Perspectives
Global Perspective
There is a huge number of expats internationally (especially from western countries) who move to work in developing countries for international companies (especially in the oil industry such as Shell) and experience new and very different environments and cultures. They can experience various effects of culture shock such as depression, anxiety and confusion and so it can be hard for some expats to cope with the shock. This results in much early repatriation because the change is too much for them to deal with. Depending on the personality of people and the culture that they are experiencing, culture shock can be intense or an almost unrecognizable phase. Nasreen (an expat) for example, moved from London to Mexico City with her husband and daughter but returned home not long after. She had been positive that they could overcome the culture shock but said “We weren't prepared for Mexico City – the water shortages, the traffic jams everywhere and anytime, the bad air quality. It made our daughter’s minor asthma significantly worse."
Local Perspective
In the population of Oman, 29.4% (816,143 expats) are expatriates; most of them are there from India working at a very low payment as construction workers. However there are also many expats from western countries that come to work for Shell (Oil Company), tele-companies and architecture-companies. My father and my friends who have expat parents have never heard of anyone going back to their home country because the culture shock in Oman was too great. Oman is a very peaceful country and although the locals are often very religious they are also extremely friendly and welcoming to expatriates. I know that Shell in Oman has a private, very westernized club for the expats working in Oman.
Personal Perspective
Since I am a daughter of an expat who moved from Denmark (a very westernized country) to Oman (the Middle East) I know from experience that culture shock can affect your stay abroad quite a bit. At the start it was all exciting but then once school started and I did not understand what was being said in class I got scared and sad. I would go into the bathroom each day and cry for a little bit when things got really bad. At this stage I wanted to go back home more than anything. However this phase was only for a short while and once I got over the culture shock I loved living in Oman and so although we were only supposed to stay abroad for 2 years we have now lived abroad for 9 years.