Difference Between Kazakh and American Culture. Culture Shock

As my interviewee for the SIS #2 assignment I chose KBTU student Meruert Telman, who spent one academic year in USA through the FLEX exchange program. I chose her because, firstly, she is a friend of mine, so I could expect her to be honest and give detailed answers to my questions, and, secondly, her perception of the world is somewhat different from other people, maybe because she is partly German and it given her an opportunity to consider all cultures critically and from the perspective of another culture. During the interview, I wanted her to be relaxed and not distracted by anything, therefore I invited her to my home for a cup of tea, considering that the best time for a long conversation for Kazakhs is the teatime. I have†¦show more content†¦In school? In your host-family? Meruert: To wake up ve-e-e-ery early. I mean really early. The school started at 7:30 am, and the bus comes at 6:15 am. So you probably understand when I had to wake up. Comment: One of the main values of American culture is time. They are very sensitive to the expenditure of time. Therefore, their days planned out to the minute, and sometimes it is very hard for Kazakhs to adapt to this. And what I definitely do know is that for being late to school in the U.S. you receive a much more severe punishment than in Kazakhstan. 9) Can you give an example of a situation in which you did not understand what was happening, or which shocked you in some way? Meruert: Yes, the situation was when my first host family suspended that I could be a racist. That happened because of many misunderstandings. But it is hard to talk about them for me. Comment: As I mentioned before, the first family was very ethnocentric and had a huge problems in intercultural communication. I think that they didn’t expect people from other culture to be so different from them. Probably, Meruert also didn’t understand some of their behavior and habits, and perhaps unconsciously or non-verbally expressed dislike for them, what was seen by hosts as a manifestation of racism. 10) How did teens welcome you in your new school? Meruert: They were nice. But you know, by the time you get to your senior year you already have your permanent company of friends, and it is