EndorphinGirl™ is glad to report a stupendous trip to Finland where she spent the week as EndorFinnGirl with Jack Steel as Jack Steel!  While it was a beautiful snow-filled quiet and peaceful week, there are a few things to report from that trip which in turn trigged some more things to write about!

First and foremost the week proved to be very helpful for EndorphinGirl™’s bum knee. The extra TLC this past month and the no-strain-on-the-knee last week has proven to yield a fully recovered limb. She has started the running part of her
training again, following a major sneaker purchase of talipus-cavus-shaped sneakers. While she has been doing some
serious cross-training this past January, yesterday was her first serious run since early January. She effortlessly ran 3 miles in sheer comfort thanks to the awesome @asics GelKinsei4 beautifully-colored–in-pastel sneakers that were
secured on her happy feet. Between the affects of jetlag prohibiting her from sleep past 4 a.m. and her new TC
sneakers, there is likely to be some major running and cross-training happening this week!

On these recent Finnish travels combined with lack of sleep due to jetlag, EndorphinGirl™ 's memory was activated with very vivid memories of her different cultural experiences. Well to get even more specific cultural experience related to culture shock both as the beneficiary and the intermediary. For many people the idea that culture shock is a real concept is hard to fathom.  Most people like to think of themselves as savvy travelers, and most are so they can’t imagine that moving to a new country would be any different then a visit. Yet visiting a new country is a very different experience compared to living there.  A new-country move reaps so many rewards and it also possesses many interesting challengers often starting with culture shock.

You may recall one example from an earlier blog where EndorphinGirl™ made it quite clear she could never (ever, ever, ever) munch on a Rudolph / you know the reindeer, even to overcome serious hunger!  This would be a clear
example of shock to her culture system.  In Finland this is a delicious meat to eat, but in the U.S. eating Rudolph seems to be a Christmas violation!  By the way, someone in this blog did taste reindeer last week while visiting Finland!

EndorphinGirl™ can attest to more 'random acts of culture shock', particularly when she was working at the make-such-a-big-deal-out-of-themselves-multinational-company – Yesnikcm. While at Yesnikcm she first experienced the shock of culture at a different level (okay perhaps there are varying degrees).  This initial culture shock was at the corporate level sort of and happened when she was very young in the organization.  One of her first business trips, a domestic one, is when the shock first took place at a very very fancy hotel in Boca Raton.  The culture shock she experienced then was with the mini-bar – literally!  And it is not what you may be thinking.  This was her first-ever introduction to the chock-filled mini-bar and it was a sweet meeting.  EndorphinGirl™ truly believed it had been stocked for her and her alone. When she opened the little fridge and found if overflowing with bottles of champagne, chocolates, playing cards. . .etc. etc. etc. she was initially dumbfounded.  But not for long.  She got right to testing some of the items since she had some time to spare before her full work schedule set in.  So what did she do – well she filled the fancy tub in the fancy bathroom with some of the bubbly (i.e., guess which bubbly), drank some of the same bubbly, and ate the chocolates (i.e., of the truffles kind) while soaking in the sticky yet bubbly tub.  It was worth the experience!  Fortunately, the conference covered the cost of the mini-bar used items, as it may have cost her a good week’s salary otherwise!  While this may not be the culture shock she was initially alluding too several paragraphs above, it was some of the best ‘corporate’ culture shock she experienced! 



Moving on, she too thought she was travel savvy and fully-prepared for an international exchange.  She had done the back-packing-through-Europe-after-college-summer-trip-Eurailing-covering-7-countries-in-2-months trip.  She had also done some other scattering European travel prior to her international move.  And she believed she had her first real ‘international move’ as a teenager mid-way through high school when she and her family moved from urban New York City to suburban New Jersey.  Okay perhaps that last experience was not international but when you are 16 years old moving from ‘urbania’ to ‘suburbania’ it felt like moving from home country to a foreign other!



