High Anxiety Happening to Me

High anxiety is one of the cultural stumbling blocks asserted by LaRay M Barna. Different from other four blocks, it is not distinct but underlies and compounds the others. It means that both the native and the foreigners feel threatened when they talk with each other for the reason that they can't understand each other in various aspects.

It's a common phenomenon happening in every cross-cultural place. Just serve my experience in the Armstrong Canteen as an example. When ordering my meal on the first day, the staff asked what kind of rice and sauce I would like for lunch. As a newcomer here, I asked what choices I have. Explaining in a quick speed, the staff told me that there are white rice and brown rice, Teriyaki sauce and sweet and sour sauce and shrimp blablablablablablabla...(Yes, it shocked me at that moment and my brain was blank like this guy.）

Then I asked her about the meaning of brown rice. However, the explanation beyond my understandings. What's worse, I only catch the word Shrimp. Noticing that the waiting line was longer and longer, I was in panic and misunderstood some other words according to the staff. In order to avoid being regarded as an fool and waste other people's time, I pretended to smile confidently without asking for detailed explanation and ordered brown rice and sweet shrimp sauce for my lunch immediately.

When I get my meal, I found that brown rice was not suitable for my digest system according to my doctor. But I had no choice but to be responsible for my tension.

In conclusion, high anxiety is a vicious circle. The more culture you can't understand, the more threatened you are when you are communicating with local people. What's more, the more tensed you are, the harder you can understand their words and explore further culture.

Maybe the only solution to this inevitable phenomenon is to keep calm and do enough research of local culture before you talk to local people.