Culture Shock — Article Cloze

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Read the article about culture shock and choose the word or phrase that best completes each sentence.

Whenever travelling or temporarily living in another country people are sure to face a bit of culture shock. Sometimes it can be — choose —problematicoverwhelminginconvenient , but mostly, it's just a bit weird or — choose —inconvenientproblematicoverwhelming .

Culture shock happens when an individual leaves the comfort of their home and goes to a foreign location. It happens because of an individual's — choose —unfamiliarityintrusionnecessity with local customs, language, and — choose —acceptableproblematicfiltered behavior.

For example, in the USA, it's not necessary to drink bottled or — choose —acceptablefilteredprovide water. When Martha was visiting Asia she said, "I was drinking water from the tap when one of my friends — choose —figure outinterruptingfreaked out on me." Her friend then explained that Martha should drink bottled water or filtered water. "Where I'm from, our water is clean and we just open the — choose —necessitytapsquat and drink," said Martha. Of course, some Americans like bottled or — choose —providefilteredacceptable water, but it's a choice, not a — choose —unfamiliaritytapnecessity .

European and Asian cultures both have a — choose —social timedifferent takepersonal space on dining out. In both of these cultures, dining out with friends can take a long time. This differs from the USA. "Americans are always on the move. We don't mind a nice relaxed meal with friends occasionally, but most of the time we want to — choose —combinemove on tofigure out our next task of the day," says Joseph Barley, CEO. "Especially at lunch," he continues, "it's less than an hour, unless we — choose —move on toprovidecombine it with a business meeting."

In France it is not unusual to have a two hour lunch, and in some Asian countries company dinners can take as long as three hours.

Using the bathroom can also be — choose —overwhelminginconvenientproblematic in some places. In the UK, you have to pay to use public toilets---even at McDonald's! Imagine having a "personal emergency" and no coins in your pocket! Where will you go to "do your business?"

In some Asian countries, public bathrooms don't — choose —providecombinefiltered toilet paper, and often only have squat-toilets---which are small toilets that are built into the floor that you — choose —squattapfigure out over. Troy Akney described his personal situation: "When I first used the public restroom, I couldn't — choose —move on tofreaked outfigure out how to squat without taking my pants off. Then, after I finished my business, I realized there was no toilet paper! I was trying to figure out what to do when my good friend decided he should come check on me."

Both Europeans and Asians judge — choose —social timepersonal spacedifferent take differently than Americans. Americans prefer a little more than arms length between them and the other person when standing face-to-face and don't prefer walking shoulder-to-shoulder in markets.

As a final example, Americans expect waiters to check on them often and to keep their water glasses full. European waiters, however, feel this is an — choose —interruptingunfamiliarityintrusion of people's — choose —social timedifferent takepersonal space together. So don't think it rude if, in the USA, your waiter keeps — choose —intrusionfreaked outinterrupting you, they are just trying to provide you with good service.