Thursday, April 15, 2010

Culture Shock {Take One}

We've been warned again and again about the woes of culture shock.

It can come in all sorts of ways, and be triggered by any manner of thing.

And most importantly, it manifests itself in a variety of ways.

For instance, yelling at store manager, asking him how "you people," manage to do business.

Or locking yourself in your house and making PB & J for you and your four kids for a month.

{True stories,}

Mine, however, came alot sooenr than I expected.

And also, we're in Canada.

I didn't really expect any culture shock, because Canada is just our weird northern neighbor.

I thought, it may be different, but it's still our neighbor! How different can it be?!

Ha.

I had my meltdown on Monday.

{Get that, FIVE days after arriving. Ugh. I'm such a pansy.}

This, is the culprit:

And oh, yeah... this.

Apparently, my internet KNOWS I'm in Canada (who knew?) and can stop me from seeing my American content.

Like videos, and tv shows, and apparently searching Google like an American would.

My meltdown consisted of me Yelling and Shaking my computer going,

"But I'm an AMERICAN!!!! Don't you know that?! Would you like me to show you my passport? It's blue, and has a BALD EAGLE!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!"

And then I cried for like 20 minutes.

And that's a true story.

{What?! I didn't say I was proud, just that it's true! And I knew it would provide you with entertainment, even if it was at my own expense.}

14 comments:

Justine said...

What show were you trying to watch?? I'm pretty sure that would make me a blubbering mess, too!!!! Haha :)

The Taffs said...

I would never have expected that in Canada either. I can't believe they have their own Google. I assumed Google was Google, whether you were in the US, Canada, or the other side of the world!

Rachel said...

One of the things I was most looking forward to when we moved back from the UK was watching all the deleted scenes from the Office! And oh man, do I remember lashing out at the UK as a whole for a number of bizarre reasons. Especially while pregnant. Anytime I had any problems, I placed them on the UK by default. :)

Brittany said...

Thats so weird! You poor thing!

At least you can still get to blogger. I'd miss you!

Lauren said...

It certainly did provide entertainment...thanks for sharing! and I hope you don't have to cause permanent damage to your computer for thinking you are Canadian. ;o)

Chelsea said...

Oh Brittney! I remember the first day I found out I couldn't use Hulu because I am outside of the US... I too was very upset. I am still a firm believer they should let me put in my passport number to prove I am an American citizen and have a right to watch!!!! Let me save you months of torture and give you this website:

www.free-tv-video-online.info

Project Fre e TV works pretty much the same as Hulu and all new American shows are usually uploaded within hours! I will warn you though, some of the pop up ads can be bad (poker sites and 'adult friend finder') but you can just close those. Hope this helps your dilema!

Kristin said...

That would frustrate me so bad! Culture shock is no fun! I had it so bad when I first moved to India, but after a week I was feeling much better but then like 6 months later I had another huge shock week and that took me off by surprise because I thought I was used to it all by then!!

Praying for you guys!!

Amy said...

I know how you feel! When we were in Korea it was so frustrating to not be able to access our favorite TV shows online. Hang in there, it does get better and you will adjust!

Unknown said...

No joke I would probably be just the same. We all have our home comforts.

Courtney said...

I'm sorry friend that your computer somehow knows you've left the states. Can you access hulu (I think that's how you spell it) for shows? Just a thought. :)
Besides from the different internet, I hope all is going well!

cherrymandy84 said...

Yeah... your isp address shows your location. TV shack and surthechannel are usable options in Korea, I would expect they could be used in Canada, too.

Also isohunt and piratebay.org used with uTorrent are options if you can't access videos on website- just download them.

Best of Luck! ~From someone who understands what culture shock is like.

Jessica Boucher said...

try vpn.... it may be slow too slow to stream (we just tried and it was too slow for us), but the internet will think you are in DFW. worth a try!

jessica b

Callie said...

That's so weird that it knows you're in Canada! Wow.

Kelley said...

oh goodness! I had no idea!