Reverse culture shock

As mentioned in my previous post Four months too long, I've had a hard time readjusting to life post-travel. As such, I've had to find ways and means of trying to adjust and make the most of my time back in South Africa.

Here are some suggestions which I've been using to help me:

1). Be a tourist in your own city or country

For me this means exploring places you've never been to before within your country or within your city.  Below is a picture from a recent visit to Johannesburg. It was my first visit to the City of Gold ^^ Planning the trip will give you the same high you'd get if you were planning a trip abroad. 

The Nelson Mandela statue outside Nelson
Mandela Square, Johannesburg.: June 2012. 

 

2). Enjoy the simple life with new appreciation

I was never a fan of going to the beach until I traveled abroad and discovered how much I really loved it. With summer fast approaching, I make it a duty of mine to visit the beautiful coastal cities as often as I can just to bake in the sun and and enjoy the sea breeze. Doing this transports me to a completely different world. Rarely do I ever swim :) 

Lookin' fly on Durban Beachfront: July 2012. 

3). Discover the culture your city has to offer

When we travel to new places we love learning interesting things about that country or city. These facts can be learned from locals or visiting local sights. It's the reason we go to museums, cathedrals or any other place of importance. This can also be done in our home country/city. Whether its visiting a museum or going for a theater show I think this is really important. Not only does it satisfy the hunger to learn but it also makes us more aware of what is happening around us. This weekend I am going to Durban for a body painting festival. I think it will be so cool- will post about it next week! 

4).  Keep in touch with friends you made during your travels

These friends could still be in the country where you met them, or they could also have returned to their home country. I try my best to keep in touch with friends and at the very least I chat to close friends on a weekly (sometimes daily) basis. Fortunately, modern technology makes it very easy for us to communicate, with the likes of Facebook, skype, whatsapp, BBM and Kakao talk easing the convenience. In this way you won't feel like you left them behind and they won't feel like you disappeared. 

5). Remember the reason(s) you decided to go back home

For me this was two fold: 1) Get a job related to my major and 2) Enjoy the benefits of being back home. The latter includes:-

• Family- I dont have much to say about this. When you're abroad you miss out on family functions and important family events such as birthdays, anniversaries and Christmas. Since I've been back I've been able to enjoy all of these special times with my family.
• Food- Home-cooked food, South African food and meals from favourite local restaurants. Eating those yummy dishes certainly make up for all the nostalgia I experience.
• Weather- Not having 4 seasons is a bonus at the best of times. I've had enough of the winter and snow in Korea. The flip side is that I'm not able to use all my jackets and coats here because even in winter the temperature ranges between 10 and 15 degrees celcius. I miss the snow but I'll take a sunny day any day. 
• Communication - The ease of communication in your home country is definitely a plus. Not having to omit articles and use 'broken' English is incredibly satisfying. Living abroad can get so frustrating sometimes and the language barrier just makes it worse. Another plus of being back home. 
• Personal growth - The truth is that you can't really grow as a person when living in Korea. You're restricted to teaching English (unless you strike it lucky and land any other kind of job on the merit of your foreignness or your English speaking abilities). You're restricted to a routine which becomes your life. Teaching English is fun and exciting but it's really not mentally stimulating. Even having a conversation with a non-native speaker can prove to tiring.  Being back home means you're open to a lot more opportunities and intellectual stimulation. I'm quite looking forward to start studying again next year. 

6). Do fun, exciting things to keep busy: 

Life post-travel may seem to be boring. As I mentioned in my previous post, I spent 4 months at home and hardly did anything and even with my current 8-4 job I still find life pretty standard and sometimes boring. Of course this depends on who you are where you're living. An exciting life starts with YOU. I would suggest signing up for classes (cooking, learning a new language) signing up for a sport or even volunteering in your free time. If travel is your thing then make a plan to travel out of your city sometime. I treat myself to a weekend in Durban once a month and I really make the most of it. 


Your memories will be with you for life so take comfort in that. 

Goodluck!! 

Four months too long.

From subways and sky trains to Durban International Airport. 

It's been 5 months and 10 days since I've been back to this beautiful country. Still reminiscing about Korea and the last two and a half weeks I spent in South-East Asia. This is the first post I've written since being back so it's highly overdue. I guess for me this is also a means of putting closure on a chapter of my life that I will probably never re-live.

I arrived in South Africa on March 17 and on the 18 I was already yearning to return to the land that had become my home for the past two years. (You can read my blog about my past 2 years in Korea: Life in Korea's Fast Lane). I continued feeling like that for about 4  months. So much so that I was secretly in the process of re-applying to Korea. Application check, police clearance check, passport check. I just needed to round up a few more documents before I could hop on a plane and jet back to the east.

You have to understand where I was coming from. You have to understand what it's like having your life flipped completely upside down and then having it return to 'normal' again. That was the case for me. After I returned I had only a handful of friends who I could still call up. I was living in a little town (compared to the big cities I'm used to) and I had way too much time on my hands which caused me to question the life I had known pre-Korea. 

I returned to find everything pretty much the same as when I left. Family were the same, the neighbourhood was the same (if not, worse) and most importantly the people were still doing the same things (even at home) and still following the same routines. I didn't bother going out much because I knew from experience that the social scene is nothing like Asia's. I know I was wrong for thinking like this but I was really getting depressed about not being in Korea and the fact that I was not finding a job here in SA. It's really hard to discuss this with someone who's never experienced it. It's especially harder if you have been living abroad for an extended period of time and have become accustomed to that way of life. Most travelers have to deal with this after spending time overseas- whether just a short vacation or a longer period of work or study. 

Getting down from a travel high is difficult. In Korea I could afford to travel to at least 3 different countries on ONE salary and still have change. In SA, not so easy. One would have to save up for at least 4 months just to visit one country. 

In the 4 months of being back, I only went for 3 interviews. The 3rd interview was for the job I currently have. Securing this job was a life-saver, to say the least. Not just financially but also from a practical point of view. The truth is that I enjoyed being home with my family, eating home-cooked meals and sleeping in until 10. But I was bored. I needed to get up at 6am get busy during the day and then go to bed exhausted. I needed that rush. There was never a dull moment in Korea- the spontaneity kept me on my toes. 

Now the point of this post is not to wallow in nostalgia and feel sorry for myself, it's to move on and enjoy where I am in life right now. I'm living in beautiful South Africa - in the capital city of my province, I have a great job that pays well enough and I'm living with awesome family. I'm still working on my social life and getting a bit more independence, but for now I seem to be okay. 

There are a few strategies I'm working on to help me deal with the adjustment, or at least to make it bearable. I will share those in my next post :)