She thought she knew what she needed to know about living in another country or culture for that matter (i.e., learning a new language such as when moving from NY to NJ back in high school!) YET she still experienced culture shock.  She likes to think her culture shock on that real first international move
to Stockholm, Sweden was because she had an infant child in tow which allowed for many sleepless nights, was in a new position that covered four emerging markets and included 60 percent of her time travelling - but really that was only a piece of it!  J

So what is culture shock – according to Merriam Webster dictionary ‘culture shock is a sense of confusion and uncertainty sometimes with feelings of anxiety that may affect people exposed to an alien culture or environment
without adequate preparation’. Essentially it is being taken out of one’s natural surroundings and familiarity - including
the sound of the language, customs, social roles, dress, food and even weather and landscape.  There are many things
that will be different including how business is conducted and simple communication.  Simple routines feel completely out of kilter!

EndorphinGirl™ remembers her first month living in Stockholm.  It was the period in time of pre-easy-access-to-internet information.  She needed to find a doctor for her young daughter.  It was July and she was working in the Stockholm Office for Yesnikcm.  For a Scandinavian, the prior sentence is a trigger.  A Scandinavian would pause and say why is ‘EndorphinGirl™’ working in July in Stockholm?  You see, July in Sweden and in Scandinavia in general is vacation month. Most people are on holiday, at least back in 1995 and still mostly even today.  Her U.S. colleagues did not fully advise her the significance of this, and although she was based in Sweden, her role covered an entirely different region, which was Eastern Europe, so those colleagues along with the U.S. would not have known how serious this could be!  So she was screwed!  On this particular summer day in July she was the only person in the Stockholm office.  She tried to figure out how to call information on the Swedish telia (telephone) but kept getting automated prompts in Swedish so she could not get through to speak with anyone.  They were probably on vacation anyway!  She then had the idea to look in the Swedish telephone book.  Sounds simple, but the book was sorted in a way that was not intuitive to a foreigner - it was not alphabetical.  She could not find what she was looking for unless she paged through page-by-page, which would have been hundreds of pages and respective hours.  So she did not manage to find a doctor that day.  It all may sound trite but it was very real and very frustrating almost-to-the-point-of-tears frustrating.  EndorphinGirl™ ‘s endorphins were not being properly engaged; they too were off kilter! 



Does this sound familiar?  Yes, we may experience some shades of these feelings even on international travels or when starting a new job and learning the corporate culture for instance (i.e., mini-bar example – haha okay that’s a stretch).  But typically it will not be during those times when culture shock becomes symptomatic.  Still not a believer? Well there are in fact real symptoms which are sometimes very counter to one’s personality.  What are they you ask – read on!

Culture Shock Symptoms

• a feeling of sadness and loneliness
• an over-concern about your health
• headaches, pains, and allergies
• insomnia or sleeping too much
• feelings of anger, depression, vulnerability
• idealizing your own culture
• trying too hard to adapt by becoming
  obsessed with the new culture
• the smallest problems seem overwhelming
• feeling shy or insecure
• become obsessed with cleanliness
• overwhelming sense of homesickness
• feeling lost or confused
• questioning your decision to move to this
  place

So you can imagine how important it is to take advantage of endorphin-like needs and opportunities while going to live like an international!  And it was only later that EndorphinGirl™ appreciated the value of her endorphin abilities, she really could have used them particularly when she was in Sweden!

While there was much first-hand experience of culture shock for EndorphinGirl™ (i.e., as the beneficiary) she also had the opportunity to be the intermediary.  She first became a believer of the ‘concept’ during an Aha moment when she was co-leading a yearlong global relocation training program with her international colleague and friend Pippa.  At that time ‘culture shock’ was officially introduced to EndorphinGirl™ and Pippa by a very cool inter-culturist-professor-type-guy from American University.  Her Aha moment came when the Prof. started to talk about the ‘symptoms’ of culture shock. Boy was EndorphinGirl™ reminded of her aforementioned experiences, particularly in Sweden!  Thereafter she had the chance to work with Prof. and Pippa on this topic helping some real-life ‘movers and shakers’!

EndorphinGirl™ shares a few examples of culture shock experiences to give a ‘stronger’ picture of the realness! J



Stadtlander Syndrome - A native English speaker, Wills was born and raised in wholesome Midwest America sets sail for the Czech Republic at the tender age of 23 for a year-long work relocation. Wills was eager to explore and courageous to venture internationally.  Yet after several months he found himself seriously deprived of the English language.  The year was 2002 and the Czech Republic was flowing with expats, but Wills did not receive a steady flow of English usage each day! He often ventured out to find places where he could hear the harmonious-lullaby language of English!  In the evenings he would go to find restaurants with native English diners.  He would watch across at other diners conversing in English, yearning for the chance to speak his mother tongue!  Until one day he couldn't take it anymore and on bended knee pulled up to a table of English speaking diners to ask to join in their conversation!  They agreed and he happily conversed with them that evening.  This escapade was repeated again and again during his continued stay!  Symptoms –  over-whelming sense of homesickness, feeling lost or confused, and a feeling of loneliness. (He was not crazy, just culture shocked!!).  EndorphinGirl can’t elaborate any more on the naming of the syndrome but some bloggees will get it!





