culture shock

you experience a culture shock to some degree upon moving to a new neighborhood, new city, new country. the culture shock is even bigger when the spoken language of your new place of living is new to you. the culture shock is even bigger when you try to consume products with labels in languages you don’t understand. this is the top 10 list of the experiences related to the culture shock and the food ingestion (or generally inner placement of products):

10. this is our second day in israel. we go to the local supermarket and fill the shopping card with goods that look attractive. the russian cashier asks us how long we are here during our checkout, and tells us that our one-time government aid will run out pretty soon if we keep up shopping for these selections.

9. my father orders fried eggs in italian restaurants because he does not like pasta and he is convinced they don’t have any other food that he would like.

8. i order coffee in the japanese restaurant upon my first time going to such an establishment.

7. my husband double checks his watch upon seeing the waiters bringing lamb to the table around midnight in a russian restaurant.

6. my friend and i go to the supermarket to buy champaign to celebrate new year with. we select a bottle and take it back to the kibbutz. we open the bottle at midnight, and drink it. it tastes remarkably like apple cider. later we find out, they don’t sell champaign in the supermarkets in israel.

5. my stepfather is escorted out of american consulate in israel because he is found to be smoking in the bathroom.

4. a young indian guy started at our department. he is not really exposed to other cultures. we order sushi for lunch one day. the indian guy seems to like it. the chinese guy suggests him to try the wasabi because he thinks the indian guy would like spicy stuff like that. the indian guy places the whole thing of wasabi in his mouth before any of us gets to say anything.

3. my husband and i are in rome. we decide to dine in a mom-and-pop shop. there is an old woman and an old man running, cooking, and waiting the place. we go in, we don’t understand the menu. an english-speaking customer near us suggests to ask for the chef’s selection. we are vegetarian, so we are afraid to do that. we ask for some entries, and for a mozzarella appetizer. they seem to be somewhat confused by the choice of the appetizer. the woman brings a mozzarella ball on a plate and puts it in front of me. i look at it and feel somewhat confused myself and ask for a tomato. the woman loudly tells something to her husband. he proceeds ramaging through the refrigerator right near the tables. he locates a large tomato and places it on my plate near the mozzarella.

2. the relatives fill the refrigerator for my friend’s family upon their arrival to israel. my friend goes to the kitchen to have a snack in the evening. he opens one container, it is some sort of a paste, smells good, like lemon, nice and fresh. he spreads this substance on a piece of bread and takes a bite. the bubbles start to come out – this turns out to be a dish soap.

1. my roommate in the kibbutz has a pain in her ear. the manager sends me to accompany her to the ear doctor in the nearby city. the doctor looks in her ear and gives us a box of objects that look like wax sticks. he instructs us what to do with them. we don’t fully get the instructions, but we understand they need to be inserted. we understand she has to do it before going to bed. we go back. my friend takes the wax candles and tries to insert them into her ear. it does not go in. me and our other roommate try helping out. the candle does not go in. we give up. later on we learn the proper placement of wax candles.