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[Itskusican]

During one of my first Christmases in America, I remember watching intently as my sister-in-law pulled out a cylinder from the fridge, cracked it open, and scooped sections of white goop onto a baking tray. A few minutes later, steaming rolls emerged.

"Is that canned bread?" I asked her. The Americans laughed?what I called canned bread, Americans called Pillsbury dough.



I grew up in Australia?a country not unlike the United States?but I was completely floored the first time I visited an American grocery store. In Australia, there are only a few brands of milk, butter, and bread. Milk generally has one ingredient (you know, milk), the cheese isn't fluorescent orange, and bread does not come in a can. In America, options for a single product type barely fit into one aisle. It was my first major experience of culture shock?which can feel like a hurtful reminder that you're not "home" anymore.

I asked other immigrants about their first moments of culture shock in the United States. Here's what they told me.

Braces
"I had not seen or even heard of braces before [coming to America]. I had friends in Korea who had really messed up teeth, but it wasn't necessarily seen as any kind of defect. I started seventh grade in the US and several of the kids had braces?the type with wires going across both upper and bottom teeth with a metal holder in front of each tooth. They looked almost like robots. I didn't actually find out what they were until maybe two years or so later, because I didn't have the language skill to ask about them initially. To me, teeth were just what you had. If you had good teeth, you had good teeth. Bad teeth, then bad teeth. It didn't seem like you could move your teeth like that. They felt very solidly planted in my mouth so the entire concept was foreign." ? Chae An, 45, attorney, South Korean

Student Behavior
"In the classroom, I experienced a lot of culture shock by how the students interact [with each other] and how they interact with [me, as] the teacher. American kids are very active in the classroom. They even say things before they raise their hand. Students eat in [my] classroom, which is forbidden in China. Often you are rewarded here for being an extrovert. Basically an introvert cannot survive in your classroom. In China, I don't have to clean [my] chalk board. It is the students' responsibility to clean the classroom. In China, teachers are very high ranking. You are very respected. Here, I don't think so. The income is not really above middle class here." ? Niki Xu, 26, math teacher, Chinese

Street Harassment
"I was hugely shocked by all the street harassment. And as a queer woman, I didn't realize that I had to police myself in certain areas here. I thought NYC was supposed to be such a gay city, and it is if you're in Manhattan or Chelsea. When I first moved here I remember my girlfriend and I were kissing on the street outside of our apartment in Bushwick and a group of teenagers started yelling and jeering at us. It was kind of scary and very confusing. I've learned not to hold hands or display affection in certain neighborhoods because of it. I don't really travel around the US, but I can tell you I definitely wouldn't hold hands in the south especially with all the crazy anti-LGBT legislation popping up." ? Sarah Barnett, 28, radio reporter, Canadian

LGBTQ Acceptance
"I am a gay man who came from Guatemala and it is very dangerous to be gay there. When you start to realize you're gay, the authorities, the religious organization and the gangs, they are against gay people. I came here and after a year and a half I applied for asylum as a client of Immigration Equality. It took me a while, honesty, to realize gay people could live a normal peaceful life here. My whole life I believed I was wrong and I would go to hell and I deserved the treatment I got. It was 2011, the first time I enrolled myself to march in the Gay Pride Parade. That made me feel proud, just proud to be who I am. Now, I feel that this is home." ? Edy Meda, 29, server and fitness instructor, Guatemalan

[Jon]

Street Harassment
"I was hugely shocked by all the street harassment. And as a queer woman, I didn't realize that I had to police myself in certain areas here. I thought NYC was supposed to be such a gay city, and it is if you're in Manhattan or Chelsea. When I first moved here I remember my girlfriend and I were kissing on the street outside of our apartment in Bushwick and a group of teenagers started yelling and jeering at us. It was kind of scary and very confusing. I've learned not to hold hands or display affection in certain neighborhoods because of it. I don't really travel around the US, but I can tell you I definitely wouldn't hold hands in the south especially with all the crazy anti-LGBT legislation popping up." ? Sarah Barnett, 28, radio reporter, Canadian


oh plz