A TRAVEL BACK TO MY COUNTRY AND THE REVERSE CULTURAL SHOCKS
Hello every one !
Before starting to write about my reverse cultural shocks i would like to say a big THANK YOU to each and every one of you who made my exchange year a success..Its because of the great oyster harbor community that it was worth staying away from home.. I could not write a goodbye note to you guys as i was in my town with poor internet services and after that when i moved to the city i was stuck in exams but any how i am glad to be in touch with you guys again.
So starting with my reverse cultural "shocks" i would like to start when i met my other exchange friends who were in the states too and we were going to leave together .I noticed huge changes in them .They all seemed more matured, more confident and more creative than before.And their accent were no different than American accent .But we did start to converse in our national language "URDU" ( even though my host mom told me not to :P ) sorry about that mommy , and we all could barely talk clearly. It was all ambiguous and hard to understand .There was no consistency while talking in Urdu and every body had a hard time in doing so .
SO i met my friends and we were taken to the airport and our flight got delayed for about 6 hours at the airport and we were stuck inside the plane for such a long period.And it was really hard to believe that my exchange year had came to an end and i was going back to my country.I still remember how terrible i felt flying away over Washington Dc ,I felt as if i was leaving my home, my family,my community behind and i don't know when i will be able to see them again.It was just awful and such a terrible feeling.
So our first stop was Dubai after a tiring and long flight of about 23 hours . We got off from the plane and stayed at the airport for a while and got to catch another flight to Pakistan which would take us about 3 hours from there .
So i was seated with two gentlemen from ISLAMABAD .( Pakistan's capital city) .They started to talk to me about who i was and why was i traveling alone with out any parent ?
So i told them that i was an exchange student to America and now going home all the way from there .
He was shocked for a while thinking of how small i was for such internationals tours but any how he took a deep interest about my exchange year and kept asking me how did it go ? It was nice talking to them and i felt like i was some one very special and indeed its a rare opportunity for teenagers to go on such great experiences.
So finally after a long long journey of one year and a lot of great memories to remember we landed at Islamabad international airport Pakistan.
It was great to be back after a successful one year. Its hard to describe in words how i was feeling at that time.I felt both happy and sad.Happy because i was reuniting with my family after a year and sad because i was missing my host family ,community and obviously the states.
So When we approached the gate the watchman kept looking at us and he said to enter through another gate .It was very weird that he was talking in Urdu to us .And i answered him back in English and he was like " sorry i cant understand English , could you please talk to me in Urdu " and suddenly i realized where i was and what i should be speaking .We kept laughing at our selves and thought that this was just the beginning of reverse cultural shock. So we enter the airport and carried our baggage to the main gate where our family were waiting for us .
Me and my other friend were the first to exit the main gate and what we see was a crowd of people holding flowers ,smiling at us and congratulating us for our successful exchange year.
It was such a great feeling that time .And suddenly i see my uncle there waiting for me and i remember running and hugging him. My parents could not come as my dad was out of country and mom was in the town which was really far from the airport.
So we got out of the airport and i remember there was a feeling as i was being fried in a hot pan . it was really really hot.
we sat in the car and started to go towards home .Every thing seemed strange ,as if i was traveling in a stranger country.
So after staying over my uncle's for a day i went to my town CHITRAL. When i reached home after another 12 hours of drive from the capital ,i was really really tired but the excitement of meeting my family made it seemed nothing.
So finally i reached home and my mom got in to tears and i got in to tears and it was just so emotional .They were happy to have me back . I met my siblings and they all were very excited to hear about my exchange year and waiting for their gifts.
I gave my siblings their gifts . My host mom had bought an American football for my brother. He was like" umm okay whats this for and why is it not round ?
I told him about American football and showed him how to play .He was over excited to have some thing very different .
So it was all excitement for like some days and then i began to feel old as if i was stuck there. I was starting to get severe cultural shocks i did not like the food, the weather ,and the people around me. I was more open minded than the rest of the people and i was more diversity loving than people around me.It was just hard to make the people around me understand about how i felt.
My friends were not as excited as i thought they would be .They were like" oh you came back nice to meet you , have fun ." And i was like why would not you ask me about my exchange year and all that in details .They did not understand how this had changed my life and how i was excited to tell them each and every thing but they seem to not care and this was bugging me.
But i did not just sit quite i visited many schools around my town and gave them presentations about my exchange year and how it impacted my life .They were glad to have me.
They kept asking me all these weird questions like "Did they hated you ? as you are a Muslim ?
Did you eat pork? (which is not supposed to be eaten by a Muslim).
And i tried to give them my best possible answers .They were shocked to know that how i was being loved my an amazing host family and community .And how grateful i was for this.
And also by the fact that i was not forced to eat any pork. They started to get motivated and at the end of the presentation a girl came up to me and whispered in my ear" i want to be just like you and experience an exchange program.your my inspiration".
This made my day and i was really glad that i was positively influencing my community .
After a month i moved with my family to the capital city ISLAMABAD and now i reside here .But i do visit my town during my vacations for different community services .And it feels good to serve your community.
And then i started to settle gradually , i was in the same daily boring routine.A Pakistani girl wearing the cultural dresses and speaking Urdu but i wont ever forget how great my exchange year had been . It just feels like a beautiful dream now and i don't want to break it by waking up .But no this is the bitter truth ,its gone.
But i am sure i will reunite again with my host family and my host community some day soon.
