I had my first culture shock in Australia when I was on the way from the airport to my first house in Balwayn. I did not see one policeman in the street to direct the traffic. Every thing was controlled electronically.
My second shock was to see men and women kissing in public. This was something that I had never expected. I only saw that in movies on TV but never in real life.
Another shock was that people had to work very hard just to pay their rent. Rent money is too high in Australia especially for people who have just immigrated from other countries.
My biggest culture shock was to see that the government in Australia allowing brothels to operate. In my country this is a crime. We don't see it as some sort of freedom.
Another culture shock was to watch TV after 8.30 at night. In my country sex scenes are not allowed at all. Here in Australia it is totally a different story.
Another culture shock was to see that many people were gamblers. They wasted their money on gambling. Many crimes were committed because of gambling and the government did nothing to stop it. They seem to care about money more than people here. (This is what I think)
Public transport in Melbourne is shocking and expensive. Busses are very bad. They come every 20 minutes. They take you on a tour if you want to go from one place to another.
In my country busses are even worse. They are overcrowded. A bus can take as many as 150 people. That is why you don't take your family on a bus if you want to go anywhere. There is a lot of pushing there to be able to get off the bus.
In a tram in my country there are special carriages for girls and women. This makes it easy for women to travel.
In Egypt taxi drivers can charge you any amount of money they like. That is why there are many fights with taxi drivers. They can stop and ask you where you want to go and then look at you and drive off without taking you. They tell you how much they will charge you before you get in the taxi. If you don't like the price, they drive off without taking you. They can also take other passengers too.
One culture shock in Australia was to see that it is expensive to use a taxi. It can cost you about 100 dollars to go by taxi from Box Hill to the airport.
One culture shock was to see that many Australian like to go to nearby countries to enjoy their beaches. In Australia there are many beautiful beaches but still Australians like to travel abroad.
Another culture shock was to see policemen and policewomen speak to the public in a nice way. There is not much corruption in the police force in Australia. In police forces in many countries "curruption" is the word to use when talking about police work.
Some people from the Middle East get a culture shock when they see that they have to use toilet paper. In the Middle East people use water pressure and not toilet paper. They think it is dirty to use tiolet paper. Toilets in the Middle East are fitted with small pipes.
One culture shock was to see that a plumber, a mechanic or a painter can cost you a fortune if you have a job to be done. they charge you by the hour and normally you end up paying a lot of money. That is why many Australian prefer to do the job D.I. Y. (Do it yourself)
Another culture shock was to speak to my boss without using any titles. In my country I used to say the words "Mr" and "Mrs" before I used names while talking to people face to face. For example I would say to my boss "How are you today Mr. Mohamed?"
In Australia people don't usually use titles. I was shocked one day when my daughter called one of the mothers in her primary school by her name without saying "Mrs" first. I went to that mother and apologized for my daughter's horrible manners. I learned after that it was OK to call people's names without titles.
Now most of these experiences are not longer strange to me. I have been in Australia for many years. I am sure when my kids go to Egypt one day they will experiece many culture shocks of their own.
