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TikToker Is Sharing 15 “Culture Shocks” That She Experienced After Moving To The USA From The Philippines
Moving to a new city might feel disastrous to a teen. But leaving your life behind and starting a new one in another country? That's a real challenge for anyone.
Christen Eve grew up in Davao City, Philippines. However, when she was 15, Christen had to pack her bags for the US. Now 28, the singer/songwriter has been revisiting the big transition in a TikTok video series where she reveals the "culture shocks" she had experienced back then.
It provides an interesting comparison between the two countries so we figured you might enjoy it as much as Christen's 395K followers.
P.S. If this turns out to be something up your alley, check out Bored Panda's publications on the "culture shocks" this Canadian woman went through after moving to Sweden as well as the ones this American woman faced in Australia and this Brit was exposed to in the US.
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When I moved to the U.S. at 15 I was surprised to find out that not everybody in the world uses cement and shards of glass as their security system. At our house in the Philippines we didn't have an alarm system, hell, we didn't even have a smoke alarm, but we had broken bottles of glass dammit and that's all we needed
Used to see this in the UK, I think it's illegal now. Imagine if the emergency services had to break in, for example.
Breakfast in the Philippines vs breakfast in America. A huge adjustment for me when moving back to the States is how sugary the breakfasts are here.
"What do you want for breakfast?"
"Oh oil and sugar pls"
In the Philippines we always had rice for breakfast. I mean you had rice for breakfast, lunch and dinner, but like with fried spam, egg or like fried sausage w/ eggs. When I first moved here and I would try eating the typical American breakfast I would feel sick afterward honestly cuz it's just so bread-based and corn syrup and sugary
Don't believe the sitcoms. The "typical American breakfast" is pretty rare. Most people just have a piece of toast or some yogurt and fruit. The whole eggs, pancakes, sausage thing is just a special treat.
Note: I understand this doesn't include everybody in the U.S.
At our house in the Philippines we always had lizards or geckos, whatever you wanna call them, all over the walls and they were great at taking care of flies and mosquitoes. It was common to just be, you know, going about your day in your house and all the sudden just hear *gecko noise*. And the other thing we always had was ants - ants all over the kitchen, forming a line, doing their thing. We didn't bother them they didn't bother us. When I moved here I was so surprised at how much people freak out over having these things in their house and ants in their kitchen, and they buy all these chemical things to get rid of them.
I moved to the U.S. when I was 15, I'm 28 now... I still don't know how to not stare. In the Philippines, staring is not a big deal. It's not considered rude or bad manners like it is here in the States. Staring is Caring OK. If there was an accident on the road, you would always know, because a huge crowd would form in the middle of the road watching whoever got injured, yes, in the middle of the road with traffic continuing to go by, and of course because I grew up there since I was a baby, it is very normal for me to just sit and watch people. People would stare at me and I would stare at them. Now in America my boyfriend has to tell me all the time to stop staring
There's areas of America where holding a man's stare is the same as saying, "I want to fight you". So don't be rude and stare!
McDonald's, McDonald's instead of McDo and not being able to order chicken and rice or spaghetti at Mcdonald's. That was a really weird one and I was super bummed out about it. Because the brown gravy that goes with the chicken and rice at the Mcdonald's in the Philippines is to die for and yes I would drink it
In the Philippines I was so used to just leaving the house with my hair wet. Everyone did it, all the women did it, that's how I grew up doing it there. Take a shower right before you leave the house, and you just leave with your hair completely wet and not dried or styled. When I mover here and found out that's not really a thing I was like *squeak*. I still didn't care. I was like "I can't do this" even in winter I would leave the house with my hair wet and it would get so hard and cold
I'm in the US and I leave the house all the time with wet hair. Just did it yesterday while going to the store. Why do people think that's weird?
A number of people from European countries (eg Italy) are convinced it will make you sick.
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More people should do this. Shake the norms around appearance. If you're clean and mainly covered up then people should mind their business. I'm so much hoping that post-pandemic people won't want to go back to the same levels of make-up, styling, high heels, etc. Save money and time and effort.
Bras. Goddammit don't let's go back to 24/7 compulsory bras.
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I had a Spanish colleague do this in Germany in the middlwe of winter and end up with icicles in her hair.
I do it. But I have naturally curly hair that I wear curly. If I blow dry it, I end up with a fizzy mess on top of my head. :) But I do feel like it's rare where I live in the Great Lake region of the US.
