Most people who move to a foreign country may experience a period of time when they have a lot of stress in the new culture. This feeling is often called “culture shock” and it is important to learn how to deal with culture shock. First of all, you should know that everyone in a new situation will go through some form of culture shock. There are four general stages of cultural adjustment(适应).

    The first stage is usually referred to as the honeymoon stage. Upon arriving in a new environment, you'll be interested in the new culture. Everything will seem exciting, and everyone will seem friendly and helpful.

    The second stage is called the withdrawal stage. The excitement that you felt before changes to frustration(沮丧) as you find it difficult to deal with new problems. The language is hard to learn; friends are hard to make; simple things like shopping and going to the bank are challenges. It is at this stage that you are likely to feel anxious and homesick.

If you are one of those who manage to stick it out (坚持下来), you will enter the third stage—- the recovery stage. At this point, you'll feel more confident in the new culture. You'll start to understand and accept the way things are done and the way people behave in your new environment.

The last stage is the stability stage—- this is the point when people start to feel at home in the new culture. At this stage, you will behave well in the new culture, and prefer some aspects(方面) of the new culture to your own culture.

    There is, in a sense, a fifth stage to this process. If you decide to return home after a long period in a new culture, you may experience what is called “reverse culture shock”. This means that you may find aspects of your own culture “foreign”, because you're so used to the new culture. Reverse culture shock is usually pretty mild(温和的) and doesn't last for very long.

    Ask any kid, and you'll likely hear that time spent with friends is the coolest and most important part of the school day. Educators, as well, acknowledge that making friends is one of the most valuable things children do as they learn and grow. But many parents are perplexed by their children's social lives, wondering how to help their kids cope with the challenges, heartbreaks, and the joys of making friends, losing them, and making friends again.

    “Friendships help children gradually learn to be independent, contributing members of a community and it's just as important as their academic growth” notes Diane Levin, Ph.D., author of “Remote Control Childhood.” However, it's a slow process. There are many social skills to learn, which advance with age and experience, trial and error, and experiencing the satisfaction that comes from contributing to an ongoing friendship.”

    “Friendship starts as soon as children can crawl off their parents' laps over to another child,” adds Michael Thompson, Ph.D., co-author of her life with you to her life with her friends. but who their friends are, how they interact with them, and how popular they are, is something parents have only limited control over.”

    Experts on children's behavior say that problems like jealousies, breakups, bullying and teasing account for a big part of what parents, kids and teachers talk about, and what parents worry about.

    Get insights into how children's friendships develop and how parents can help, if needed, and find ways to determine if your child is at risk for serious social problems or simply suffering from real (but common) social challenges.

It is hardly surprising that clothing manufacturers(生产商) follow certain uniform standards for different features of clothes. What seems strange, however, is that the standard used for women is the opposite of the one for men. Take a look at the way your clothes button. Men's clothes tend to button from the right, and women's from the left. Considering most of the world's population—men and women—are right-handed, the men's standard would appear to make more sense（更有道理） for women. So why do women's clothes button from the left?

    History really seems to matter here. Buttons first appeared only on the clothes of the rich in the 17th century, when rich women were dressed by servants. For the mostly right-handed servants, having women's shirts button from the left would be easier. On the other hand, having men's shirts button from the right made sense, too. Most men dressed themselves, and a sword（剑） drawn from the left with the right hand would be less likely to get caught in the shirt.

    Today women are seldom dressed by servants, but buttoning from the left is still the standard for them. Is it interesting? Actually, a standard, once it is set, resists change. At a time when all women's shirts buttoned from the left, it would have been risky for any single manufacturer to offer women's shirts that buttoned from the right. After all, women had grown so used to shirts which buttoned from the left and would have to develop new habits and skills to switch. Besides, some women might have found it socially awkward to appear in public wearing shirts that buttoned from the right, since anyone who noticed that would believe they were wearing men's shirts.

    Back about 20 months ago I started college and just struggled with everything, such as classes and friends. I quickly became depressed and angry at myself for not being about to do better in school, in addition to lack of friends due to poor social and communication skills.

