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ronin1
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| Joined: | Saturday January 21st, 2006 |
| Location: | S.F. Bay Area, California USA |
| Posts: | 622 |
| Visits: | 7 | | Currently: | married |
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Posted: Thursday June 15th, 2006 04:12 am |
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Russian Woman Culture Shock…
When someone refers to ‘cultural shock,’ the words seem to imply a shock as like ‘shock and awe’ or a ‘shock to the system.’ The shock is unexpected and severe to where the individual needs time to put what happened into context and perspective. This indeed may occur to some Russian women. However, to most, this is not the case.
Culture shock, in most cases, stems from a prolonged exposure to a markedly different cultural environment of any kind. Often, this type of shock is very subtle. With the advent of air travel, we are now able to completely change our surrounding in a matter of hours. People are very adaptable, but can’t often adapt so quickly in body and mind. This lag in adjusting to a new culture is not ‘culture shock.’ Culture shock is the stress reactions of adapting to a new cultural environment. In general, the greater the cultural differences the greater the culture shock.
For most RW, the first few months in their newly adopted homeland, they are in a ‘Tourist’ like state. They will make many comparisons to how Russia is. They will enjoy this new life as if it where only a short visit to a foreign country. They have not yet come to grasps the gravity of their transplant to another nation. As long as they remain in this state, all is well for them and their WM husband. However, once they come to realize that this is no fair-tale cakewalk and that a significant amount of hurdles have to be jumped, that is when the shock sets in.
Shock can be manifested in many ways. Often, for RW, it can come out as being irritable, argumentative, irate, critical, frustrated, homesick and/or demanding. Unfortunately, for many RW these are often natural attributes.
So how does one distinguish what is natural and what is due to culture shock? The two can’t be easily separated. In the typical marriage situation, the husband doesn’t know his new bride well enough to have a baseline of what is normal for her. Also, in this early time frame of the relationship, there is significant tension in adjusting to each other.
The only way to resolve this is to stick it out for the duration. Typically it will last about 1 to 2 years, YMMV. Provide as much support as possible. RW can make things hard, however WM have to be harder still (the rock). Over time when the RW begins to become more functional in her new surroundings, her natural self will begin to emerge. Such a long and potentially difficult process is not for the faint-of-heart.
I have seen many WM throw out the baby with the bath water on this issue alone. Often, I have heard of many WM writing that their newly married brides exhibit no signs of culture shock or they are adjusting well. This is just the lull before the storm. It is just a matter of time before it hits the proverbial fan... so be prepared.
Ronin Last edited on Friday June 23rd, 2006 04:48 am by ronin1
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