unreasonable.
Expressiveness in voice and facial expression can be seen as either demonstrative of low intelligence or aggressive. Directness is seen as an insult. So that's fun. I think I scare my coteachers sometimes. And again, the brain understands it, and I try really hard to speak obliquely and in the softest voice I own. But then I feel as if I've robbed myself of my own voice, and that makes me cranky. And I do the wrong thing all the time, because I don't understand that their facial expression when telling me to do something actually means I should do the exact opposite, or whatever.
It just seems to me that society here is breeding a group of incredibly meek individuals, who then hit the magic age of 55 or so and become incredibly bossy, because they are now the "high" ones or whatever. Obviously, it's working for these economic powerhouses. Obviously, they're doing something right. It's just sort of hard to wrap one's mind around here on the ground.
You can google the differences between Eastern and Western frames of reference and get a general understanding of what I'm talking about. (This is a pretty good link. Or if you want a slightly longer read, click here.) Basically, it's entirely different. And sometimes it's incredibly frustrating.
For example, when students are being scolded here, they look down to show respect. If they're really sorry, they will smile to try to appease the scolder. And while my mind understands that, the rest of me is shouting, "Look me in the eye, damn it! Stop smiling, I'm mad at you!" because it just feels so disrespectful to me. So I have to take a deep breath and walk away, because otherwise I'll be unreasonable.
Expressiveness in voice and facial expression can be seen as either demonstrative of low intelligence or aggressive. Directness is seen as an insult. So that's fun. I think I scare my coteachers sometimes. And again, the brain understands it, and I try really hard to speak obliquely and in the softest voice I own. But then I feel as if I've robbed myself of my own voice, and that makes me cranky. And I do the wrong thing all the time, because I don't understand that their facial expression when telling me to do something actually means I should do the exact opposite, or whatever.
It just seems to me that society here is breeding a group of incredibly meek individuals, who then hit the magic age of 55 or so and become incredibly bossy, because they are now the "high" ones or whatever. Obviously, it's working for these economic powerhouses. Obviously, they're doing something right. It's just sort of hard to wrap one's mind around here on the ground.
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