When I was abroad last semester, one of the first things in orientation we did is look over a diagram similar to this:
from https://sites.utexas.edu/studyabroad/coming-home-the-effects-of-reverse-culture-shock/
about culture and reverse culture shock. I was pretty sure that I’d be immune to it, but sure enough after a couple weeks I found myself getting frustrated that I didn’t know where to buy basic things like a birthday cake (maybe this isn’t a “basic thing”) or probiotics, and although the “plunge” from this diagram sounds a bit dramatic, the “honeymoon phase” (which I guess isn’t labelled on this chart) was over. I ended up feeling really comfortable navigating all of the cultural differences, and when I left Budapest, it felt like I was leaving home.
Right now, I think I might be in a mezcla of reverse culture shock from leaving Europe (mainly Hungary) and being in the “Honeymoon phase” of being in Cuenca! Here in Cuenca I’m finding myself looking for the same differences (from the US) that I found in Budapest.
Left: Christmas Market in Bratislava. Right: What is potentially a Christmas Market in Quito (note the Christmas tree). And in theory I’m not making comparisons? But I’m doing this…
Everything is still new, interesting and exciting to me, and while I still don’t have the feeling of cultural competency, I haven’t been here long enough to expect it.
An example of not feeling competent: bus rides are $0.25. If you don’t have exact change, I’ve noticed that you can pay with a dollar coin, tell the bus driver, and take the next three people’s quarters to get change. The other day, I’d gone through all of my quarters and only had dollar coins. I put a dollar in the machine, but I just couldn’t make myself ask people for their change– my excuse at the time was that I’d forgotten the word for “quarter.” So I paid four times what I needed to, and still don’t have any quarters.
Some differences have just been fun to learn about: a fiesta in Ecuador, I’ve learned, necessitates dancing (often at a discoteca), while a party (at least in the LC crowds) means a bunch of people mainly talking, usually in a house–dancing is rarely included. Earlier this week, I actually–with my it’s-a-work-in-progress Spanish– accidentally made plans to go party earlier in the week, which ended up being muy divertido–complete with fog machines, lights, and all types of dance-y music. (At Laos, which is, my host sister tells me, the best club right now in Cuenca).
One of the things that’s been on my mind is the projections that I’m making as far as what strangers in Cuenca think of me from my gringa appearance, and citizenship from the US. If I didn’t know as much about the US’ dark history of intervention (staged coups, murders, training torturers, propping up military dictators, etc. etc.) in Latin America– and I barely know anything compared to the scope of what’s been done, I feel like I wouldn’t be thinking as much about this. That’s probably not true, though– it might just be different types of projections. Anyhow, I’m excited to learn more about Ecuador’s/ Cuenca’s perceptions of the US and perceptions of perceptions of the US.