How many can you check? Congratulate yourself for where you are at!
1. Attempt to learn the local language
2. Take public transportation
3. Buy food where the majority buys their food
4. Attend a typical wedding
5. Attend a typical funeral
6. Attend a typical birthday party
7. Visit a government office
8. Acquire the services of someone to repair something
9. Eat at the house of a local
10. Host a meal for a local in your own residence
11. Participate in the festivities of a local holiday
12. Dress like a local
13. Learn the local greeting
14. Prepare a local dish
15. Understand a local joke
16. Able to understand directions to some place
17. Able to give directions to a place
18. Experience shock… and work through it
19. Understand all the lyrics to a song in the local language
20. Able to verify you have been given correct change
10 BONUS POINTS!!!
21. Eat something you’ve never eaten before in ANY form (a chicken’s foot or ants, for example) – LynnAnn Murphy
22. Read the local newspaper in its entirety – LynnAnn Murphy
23. Participate in recreation with the natives (soccer leagues, pickup basketball, chess club, etc) – Jeff Wright
24. Know and use national products instead of relying on imports from home country – Jeff Wright
25. Adapt to the local climate or participate in local seasonal activities (the spring clean, learn to walk on ice, or plant your garden) – Stuart Mattinson
26. Able to acquire emergency services – Kimberly Wilcox Myers
27. Have a discussion about something abstract – Kimberly Wilcox Myers
28. Acquire a drivers license and DRIVE like the locals! – Shari Tvrdik
29. Sit with nationals and hear, in the local language, their stories of language mistakes that overseas workers have made – Marilyn Gardner
30. For the sake of being a good guest, eat something you are certain will make you rather ill – Breanna Randall
This fun list was originally posted to the facebook community page. If you haven’t yet liked the page you can do so at this link: https://www.facebook.com/ALifeOverseas Thank you so much to all the people who added their “bonus points”.
Do you have anything to add to our cultural assimilation collection? Also, if you have an amusing cultural assimilation anecdote you would like to share in the comments please feel free to do so.
On behalf of the editorial and writing team of A Life Overseas please allow me to extend to you a virtual pat on the back and a sincere applause for stepping out and immersing yourself in a foreign culture. Adaptation has its ups and downs. You are amazing! Be glad for how far you have come and know you are not alone in this journey.
Peace.