I have curly hair. I can dry it without frizzing with the right diffuser or a bonnet, but I don't do it often since it's damaging. Plus, my hair just looks better when I air dry. It doesn't get terribly cold where I live, though. When I'm going somewhere cold, or if I'm on a business trip and need to look professional early in the morning, I pack a cloth bonnet attachment that hooks on to the end of a dryer. It takes up about as much space in my luggage as a shirt and can dry my hair enough to be presentable in 5-10 minutes while I'm doing my makeup.
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my hair air dries in the ugliest way possible so I could never do this, I'm always jealous of people whos hair dies completely straight and nice.
I use conditioner in the shower and a leave-in and still end up looking like an electrified Cocker spaniel. So I just dgaf anymore, ha!
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I live in the Netherlands and I do this too.. I really don't have the time to do my hair in the morning (I have really thick and long hair, drying it will take hours) and my hair is actually nicer when I just let it dry.
I always leave my hair wet...going out, going to work, going somewhere...
I do it too, people sometimes stare. There was a post here a few months ago suggesting that it is disrespectful to go to work with undried hair. I don't mean actually dripping.
i do that too in northern europe. They dry up within hour or two, so by the time i get dressed, they're almost dry, so meh 🤷♀️
In Australia it is quite normal for people to go out with wet hair, but I get weird looks if I say I go to sleep with wet hair. My hair curls so much more naturally if it's wet when I go to bed.
This list is filled with generalizations. America is a big country. I think a lot of these listers based their posts on a few small isolated experiences.
Average temperatures in the Philippines usually range between 21 °C (70 °F) and 32 °C (90 °F) with the average yearly temperature coming in at around 26.6 °C (79.9 °F). I'm sure her hair tried pretty quickly there and, btw- the thick, lustrous hair of most Filipinas is not likely to frizz up like many Euro-Americans' hair does.
I never use a hairdryer.... so yeah, I always leave my house with wet hair. Nobody looks twice.
Yeah, I don't care if my hair is wet. I'm not going to waste time drying it.
It's bad to leave your hair wet apparently, hair can absorb a third of it's own weight and causes damage etc
The brooms! This freaking "broom" doesn't do s**t. My boyfriend and I got into an argument about this one day when we were cleaning the house because he was like "What's wrong with the brooms here? I don't understand. There's nothing wrong with them" I was like.. this thing you're gonna defend this really? When I had to sweep with this crappy thing for the first time here in the States, I was like I'm not gonna survive here. This thing does not do anything and it's awful it's stiff and just bleh. Now this is a broom that actually sweeps PROPERLY
I hated those brushes when I lived in Thailand, you need a proper sweeping brush like we have in Ireland otherwise its back breaking!
Everybody eating bread with almost every meal here and barely eating rice. Bread is a snack and rice is a staple
There weren't any Sari Sari stores anywhere. Sari Sari stores are everywhere in the Philippines and our neighbors had one next door so we would always go there and get snacks. You walk up and just pick out what you want, pay for it and just get it out of that little window right there. Also if you were out and about and you were thirsty, you could go up to one of these, you could get a little plastic bag that had been filled with water, tied at the top and put in the fridge. You'd just bite the corner and drink some cold water
Barely any honking! Now I don't know if this is just something from when I lived in the Philippines in the 90s and early 2000s it could've changed by now... I don't know. But when I lived there, honking is all you did on the road, honking is all you heard. Just honk honk honk and when I moved here I was like OMG the streets are so quiet. Why is nobody hoking?!?
No stray dogs all over the place. Now again this is when I lived in the Philippines in the 90s and early 2000s things could be different now but when I lived there dogs were everywhere, all over the place and when I came here I was like "Where're all the dogs?" There are cats everywhere but no dogs
In the Philippines the uterus is called Matris(In Bisaya). It's what I heard my whole childhood when older Filipina women would talk and I literally thought it was English term for it too. We took a trip here to the States one time when I was like 7 or 8. I was with all my girl cousins and our aunt was telling us a story. She said this woman couldn't have kids and I was like "Did she get her Matris removed?" All my cousins started laughing at me and I was mortified
Growing up in the 90s and early 2000s in the Philippines, you would refer to pads for your periods as napkins(In Bisaya). And then I come to the States and learn that it mean table napkin. Like to wipe your mouth with. I was shocked. And it was so hard to adjust to changing it in my brain
Ok story time of when I was leaving the Philippines to come back here to the States. I used Cream Silk conditioner basically my whole life in the Philippines and I knew they didn't have any here in the states. And they won't allow you to bring bottles on the plane of course. But in the Philippines they sell packets of conditioner that are attached to each other in a strip, like a strip of condoms. So we get to the airport and they start making a fuss about it saying I can't bring it with me and I start having mental breakdown. They finally decided that they could duct tape it in a box and put it with the rest of the luggage
The way people would make a big deal or freak out over words being shortened or how I referred to things. For example, when I would say "Hey can u go put this in the ref for me?" They'd be like "In the what?" "The ref.. you know... refrigerator
Isn't fridge short for refrigerator? Ref is referee, no wonder they were making a big deal, they didn't understand you.
