The stages of culture shock

Stage 1

During the first stage, foreign visitors often feel excited. The new country is interesting, the people are friendly and helpful, and the future looks promising.

Stage 2

Problems! School, language, shopping — everything is difficult. Things that were simple back home require more effort in the new country. It seems hard to make friends, and at this point, foreign visitors may begin to believe that the local people are unfriendly. Homesickness begins, and along with it complaints about the new country. This is the stage we hear referred to as "culture shock."

Stage 3

Recovery. The foreign visitor begins to use the language more fluently, so communication with locals becomes easier. Customs and traditions become clearer, and slowly the situation passes from impossible to hopeful. Minor misunderstandings which were stressful in stage 2 become manageable.

Stage 4

Stability. Eventually foreign visitors begin to feel more at home in the new country. What they do not like about their new country no longer makes them so dissatisfied and unhappy. Life has settled down, and they are now able to find humor in the situations in which they find themselves.**

At this point I think I'm at Stage 2. The first 2 weeks in Vietnam were exciting, new, fascinating, incredible etc., but now all I want to do is dream about the winters in New Jersey. On Monday I had my first day of teaching and it went really well! Tuesday did not go quite as planned for the following reasons:
a.) The air-conditioning in my classroom did not work, so I was just one big sweaty foreigner mess.
b.) Almost all of my work clothes that I brought with me are too big because I have lost 5-7 lbs since arriving in Vietnam, so I felt even more uncomfortable.
c.) The class was too mellow and not so much into my lesson on furniture.

Luckily, at the end of the evening I got to meet up with this English girl I met on my trip to Hoa Lu and Tam Coc. I unloaded my day on her as we shared beers at a Bia Hoi around the corner from her hotel.
Tuesday really brought down the high that I have been on since I've been here. Now I'm pissed off that it's hot all of the time and the air conditioner in my hotel room doesn't work properly. I'm pissed off that every xe om driver hassles me for a ride. I'm frustrated that it takes me 2 hours to plan a 1.5 hour class and then it doesn't turn out right. Yesterday at the end of my Intermediate 1 class a student approached me and said, "I know you are a new teacher, so I'm going to give you some tips on how to run this class." I appreciated her constructive criticism because it wasn't malicious and she did have some nice things to say to me as well, but it really wasn't what I wanted at 9pm at night after being at the school since 1pm. When I told the other teachers about what happened they told me that this is common and that I should take the advice with a grain of salt. In addition, during that class, one of the buttons on my shirt opened and one of the girls in the class dragged me outside of the classroom to let me know. That part is humorous, but still.
The English girl, Georgie, said something to me that made a lot of sense: She said that when you have a bad day at work in your home country at least you can go home and unwind in familiar surroundings and with your friends. Here, if I have a bad day at work, I walk outside and it's hot, alien and I don't really know anyone so it just makes the day that much worse.

Hopefully stage 2 will pass as quickly as stage 1 seemed to whiz by.

**http://studentservices.engr.wisc.edu/international/incoming/living/culture.html