    This went on for months until my 19th birthday. My parents sent me a cake, which was a great cake. But I remember having this large cake and absolutely no one to share it with. I ended throwing out the cake after having one piece, with about 90 % of it leftover . That night I was depressed that I decided to go outside to the freezing temperature of the winter and run. I put my earphones in, went outside and ran about 2 miles at 11 p.m. on my birthday.

    When I got back inside I was content. I was proud of what I was able to do. The next night did the same. I wasn't quick or fit but you know that I went outside and did something. The continued for about 2 months until I finally worked up the courage to go to the gym, where I started swimming again as I used to in high school. A month went by and I started lifting weights and continually running.

    Looking back I can see that exercise helped cure my depression but it didn't only do that. At the gym I met new friends and back at my dorm I grew confidence to go to the end of the hall seeing people playing Super Smash Brothers and ask if I could join.

    So go forward to present now. I exercise every day and look forward to that hour and a half I get daily to do what I love with people who love it as well. I hope this helps someone who may be or have been in a similar situation.

    There were smiling children all the way. Clearly they knew at what time the train passed their homes and they made it their business to stand along the railway, wave to complete strangers and cheer them up as they rushed towards Penang. Often whole families stood outside their homes and waved and smiled as if those on the trains were their favorite relatives. This is the simple village people of Malaysia. I was moved.

    I had always traveled to Malaysia by plane or car, so this was the first time I was on a train. I did not particularly relish the long train journey and had brought along a dozen magazines to read and reread. I looked about the train. There was not one familiar face. I sighed and sat down to read my Economics.

    It was not long before the train was across the Causeway and in Malaysia. Johore Baru was just another city like Singapore, so I was tired of looking at the crowds of people as they hurried past. As we went beyond the city, I watched the straight rows of rubber trees and miles and miles of green. Then the first village came into sight. Immediately I came alive; I decided to wave back.

    From then on my journey became interesting. I threw my magazines into the waste basket and decided to join in Malaysian life. Then everything came alive. The mountains seemed to speak to me. Even the trees were smiling. I stared at everything as if I was looking at it for the first time.

    The day passed fast and I even forgot to have my lunch until I felt hungry. I looked at my watch and was surprised that it was 3:00 pm. Soon the train pulled up at Butterworth. I looked at the people all around me. They all looked beautiful. When my uncle arrived with a smile, I threw my arms around him to give him a warm hug (拥抱). I had never done this before. He seemed surprised and then his weather-beaten face warmed up with a huge smile. We walked arm in arm to his car.

    I looked forward to the return journey.

    In the four months since I last posted articles on my blog, I've been spending a lot of time studying Chinese. I wanted to pass the HSK. From the beginning of my program, the HSK was the end goal of my Chinese learning this year. Luckily, I passed it and now I have one and a half months to go home and stay with my family.

It's really exciting to learn Chinese in an environment where I can study very fast. What's more, I can see my own progress in different ways. When I got here eight and a half months ago, I only knew a few of the 150 words tested in the HSK 1.However, until now, I've taken and passed the 2500­word HSK 5.

    I remember a time around January. I thought my Chinese had reached the point where I was comfortable in my day­to­day conversations. So my progress would slow down greatly. However, it turned out that I was totally wrong. The conversations I can have now far surpass(超过) the ones I was having in January.

    Today I hit a language­learning landmark(里程碑) that was particularly exciting for me: I finished reading Harry Potter and the Sorcerer's Stone in Chinese. It might not seem that exciting, but it was for me because it's the first full book I've read in Chinese. And it's the third language I've read Harry Potter in. I'm especially proud because I spent about seven months reading the first 35 pages, but in the last month and a half, I managed to read about 150 pages. My next challenge is to read a novel written by a Chinese author, rather than one that I've already read many times in English!

    Hopefully, I'll be able to keep up my language­learning progress over the next month and a half, because I know I'll probably never have another opportunity to learn a language like this.

    Do you want to learn a new language？If you do, go to the country where people speak it and learn it from the locals.