Culture shock or cross-culture stress?

We struggle, as Australians who were born
in rural Queensland, to live in such close
quarters with our neighbours. This is our house
and our neighbours!

Living in a culture that you didn't grow up in is stressful. There's no other way to say it. I've written a little bit about some specific factors that I feel stressed about when in Japan in a post a couple of years ago here. 

It isn't just early on when you're adjusting, it is an ongoing stress. Though I have to say that the stress decreases (thankfully) as you get used to the place.

I found an interesting blog post that I think is wrongly titled. I don't think this post is about culture shock so much as it is about the mental challenges of living in a culture that is so vastly different from the one you grew up in. One way to label that is cross-culture stress. 

In any case, it is a helpful article. It's especially nice that it's written about living in Japan, but it totally applicable to other cultures. Check it out!

We suffered climate-shock when we
moved from "the Sunshine State" of 
Queensland to this. That's our blue car you can see!