Pepsodent / Polident Disorder - A young couple from Denmark happily experiencing their first grocery shopping trip in a New Jersey supermarket are in for a surprise!  Among other items (which probably have stories too) they needed to buy some toothpaste!  At the time toothpaste only came in a tube
compared to all of today's packaging options!  Jan, the guy in this couple (aha, I bet the U.S. readers may be thinking Jan is the female part of this couple – wrong!), clearly thought he was buying something in the order of Pepsodent.  His purchase however turned out to be Polident!  Fortunately, the paste glued to the toothbrush before Jan had a chance to use it on his teeth!  While not really a culture shock symptom still a culture shock experience!

As an aside, during the course of Jan’s U.S. relocation, a small group of 'movers and shakers' (i.e., relocators) had a short weekend visit to upstate New York.  Jan’s wife Mette was not able to participate so he roomed with Lilian.  Aha, got you again, were you thinking Lilian is a girl - NOT.  Lilian is a common name for a male in Moldavia!  And that’s where Lilian was from!  So Jan and Lilian were roomies that week-
end.  Oh this stuff is tricky!  Okay so maybe this example is just a mini-culture-shock 'funny' for the hotel check-in guy!

Phone Book Fiasco - Then there is EndorphinGirl™ ‘s above story when she first experienced this mild shock of culture in Sweden over phone books!  The symptom here was ‘the smallest problems seemed overwhelming’ – i.e., the phone book arrangement.  But overall however, she experienced several symptoms which also included ‘sleeping too much’ - most weekends she had that narcolepsy disease which was not good as she had an infant in the house.  She also suffered ‘feelings of vulnerability’ - she often felt out of sorts, well perhaps this was not entirely unusual.  She also started to ‘idealize her own country’ - her bedtime lullabies were The Star Spangled Banner and God Bless America; her infant daughter new these verbatim by her first birthday.  And finally, ‘questioning the decision to move to this place’ - mostly only in her head but still a question!  Whew, that was a lot.

However, two key things helped EndorphinGirl™ overcome the culture shock. The first was a ‘home ‘trip’ 5 months after her arrival.  The visit home was nice, but the return to Sweden was nice too.  She realized while things back home were good, they were not perfect and Sweden was really quite nice!  The second thing was making a local friend, which helped her to begin to feel a part of the new homeland. Her new friend was Ing Rid!

For the hundreds of expats EndorphinGirl™ met over the years
most were skeptical when they heard the term ‘culture shock’ before their move.  However, Pippa and EndorphinGirl would periodically check-in with these ‘movers and shakes’ and the stories such as above would surface and most would become convinced of the real-ness of the term and more importantly the experience!

So if you plan an international move, keep three key things in mind.  Keep an open mind to be ready to tackle anything, lose the back-home-comparison syndrome and be sure to leverage your endorphins!  Oh and do a little ‘belief research’ on ‘culture shock’.  And most importantly, go for it, the experience of an international move is life-changing and worth every shock you encounter!

EndorphinGirl™ likes’ to think she is now a ‘culture-shock-jock’, a status she believes she earned following her own sometimes-quite-challenging-but-very-awesome-wouldn't-change-it-for-anything personal experiences.  Well that coupled with years of working with super cool expats (i.e, 'movers and shakers' and helping them become even ‘tiny’ believers in this culture shock thing! 

There are tons more culture-shock stories up her sleeve so stay tuned for possibly more in the blogs ahead!  Pippa might have some to share too!  :)

Oh and by the way, there is ‘reverse culture shock’ but let’s save that for another blog!

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In this week’s EndorphinGirl™ image she breaks loose and strikes a serious plank pose! Image is courtesy of EndorphinGirl™’s son!

Until next blog, keep on endorphing.



EndorphinGirl™

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