Culture Shock and the Meaning of Pain
Travel Blog • Jim Benning • 10.03.06 | 6:20 PM ET
If you see a motorist on the Florida highways leaning on the horn like a driver in Ho Chi Minh City, or searching for shops curiously advertising “pain,” or trying to bribe a state trooper as though he were a Balinese cop, look closely. It’s probably World Hum contributing editor Terry Ward. On Sunday, in her South Florida Sun-Sentinel travel column, she explored the culture shock she experiences upon returning home from trips abroad. Ward has some amusing anecdotes. “Last year, the day after I returned from a summer in France, I found myself eagerly turning into the parking lot of a chiropractor’s office after spotting a large sign labeled ‘Pain?’ Yeah, I wanted some pain. I could almost smell the pain au chocolat baking, flaking off in sweet papery layers. My brain, still stuck overseas, had misread the sign as the French word for ‘bread.’” That’s rough, Terry. As a fellow pain-lover, I feel your pain.
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Jim Benning is the editor and co-founder of World Hum.