Yeah, I'm kinda shocked that people are shocked when things are different in other places.
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So happy BoredPanda featured things about my country. If there’s one thing i can add, is that when someone would ask for direction, most of the time we use our lips to point the direction instead of our fingers. Like we pout our lips to show you the way. And also to foreigners, don’t get offended when filipinos would refer you as “Americans”, we were colonized by the Americans and they have heavily influenced our culture, so all foreigners to most filipinos are Americans. It’s not an insult, it is something ingrained in our minds after they colonized us.
Appear! 🙋♂️ I would also add the *way* of getting directions. In UK or US, you can always find your own way around without ever asking - multiple area maps, pointed signs, self-guided pamphlets, posted transportation routes and schedules etc. In the Philippines, the way from point A to point B is go to the nearest bus stop or busy hub and "ask somebody." Then they will tell you how to get to the next hub, where you "ask somebody," and so on. The best part is, it actually works! 4 AM on a Tuesday? Some random people will be there, and they will help you! Even inside some 2-story shopping malls there are no maps.
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Isn't anyone else a little tired of these "cultural shocks" articles that are more and more lately? Honestly it's ALWAYS a cultural shock when you move to a different country!
Afer reading all this i feel Philippines is 99.99% like India. Apart from ancestry and geography we are sisters.
WHY . . . on earth would you be shocked when going from one country to another? I had been to more or less 80 - I never experienced ANY culture shock! People and culture, as well as the language will be different EVERYWHERE! I too came from the Philippines - no culture shock when I got here in the US and assimilated in a a FEW DAYS!
There's no real shock here. Things are different. Wow. Hey, everyone else said this, too. Culture shock is much more than differences in what McDonald's serves in countries other than your own. The McD's in Jerusalem is serving mini pitas and falafel, which I find just useless, but not shocking.
"I was shocked. And it was so hard to adjust to changing it in my brain" TF girl? It's just a naming, nothing serious. Also you had mental breakdown over conditioner? Seriously? What's wrong with you?
When you've spent your life using a word for a sanitary product and hear it being used for table ware, I imagine it would give you a mental jolt, and take some getting used to.
Load More Replies... Yeah, I'm kinda shocked that people are shocked when things are different in other places.
Load More Replies... So happy BoredPanda featured things about my country. If there’s one thing i can add, is that when someone would ask for direction, most of the time we use our lips to point the direction instead of our fingers. Like we pout our lips to show you the way. And also to foreigners, don’t get offended when filipinos would refer you as “Americans”, we were colonized by the Americans and they have heavily influenced our culture, so all foreigners to most filipinos are Americans. It’s not an insult, it is something ingrained in our minds after they colonized us.
Appear! 🙋♂️ I would also add the *way* of getting directions. In UK or US, you can always find your own way around without ever asking - multiple area maps, pointed signs, self-guided pamphlets, posted transportation routes and schedules etc. In the Philippines, the way from point A to point B is go to the nearest bus stop or busy hub and "ask somebody." Then they will tell you how to get to the next hub, where you "ask somebody," and so on. The best part is, it actually works! 4 AM on a Tuesday? Some random people will be there, and they will help you! Even inside some 2-story shopping malls there are no maps.
Load More Replies... Isn't anyone else a little tired of these "cultural shocks" articles that are more and more lately? Honestly it's ALWAYS a cultural shock when you move to a different country!
Afer reading all this i feel Philippines is 99.99% like India. Apart from ancestry and geography we are sisters.
WHY . . . on earth would you be shocked when going from one country to another? I had been to more or less 80 - I never experienced ANY culture shock! People and culture, as well as the language will be different EVERYWHERE! I too came from the Philippines - no culture shock when I got here in the US and assimilated in a a FEW DAYS!
There's no real shock here. Things are different. Wow. Hey, everyone else said this, too. Culture shock is much more than differences in what McDonald's serves in countries other than your own. The McD's in Jerusalem is serving mini pitas and falafel, which I find just useless, but not shocking.
"I was shocked. And it was so hard to adjust to changing it in my brain" TF girl? It's just a naming, nothing serious. Also you had mental breakdown over conditioner? Seriously? What's wrong with you?
When you've spent your life using a word for a sanitary product and hear it being used for table ware, I imagine it would give you a mental jolt, and take some getting used to.
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