ERUM SHAH (PAKISTAN)
Before starting to write about my reverse cultural shocks i would like to say a big THANK YOU to each and every one of you who made my exchange year a success..Its because of the great oyster harbor community that it was worth staying away from home.. I could not write a goodbye note to you guys as i was in my town with poor internet services and after that when i moved to the city i was stuck in exams but any how i am glad to be in touch with you guys again.
So starting with my reverse cultural "shocks" i would like to start when i met my other exchange friends who were in the states too and we were going to leave together .I noticed huge changes in them .They all seemed more matured, more confident and more creative than before.And their accent were no different than American accent .But we did start to converse in our national language "URDU" ( even though my host mom told me not to :P ) sorry about that mommy , and we all could barely talk clearly. It was all ambiguous and hard to understand .There was no consistency while talking in Urdu and every body had a hard time in doing so .
SO i met my friends and we were taken to the airport and our flight got delayed for about 6 hours at the airport and we were stuck inside the plane for such a long period.And it was really hard to believe that my exchange year had came to an end and i was going back to my country.I still remember how terrible i felt flying away over Washington Dc ,I felt as if i was leaving my home, my family,my community behind and i don't know when i will be able to see them again.It was just awful and such a terrible feeling.
So our first stop was Dubai after a tiring and long flight of about 23 hours . We got off from the plane and stayed at the airport for a while and got to catch another flight to Pakistan which would take us about 3 hours from there .
So i was seated with two gentlemen from ISLAMABAD .( Pakistan's capital city) .They started to talk to me about who i was and why was i traveling alone with out any parent ?
So i told them that i was an exchange student to America and now going home all the way from there .
He was shocked for a while thinking of how small i was for such internationals tours but any how he took a deep interest about my exchange year and kept asking me how did it go ? It was nice talking to them and i felt like i was some one very special and indeed its a rare opportunity for teenagers to go on such great experiences.
So finally after a long long journey of one year and a lot of great memories to remember we landed at Islamabad international airport Pakistan.
It was great to be back after a successful one year. Its hard to describe in words how i was feeling at that time.I felt both happy and sad.Happy because i was reuniting with my family after a year and sad because i was missing my host family ,community and obviously the states.
So When we approached the gate the watchman kept looking at us and he said to enter through another gate .It was very weird that he was talking in Urdu to us .And i answered him back in English and he was like " sorry i cant understand English , could you please talk to me in Urdu " and suddenly i realized where i was and what i should be speaking .We kept laughing at our selves and thought that this was just the beginning of reverse cultural shock. So we enter the airport and carried our baggage to the main gate where our family were waiting for us .
Me and my other friend were the first to exit the main gate and what we see was a crowd of people holding flowers ,smiling at us and congratulating us for our successful exchange year.
It was such a great feeling that time .And suddenly i see my uncle there waiting for me and i remember running and hugging him. My parents could not come as my dad was out of country and mom was in the town which was really far from the airport.
So we got out of the airport and i remember there was a feeling as i was being fried in a hot pan . it was really really hot.
we sat in the car and started to go towards home .Every thing seemed strange ,as if i was traveling in a stranger country.
So after staying over my uncle's for a day i went to my town CHITRAL. When i reached home after another 12 hours of drive from the capital ,i was really really tired but the excitement of meeting my family made it seemed nothing.
So finally i reached home and my mom got in to tears and i got in to tears and it was just so emotional .They were happy to have me back . I met my siblings and they all were very excited to hear about my exchange year and waiting for their gifts.
I gave my siblings their gifts . My host mom had bought an American football for my brother. He was like" umm okay whats this for and why is it not round ?
I told him about American football and showed him how to play .He was over excited to have some thing very different .
So it was all excitement for like some days and then i began to feel old as if i was stuck there. I was starting to get severe cultural shocks i did not like the food, the weather ,and the people around me. I was more open minded than the rest of the people and i was more diversity loving than people around me.It was just hard to make the people around me understand about how i felt.
My friends were not as excited as i thought they would be .They were like" oh you came back nice to meet you , have fun ." And i was like why would not you ask me about my exchange year and all that in details .They did not understand how this had changed my life and how i was excited to tell them each and every thing but they seem to not care and this was bugging me.
But i did not just sit quite i visited many schools around my town and gave them presentations about my exchange year and how it impacted my life .They were glad to have me.
They kept asking me all these weird questions like "Did they hated you ? as you are a Muslim ?
Did you eat pork? (which is not supposed to be eaten by a Muslim).
And i tried to give them my best possible answers .They were shocked to know that how i was being loved my an amazing host family and community .And how grateful i was for this.
And also by the fact that i was not forced to eat any pork. They started to get motivated and at the end of the presentation a girl came up to me and whispered in my ear" i want to be just like you and experience an exchange program.your my inspiration".
This made my day and i was really glad that i was positively influencing my community .
After a month i moved with my family to the capital city ISLAMABAD and now i reside here .But i do visit my town during my vacations for different community services .And it feels good to serve your community.
And then i started to settle gradually , i was in the same daily boring routine.A Pakistani girl wearing the cultural dresses and speaking Urdu but i wont ever forget how great my exchange year had been . It just feels like a beautiful dream now and i don't want to break it by waking up .But no this is the bitter truth ,its gone.
But i am sure i will reunite again with my host family and my host community some day soon.
ERUM SHAH (PAKISTAN)
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