Culture shock. On some level every expat experiences it. Yet, one of the more interesting aspects of the expatriate experience is Reverse Culture Shock. You know…the reality that the adjustment to one’s native culture can be just as difficult as the tranistion abroad in the first place.

A slightly different take on Reverse Culture Shock popped up on the Expat Blog on Telegraph.co.uk. Instead of a focus on a move home, it addresses what one British expat noticed on a trip home:

After 12 years in Dubai, driving on the M25 was as civilised an experience as a visit to the opera. There was no under-cutting, no lane-swerving, no mad camera-dodging; none of the random driving that you see every day in Dubai. Kids were even in car seats. The words “Stay in lane” actually meant something. People queued in the right lanes – nobody forged up the hard shoulder and barged in at the top.

We’ve addressed Reverse Culture Shock in the past on the ExpatExchange Blog, and here’s another article on the topic of Repatriation. And here’s one more for good measure: a Reverse Culture Shock Checklist.

It’s always of great interest to hear the things that shock an expat upon return. Feel free to share your thoughts here or to this post about Reverse Culture Shock on our Expat Global Forum.

As we posted earlier this week, ExpatExchange is running a new report that examines Culture Shock. Please add your Expat Culture Shock Report, too!

Here is another excerpt from an expat in the Netherlands:

Do you have any advice or thoughts about culture shock you would like to share?

Prepare for it. Research it, plan for it, plan for it to put stress on you, your family, and your relationships, but also know that it will pass, and that there are resources available to help you through it if you need them.

Also, biggest learning for me: Don’t wait until the honeymoon phase is over to work on making friends and integrating. Learn the language immediately. Show up at ‘meet up’ groups and social gatherings immediately. Even if you don’t ‘want’ new friends now, you’ll need them, and the worst is when you need them and don’t have any, and have to start from scratch during a time when you could have had people to call on.

ExpatExchange has been running a new report that examines Culture Shock, one of the topics that all expats will become familiar with to some degree. Please add your Expat Culture Shock Report, too!

Did you “commit” any embarrassing or humorous cultural blunders? If you did and you’d like to share them, please do tell!

I had very good handlers so I did not commit any big mistakes. But I saw others do so. One example came when we went out to dinner with a large group of friends and family. The man who invited us, American, wanted to split the bill at the end of the night. This is NEVER done in China. I told him this but he didn’t listen. He insisted that we calculate the bill at the table and came up with what he thought everyone should put in. From that day on he was branded a cheapskate and shunned by almost everyone. The word spreads quickly in China and in a few days all of the extended families and friends turned a cold shoulder to him in every way. In China the one who invites, or even suggests, going to a restaurant pays the entire bill, the wives of girlfriends will scrutinize it for any possible errors. It should be paid with no fanfare once the women OK the amount.

Separately, Saudi Arabia and Qatar are the leading destinations for expatriates in the Gulf Cooperation Council, according to GulfTalent.com, a recruiting firm that conducted the recent survey.

According to the article on Gulf-Times.com, Qatar is seeing the benefit due to its natural gas industry. The article points out that it’s deposits are the third largest in the world. Massive spending on infrastructure is cited as a key factor in Saudi Arabia.

Perhaps more than anyone else, single expats are confronted with the opporunity to marry someone from another country. What are the implications of an expat marrying someone from another culture?

A somewhat related study reports that, based upon a certain methodology, that men from certain countries produce men that are more likely to pitch in around the house, thus making for happier homes:

Economist and Researcher Almudena Sevilla-Sanz from Oxford University said that the “study shows that in egalitarian countries there is less social stigma attached to men doing what was traditionally women’s work. This leads to men in egalitarian societies taking on more of a domestic role so the likelihood of forming a harmonious household becomes greater, resulting in a higher proportion of couples setting up households in these countries.”

Even from those that are married abroad, it would be very interesting to hear the opinions of expatriates on this study.

One wonders though, does the study’s author have one view of what makes a happy home? As a therapist, one of the first things you learn to do is check your values at the door. Interesting that it’s an economist that produced this study, and not someone with formal training in family dynamics or something similar. It will be interesting to read the full published article.

For those interested in learning more about the study’s author and her organization at Oxford, visit the Centre for Time Use Research web site.