Culture Shock? More like language shock.

Culture shock is a strange thing. I know I've written about it before, but I'll recap. Culture shock (at least for me) does not play out like in the movies. It isn't screaming and crying in a crowd while being overwhelmed by different sights, smells, tastes, and sounds. It's the insidious sapping of your morale and will to function. You notice it in small ways, like deciding to eat in (because it means not having to deal with a server at a restaurant) or an increase in how much Netflix or TV you watch. I never really ran into this living in Chennai, though I did run into some difficulty adjusting to the different work culture of the State Department (vs my previous jobs as a contractor to the Defense Department).

However, mere days after arriving in Buenos Aires, I hit a pretty hard language wall. The city of Buenos Aires is not unlike large cities in the US, however (unsurprisingly) everyone speaks Spanish. Surprisingly few people can or are willing to speak English in day-to-day life. Similarly, I've never been particularly adept at languages, even when studying abroad. This fact has been particularly poignant here. In retrospect, Chennai sidesteps this problem as practically every single person you meet speaks English AND as someone who doesn't look Indian, people would default to speaking to me in English. Other than my clothes (and general lack of fashion), I very easily blend in with the Argentines, so I am regularly confronted by my inability to communicate. Writing this many many months later, I can say I've reached an equilibrium with my discomfort and awkwardness.

I have, of course, been trying to learn Spanish, both for work and for my personal sanity outside work, but we also had a new baby shortly after arriving. Any parent knows that your time mysteriously disappears when children are involved, and you start to really cherish your free time (which makes me less likely to spend it on studying!). I've been pretty consistent with Duolingo, so I guess we'll see how effective that is. (Spoiler alert, not very!) I do 3 'lessons' or 30xp per day at a minimum, and I've maintained that streak for over 200 days. My goal is to keep it up for my entire tour or until I'm comfortable speaking Spanish... so yeah, my entire tour!

In the mean time, I leave you with the most valuable phrase to know when traveling in a Spanish-speaking country (if you don't speak Spanish):

Mi aerodeslizador esta lleno de anguilas : My hovercraft is full of eels.

You never know when you need to show someone just how completely you don't understand a word they are saying. Open with this and, trust me, they'll know.

Ind-glish

I love language. I especially love listening to the different ways that other cultures use English. India has been an endless supply of quirky phrases that form a kind of code among those of us who have spent time here. I assume with time, we'll phase out our use of these phrases, but in the mean time, we'll continue to amuse ourselves by using them.

Here are a handful of common ones that we love.

The oil was very less in the pot.

I am here only. 

On Thursday itself. 

Do the needful.
I am knowing.
I have a doubt.
They are having a marriage.
"Kay-gees" for kilograms.
Playing pool, my opponent announced which "port" he would sink the 8 ball in.

In a similar vein, we've very much enjoyed listening to people speaking in Tamil... with random bits of English included. E.g. Tamil. Tamil, Tamil, Tamil, ask the driver, Tamil, Tamil, Tamil, cannot do it, Tamil, Tamil, informally only, Tamil...

Finally... As part of a team building exercise, we were instructed to walk to separate sides of the room, depending on our answers to various questions. When the question, "Would you rather never watch TV again or never listen to music again?" came up, one of my local employees leaned over to me and asked, "How can you listen to music without TV?" I was pretty confused, until I realized... all popular music in India is from movies. The culture doesn't support bands, just singing actors. So in his mind, if the TV industry disappeared... so would popular music.

PS: That sign sure was "a Quality..." 

You know you're in India when

You know you're in India when:

You don't bother setting the clock on the oven.

You occasionally stop and try to figure out what's wrong, because you haven't heard a horn in a few minutes.

The oil is "very less" in the pot.

You are "here only."

Things happen "on Thursday, itself."

You "do the needful."

You tell your taxi to just go, "I am knowing." Then you tell them to turn using "Lefta" and "Righta."

You hit a ball into the "port" when playing snooker.

You play snowball, instead of bowling.

You're invited to attend a marriage.

You "have a doubt," instead of a question.

You "return to your native place" to visit relatives. 

Finally, you're heading "out of station" for the weekend.

Although these two stories don't really fit the theme, I don't think they support their own post, so I'll add them here.

I was waiting in line at a hotel currency exchange counter, to break a 1000 Rs note into smaller change. One of my locally employed staff walked right past me, interrupted the guy working the counter and asked for change. The man stopped helping the person he was helping, and doled out the change. As explanation, I was laughingly told, "this isn't the US, you don't form a queue!"

For one of the VIP visits, we were doing an "ice breaker" game after one of the team meetings. The game consisted of the leader reading off two options, and people separating to sides of the room, based on their preference. When the question "Would you rather never listen to music again or never watch TV again?" came up, one the locals leaned over to me and asked, "How can you listen to music without a TV?" I laughed, but quickly realized that he was serious. It makes sense, "pop music" in India almost (if not completely) exclusively comes from TV and movies.