Culture Shock Redux
Having been away in the US for the holidays and returning to Kazakhstan, I feel like I am going through a renewed wave of culture shock. It’s not that everything is unfamiliar, it’s that certain things that I had gotten used to are newly irritating. There are a number of every day experiences that certainly got under my skin before, but that I quickly brushed off. Now I suddenly feel angry, “Oh God, not this again!”. It’s perhaps unfair of me, as if I expected the country to change in three weeks just to suit me. Nevertheless it provides an index of what is hardest for an American in Astana. So what follows is a list of the five daily experiences that I am newly rubbed raw by:
1) The elevator doesn’t work. Returning home with a lot of heavy bags, we are met by a broken lift. It did get fixed that afternoon, only to break again in the evening and remain broken for 2 days. Just an irritating reminder that things in Astana don’t always work–or get fixed.
2) I went out to get some sausage, milk, bread and cheese for breakfast our first day back. At the store we regularly shop at, the woman who sells sausage wasn’t in yet and the woman who has to hand you the cheese over the counter was also missing. So even though there was sausage and cheese there, I couldn’t buy it. I went to another store which had a sausage lady, but no cheese. At a third store, they had milk but only whole milk and I wanted 2.5% fat. So I had to go to a fourth store to get cheese. As I tell people at home, you can get anything you want here; you just can’t get it all the time or in the way you want it. It’s also annoying that even small convenience stores sublet space out or have certain things you can’t get yourself, so even if the store is open, not all the products are available all the time.
3) Ok, the cold is horrible but I don’t think anyone can do anything about that so I won’t complain. I will complain however, that no one plows the small roads or sidewalks. They run a tractor over them, which presses the snow down turning it into ice. Uneven ice at that. Why do I have to walk on ice from November to March? And I don’t mean only on small roads or in the yard of my apartment complex–I mean on side streets off the main street. Meanwhile the parks are clear of snow in case anyone wants to go have a picnic in February!
4) I had also not missed everybody’s favorite game: “Guess which door is open?” Going to the supermarket, of the three outside doors only the one on the far right was unlocked. But getting out of the entranceway, only the far left inside door was unlocked. Why is there always only one open door? Don’t stores want people to be able to come in easily and efficiently? I suspect there is some logic at play here, since many stores tie doors shut with tape or rope, so dear readers enlighten me.
5) The pushing! I had forgotten that no matter how close to a store window or store counter you stand, someone will still try to push in front of you. Or coming up to a bus stop, if you are not pressed right up to the door, someone will push their bag in front of you, to open a gap and then push you back. I did love being able to look in the windows of stores without keeping my elbows out to threaten anyone who tried to block my view or get in first.
I hope that this list doesn’t offend–it is written partially tongue-in-cheek. But for a country that is trying to build international tourism, maybe you could work on some of these things instead of building five-star hotels where the elevators still won’t work, people won’t come to work on time and you will fall on your butt two seconds out the door. Please!
EDIT: Chris Merriman has posted his own list of pet peeves for foreigners, so check that out too if you like.
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Hi. I^m Oksana, from Kokshetau.
You blok so intresting for me.
It^s so dufficlt to live in diffrent country, but it^s good expirient
for life.
Comment by oksana — 14 January 2008 @ 8:40 pm
Hi,
I experienced all that, but in Astana. You are right about so many challenges that foreigners have to face, but consider this adventure like a journey to the past, that you are experiencing in a present time :)
I do not think it is a time for changes, you can not change it fast at least. But I understand how frustrating it is and I can just advise to look at this with a humor, it will be easier to get by there.
Comment by Mysterious — 15 January 2008 @ 6:58 am
I meant not in Astana, in Almaty.
Comment by Mysterious — 15 January 2008 @ 6:59 am
Well I wouldn’t say it’s a trip to the past as if Kazakhstani are somehow backwards people. Just a different culture. I’ve heard plenty of lists of grips of Kazakhstani in the US too!
Comment by KZBlog — 15 January 2008 @ 11:23 am
Hi, there…
Will try to explain about closed doors in the supermarket…
Doors are closed (two out of three) because of the fear of “lifting” and, I supose, there is not enough employees to “watch” all three doors.
Maybe sounds funny, but unfortunately, it is post-soviet mentality “a-la control”… and “everything for free”… So, conflict of minds…
Feel sorry about your troubles. I do have my troubles in US. It is a difference in the cultures and in the histories of the development the whole countries how they are…
Regards,
Elena.
Comment by Elena — 1 February 2008 @ 11:25 am
Perhaps, I deside to give you a couple more “explanations” for your cultural overviews…:):)
About snow and sidewalks - “feel the nature” :)
About lift - “we don’t know how to fix it” ;)
And a few of mine about US:):):)
- the best invention in the US - paper towels!
- why I couldn’t find lamb in the supermarket?
- it is a “torture” to have the carpet in the appartment…
- why do I need the dishwasher?
- “free run” for dogs!
- couldn’t understand, why americans not speaking on russian language? it would be so much easier for me!
Of course, I’m kidding… but maybe it would help you to develop your own style how to overcome uncomfort in the strange and sometimes “not friendly” land, which is so far from your homeland.
My best regards,
Elena.
Comment by Elena — 1 February 2008 @ 11:55 am
Hi,
Just wanted to put my 5 cents it about the supermarket doors :)
Yes, perhaps the shoplifting reason is true. But having lived for 20 years in Pavlodar that has a similar climate to Astana, I can tell you that they keep the doors shut to keep the warmth in. All these girls on the counters are exposed to enough cold draft already, if they had all the doors open it would be as cold inside as it is outside. Hence the tape. Seriously, they are not being rude, just trying to hold on to their health :)
Bakhyt
PS: Nice job on the blog, btw. Will make time to read all of it.
Comment by Bakhyt — 2 August 2008 @ 4:53 am
Bakhyt: That makes sense. When it is cold out, you want to limit open doors. But I still don’t see why buildings may have 5 or 6 outside doors but only one is open! either open all your entrances or build buildings with only one door!
Anyway, glad you like the blog. Thanks for the great comment!
Comment by KZBlog — 2 August 2008 @ 11:52 am