Culture Shock

Some say that when you move/visit a culture that is so very different from the one you are use to, that you experience culture shock. I have the wonderful ability to blend into my surroundings and totally forget that I am no longer in America.

We are surrunded by Americans, we can get almost all of the things we like from home (think diet coke and diet dr. pepper...2 neccessities) and everyone I talk to on a daily basis speaks english.

I block out the kanji letters on all the signs, driving on the other side of the road isn't even a challenge. I think I have adapted very well.

Now it is a real slap to reality when we go into a store and there is not a single soul who speaks English.

For example, we went to the VW dealership to have my car looked at, the windows sometimes don't work. We had managed mostly, but the guy really wanted to make sure that we understood and that he understood us.

So I called up Military One source. This is a free service offered to all military service members and families. I had been told that I could call them up, at any time and they could connect me to a translator.

So, that is exactly what I did. And the dealer and I spoke through the translator. It was a little difficult and a slow process. But it was settled and we were leaving the car.

The next day we get a phone call about the repairs for my car. It was going to cost $2700 to fix the windows. We only spent $3500 on the car, so we went to pick it up and thanked them.

So even through the challenges there are ways to get around the language barrier.

Ok, so we took my car in one week ago, today. They did some inspections, and gave us and estimate. We walked away with out paying anything. Tonight, I found out that my passenger side window NOW works!!! Yea for free car maintenance.