"Reverse Culture Shock"

Both Eric and I are pretty much a "go with the flow" type of people, so it was little surprise to me that we didn't really experience any culture shock when moving to Thailand just over one year ago. I haven't had any moments that have made me throw up my hands and say "I'm done" or any fits of uncontrollable crying. I am not saying that I won't experience some sort of freak out in the future, but so far I would say I've adjusted fairly well.


So it came as a huge surprise during my recent month long trip back to the United States that I experienced a little bit of reverse culture shock. There were many things that shocked and confused me, but there were also things that I found joy and delight in rediscovering. 


Efficient Bureaucracy
The first time reverse culture shock hit me was when I was waiting in the Immigration and Customs line at the Minneapolis/St. Paul Airport. There was an Immigration officer actually directing people into the correct lines! This was so confusing, especially after dealing with the huge lines and mass confusion at immigration in the Suvarnabhumi Airport in Bangkok. It was a nice change of pace, but confusing none the less.


Driving a car
One of things that I really missed about being in the United States was the ability to just hop in a car and drive to the grocery store or to visit friends across the state. While I went through the long process of getting my Thai Driver's license, I have yet to actually drive a car in the Land of Smiles. The thought of actually having to navigate a vehicle through traffic composed of taxis lane diving to find the fastest route and motorcycles weaving through the smallest gaps between cars makes me break out in to a nervous sweat. 


So, needless to say, I was very excited about being able to drive again during our visit to the United States. I spent much of the flight worrying that I had forgotten how to drive or that I would accidentally drive on the wrong side of the road. In the end, my fears were unfounded and I enjoyed many hours of driving through Wisconsin and Oregon with my windows down and my favorite music on the radio. It was a great break from my usual car rides in the back seat of an over air conditioned taxi blaring the latest Thai pop songs. 


Sensory Overload
I think this form of reverse culture shock was the most surprising for me, especially since I've been living for the past year in a city of 8 million people. The city constantly assults all of your senses -smell, sound, touch, taste. It is a chaotic mess, but one I've grown accustomed to and have even started to enjoy.


So it came as a huge shock when I wandered into the local Target store and immediately got a headache. The store was so bright and clean and all the signs were in English and there was a buzz of conversation around me and I could understand it ALL!


Living in a country where I don't speak or read the language, I've grown accustomed to blocking out most conversations and ignoring most signs because they are in Thai and obviously don't pertain to me. So it was really overwhelming when I came back to the US and my filters no longer functioned and my brain had to cope with all of this new information.


Plus, I think I was also overwhelmed with happiness at being in a Target store. They really should open one in Bangkok- especially one that carries Western sized clothing and shoes. I would NEVER leave! 


So Many Choices!
Awesome micro-brewed Beer and affordable cheese- need I say more??

Sand Creek + Campfire = Match made in WI heaven 

So many choices....

New Foods!
While shopping for supplies to bring back to Bangkok, I played a fun game of "Find the new food items". The goal was to find as many new types and flavors of snack foods as I could. I think I did pretty well!

Too bad I don't like coconut

Cherry Dr. Pepper desert topping sounds so awful 

Monster marshmallows!!!

Best thing EVER! Should have brought a case back with me.

All in all it was a great trip to see family and friends, enjoy cool weather and eat awesome food. And now that I know about the reverse culture shock, I will be better prepared on our next trip back.

How to get your Thai drivers license in 294 easy steps

Ok, so maybe it really wasn't 294 steps, but it sure felt like it. Eric and I had quite the adventure in getting our Thai drivers license. It began with each of us having to get a medical certificate to verify that we were free from the following conditions:

-Leprosy
-Tuberculosis
-Drug Addiction
-Chronic Alcoholism
-Elephantiasis
 
I went to the BNH Hospital here in Bangkok and it cost 800 baht (about $20). Eric went to a hospital in Ayutthaya and he only had to pay 50 baht (about $1.75).


Once we had our medical certificate, we could now go to Thailand's version of the DMV- once we made copies of our passport, our US drivers license and Eric's work permit. We also had to have our US drivers license translated into Thai.

Armed with all of this paperwork, Eric and I traveled to a Thai "DMV" center located north east of Bangkok last Wednesday. During the initial paperwork check, I was informed that I was missing one piece of paperwork- a certified letter from the US embassy verifying my address in Thailand. So, I was not able to take my test that day. However, Eric took his test, paid 205 baht and was able to leave with his drivers license.


My adventure would take a few more steps. Last Thursday I walked to the US Embassy ( about a 15 minute walk from our condo) and asked about getting a certified letter for a Thai drivers license. The process was really easy, but very expensive- it cost me 1650 baht ($50) just to get one piece of paper signed and notarized! After forking over the money and waiting for 15 minutes, I walked out of the embassy with a $50 piece of paper that stated my Bangkok address.

Today was the last day of the adventure. I went back to the Thai DMV center, and I finally had all of the correct paperwork! So I was able to enter the testing room. There were four tests that I needed to pass in order to get my license. I think the weirdest part of the testing process was that is was done in a huge group, and you were corralled and ushered back and forth across a small room packed with people.

The first test is a "color test". There was a poster on the wall with hundreds of circles in red, yellow, and green and a DMV worker pointed to 4 or 5 circles and I had to say the color out loud. After passing that test, we had a 15 minute presentation on how to do the last three tests. Of course it was all in Thai, but it really wasn't that hard to figure out what I needed to do. 

The next test was a peripheral vision test. We had to put our faces on a machine that flashed red, yellow or green on the right and left side of our face. We had to say the color and the side that the light was flashing on. I had a rough time with this one because the yellow light they used looked green to me. I eventually passed this one and moved on to the last two tests.


The last two tests took place at the same station. A small student's desk with a brake pedal and gas pedal in front it and a box with buttons mounted to the top. About 15 feet away there was another box with red and green lights as well as two sticks mounted on a sliding track.

The gas and break pedal were used to judge how quickly you can go from stepping on the gas to stepping on the break. A green light would light up on the box 15 feet away as soon as I stepped on the gas pedal and when the light turned red I had to step on the break as quickly as possible. I saw a lot of Thai women that failed this test because they were wearing high heels, but because I was wearing sensible shoes I passed with flying colors!


And finally the last test was to use the buttons on my desk to move the two sticks in the box in front of me. Once they were perpendicular to each other I stopped and said "Ok". Since I put the sticks within an inch of each other, I passed the test. 

205 baht and a crappy photo later, I am now the proud owner of a Thai drivers license!!