Avoiding Reverse Culture Shock

By: leelefever on October 14, 2006 - 9:40am

Our friends Kathy and Sharon have finally reached home in the UK after 420 days, 60 weeks and 60,000 miles and 50 countries.  In a recent post they were concerned about "reverse culture shock" from coming home and suggest these treatments (edited for length):

 

... brushing teeth out of a cup; drinking warm water out of large bottles; mixing up tuna mayonnaise in the tin and continue to use plastic plates and share cutlery; hide money upon our persons; wear clothing with lots of pockets; take photos of random images and people in the street; dry ourselves using our travel towels; not use a hair dryer; hand wash underwear each night; wash up any cooking utensils before eating a hot meal; buy a bus ticket & see where it takes you; talk to strangers and ask them how long they have been travelling for;  sleep in a bunk bed with ear plugs in; etc.

 These totally identify with us and we have a few additions:

We may continue to...

  • Shower with flip-flops or sandals
  • Share deodorant
  • Never plan for more than a week into the future
  • Wash laundry in the sink
  • Communicate using the metric system
  • Wear a shirt too many times before a wash 
  • Randomly give shopkeepers incorrect change
  • Communicate in only "hello", "yes" and "thank you"
  • Blog and video everything

And finally... continue to use only three pairs of underwear.