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The Unfortunate Consequences of Travel: Reverse Culture Shock & How to Deal With It

Posted on June 25, 2015 by Mathew Polowitz

Originally published on Elephant Journal. Find it here.

Culture shock: the mythical state of adjustment most travelers never want to admit they’re experiencing.

“It’s just jet lag,” we say. Or, “my stomach is still getting used to the food.” So easily written off. So frivolously downgraded.

And don’t even mention returning home, to a place we already know. There’s hardly a chance for contention.

At least, there wasn’t for me. After spending seven months abroad, I wasn’t ready for the rigid strangeness of it all. Streetlights telling me when to cross. Passer-bys rarely gifting me a glance, much less a smile. Everything seemed to be moving so fast, and yet it all felt so confined. And I felt confined inside of it.

Travel is a transformational process best characterized by opening ourselves up to staggering newness and then trying to flow with it as best we can.

We constantly meet so many personalities and encounter so many ways that are so completely and mind-bogglingly different than our own, that it’s natural to get swept into a paradigm of moment-seizing and transience. After all, this is the essence of travel.

And after living for so long in such perpetual flux, it’s not easy transitioning back to the comparatively stable life we lived before. It may look as it once did, but it just doesn’t feel the same. Something is different.

Remember, it’s not just a place that we’re transitioning back to, it’s a lifestyle. And we’ve changed.

Here are four of the most prominent things I confronted upon returning home after my time on the road, along with some humble suggestions on how to turn these obstacles into opportunities to integrate all that we’ve learned along the way. Read More

Traveling Slow in Pai

Posted on November 28, 2014 by Mathew Polowitz

When it comes to traveling responsibly, slow travel often tops the list of suggestions. What is slow travel? Think opposite that checklist mentality so many take in venturing out to explore the world. It’s stopping to spend more than just a couple of days in each destination. It’s slowing down to really learn and appreciate each place you visit. It’s finding your own favorite spots removed from the tourist circuit. If you’re looking for a true cultural experience, this is the way to do it.

I know, I know. Not everyone has the liberty of taking months off to go see the world. Not everyone can plop down in a place they find homey and just decide to stay a while. For most, it takes planning. It also takes a degree of open-mindedness, and a somewhat open schedule. But all of these things are pretty easily attainable when you allow yourself the freedom. They can all be procured with a little bit of initiative, and a little bit of faith. Read More

Omeliah

Posted on November 17, 2014 by Mathew Polowitz

“Omeliah,” Papa said to us as we strolled up to the rice paddy kitchen, a leaf-covered bamboo pavilion that holds all the essential cooking supplies, a fire pit, and even a reserve of blankets and pillows for midday rests. These are the trademark home-away-from-homes for the Karen people, erected at any rice paddy a family owns – an arrival at which marks an end to one’s typical hike from town to work site.

Translated literally, ‘omeliah’ means ‘have you eaten rice?’ Translated loosely, the phrase becomes a more general ‘have you eaten anything?’ It is one of those common cultural nuances that makes sense among the many hill tribes of northern Thailand, wherein rice is the staple of sustenance. Among the Karen, this is also as close as I could get to discerning any type of greeting. From what I could tell, their live’s are all so fluently entwined that there is simply no use for the word hello. Read More