While this message may only seem relevant to individuals becoming locals while meeting seasoned locals, it is meant for both. For readers who are seasoned locals, please recognize that newer locals have neither the advantage nor the trappings of being familiar with the cultural context…
Imagine culture shock as the unpredictable meeting of different approaches to life and how it is lived. From this high-level and very abstract perspective, reactions to your behavior become specific to you as opposed to right or wrong. Let our point of departure be, a meeting of human actors. A meeting informed by all they have experienced and made sense of, consciously and subconsciously; played out on a stage which is more or less familiar to the actors in the scene. In this vast space of possibility, one can feel anything from a sense of liberation to absolute dread in the absence of predictability and control. While there are tendencies in cultures, individuals also present as exceptions to these tendencies.
Therefore, when cultures meet, individuals who know and understand themselves are equipped with awareness of what they bring to the situation. With time, intention, and courage, interacting across cultures can evolve from “shocking” to “sharing” to “being with others.”