September 18, 2013 - Culture Shock Finally?

Two days ago, I wore the other suit I bought to work and I also brought in a cake. I did not bring in a cake on my birthday several months back because I didn’t know at the time that it was a thing people did. (I still intend to take everyone out for lunch, which is also what people do. But organizing that is more complex.)

Unfortunately, despite my best attempts to bring it in on a day where no one was fasting, a lot of people were still absent for one reason or another. So, for the first time I can remember, a brought-in cake was not finished.

It was technically a “blueberry cheesecake”. It did have the requisite graham cracker crust. But it sort of tasted like most every other cake we get from Sir John’s bakery.

“Live bait Pastry Shop”
(I have no idea what that means)

I ended up giving the rest of the cake (almost 1/2) to the guard at my apartment gate. Though, d’oh, the knife was missing. No idea if anyone actually ate it (with their fingers) or if it just got thrown away or what. I hope I didn’t inconvenience him. But I didn’t want it at my apartment, cause I’d just eat it.

This is definitely my favorite suit. This one, more than any other, I could see myself wearing when I get back home. It goes really well with blue jeans, too, check it out:

Fashion Mix!

Yesterday, festive music was coming from the construction site next to the office. I was baffled why, and even peeked in curiously, since there were no holidays on the calendar that I noticed. Then a co-worker explained. It was Vishwakarma Day (or Puja) where people in the industrial field (mechanics, craftsmen, factory workers, architects) do no work, respect their tools and pray to Vishwakarma for a better future. (It appears our computers do not count as “tools”.) Hinduism does indeed have a lot of gods.

Construction site next to my work
(though taken a different day)

I wondered if the same festival was being celebrated next to my apartment. Sure enough, when I got home, there were no dudes working in and on the 16-story building like usual. And the workers (who live on the street below) were not in hard hats and looked to be relaxing. I suspect this may have been their first day off in a while…

So I’ve been here eight months. And I’ve been loving it, right? The last month in particular seemed blissful, pleasant, energetic, perhaps even euphoric.

Then came this month. I am Captain Grumpypants all over the place.

So, the four stages of culture shock, paraphrased from an article on Internations (yay Internations) are:

1. Honeymoon
2. Rejection / Alienation
3. Recovery
4. Adaptation

Either the last 8 months actually were the Honeymoon period? Or I skipped past number 2 a while back and then decided to re-visit…

In the last week, I’ve actually *scolded* people not lining up behind the cafeteria pay counter. I’ve often given them looks in the past or made it clear when it was my turn. But I went a little farther than usual…

Everyone was just coming up to an empty place at the counter, holding out their money, and saying their order. There is only one person taking the order and it doesn’t seem fair that someone who just walked up would get their order in before someone who had been waiting (i.e. me). They were vastly amused with me when I said, “Excuse me, I was here in front of you,” and “one at a time”, and then, later, “I guess I’ll just wait until all of you are finished then before I get my order, then.” And they totally let me complete my order. But that is only part of the point. It just would be SO MUCH BETTER if everyone stood in an organized line. I don’t know why, out of everything, this drives me crazy. Probably my OCD tendencies.

And just as a counter point, I’ve at least three times had both men and women let me go ahead of them, so it’s not like people are rude, I think it is just a habit. If I grew up in a place where if you didn’t elbow your way in, hold out your money and say your order, you didn’t get served, then I’d probably do the same. But it seems like people are causing the order-taker so much stress. He’s got to look in ten directions at once. It’s no wonder he messed up my order. (Actually, he messed up my order because I gave him 110 rupees for a 60-rupee meal and the thought that I wanted an elusive 50-rupee note back as change seemed less likely than that I was ordering two meals.)

I also swore at an auto driver on Friday. Granted, I probably wouldn’t have sworn if I thought he could actually understand me. But I guess it was pretty clear. He was actually super apologetic about taking a really roundabout way (and it was not just to increase price because we had already agreed on price), which I was surprised about. He just didn’t know his way around my neighborhood is all and for some reason, that irritated me. Though he is the third driver who, when I point back and to the right to show they are going the wrong way, just say something and keep going the direction they are going. That I think is what is annoying. They ignore me, then seem all confused later that they aren’t in the right place.

I’ve also now asked three co-workers to turn down their mobile phone rings. All three did so apologetically, surprised that they were loud. Though, I think I was pretty polite about it. (No swearing! 🙂 ) I think this is cosmic retribution for my first overseas job out of college where I had a loud, annoying song (not annoying to me of course) as my mobile phone ring. But mobile phone etiquette appears to not really be a thing here …unless you are in a meeting with your boss.

These things are bothering me way more than usual. Way more than they should. I’ve been in a grumpy mood in general at work and so forth, too. I thought it was lack of sleep, but it doesn’t seem to be. It seems to be random.

(And I wish I knew Hindi. And on one hand, that’s mostly my fault. On the other hand, the effort it would take to get to where I want to be is so huge and the in-between stage is not all that useful.)

So yeah, that along with a couple other things has stage 2 of Culture Shock written all over it. Just at a time when I was contemplating whether I want to try to stay longer or not…

Granted, it is almost worth it to stay at least until the rupee mostly recovers. At it’s worst, I would have effectively lost a quarter of my salary. Now it’s down to an 18-20% loss. Someone said early next year, after the elections, it’ll bounce back. Come on, go Rupee!