What It's Like Returning to the US After 7 Years in Vietnam

Summary

In this engaging video, Big Time Bentley shares his experience of returning to the US after spending seven years in Vietnam. Bentley discusses the concept of reverse culture shock, highlighting the stark differences he encounters upon his return. He dives into both the negatives and positives of coming back to America, such as the high cost of living, the challenges of driving, and the stress and anxiety of understanding everything around him. On the positive side, Bentley appreciates the cleanliness and organization of the US and cherishes spending time with his family. This video offers a relatable and introspective look at the contrasts between life in Vietnam and the US.

Highlights

• Bentley talks about the high price of goods in the US compared to Vietnam. 💲
• Driving a car in America feels strange after years of riding scooters in Vietnam. 🛵
• The stress of understanding every conversation in English is overwhelming. 😵
• Missing the familiarity and connections he had in Vietnam with friends. 👥
• Appreciates the plentiful Mexican food options available in the US. 🌮
• Spending time with family becomes a cherishable and rare experience. 👪

Key Takeaways

• Reverse culture shock is real and can be quite surprising! 🌍
• The cost of living in the US feels exorbitant after Vietnam. 💸
• Driving a car again can be a weird experience after years on a scooter. 🚗
• Understanding everything in English can be both a blessing and a curse. 🗣️
• Family time in the US feels extra special due to its rarity. ❤️
• Despite the challenges, Bentley is grateful for his time back home. 🙏

Overview

Bentley dives into his reverse culture shock experience after seven years in Vietnam, detailing the unexpected challenges of readjusting to life in America. From the sticker-shock of American prices to the awkwardness of driving a car after years on a scooter, he shares a vivid account of his encounters since his return. His honest reflection offers viewers a sense of connection, especially for those who have experienced similar transitions.

While the negatives such as high expenses, stressful driving, and the overwhelming clarity of language might take a toll, Bentley also notes the positives of his return. He cherishes time with family, enjoys the organized and cleaner environment, and delights in the availability of his favorite foods like Mexican cuisine. These moments of joy are amplified by their scarcity and give depth to his journey back home.

Ultimately, Bentley's story is about finding balance between two worlds. While Vietnam feels like home and aligns with his lifestyle, being back in the US allows precious moments with loved ones, which he deeply values. This reflective video highlights the duality of living abroad long-term and the poignant lessons learned from being back in his home country.

Chapters

• 00:00 - 00:30: Introduction The chapter titled 'Introduction' discusses the concept of reverse culture shock experienced by the speaker after returning to the US following a 7-year stay in Vietnam. The speaker intends to cover both the negatives and positives of this experience, beginning with the more shocking negative aspects. The narrative starts in Riverside, California, where the speaker is currently splitting time, living with family members.
• 00:30 - 15:00: Negatives of Returning to the US The chapter discusses the challenges and downsides of returning to the U.S. from abroad, focusing particularly on the high cost of living. For example, the cost of a haircut in the U.S. is significantly higher than in Vietnam, illustrating the broader issue of increased expenses in America.
• 15:00 - 25:30: Positives of Returning to the US The chapter discusses the differences in cost of living between the US and Vietnam, using examples like how avocados and pho are priced in each country. It highlights how the higher prices in the US make living less comfortable and lead to concerns about affordability when deciding on purchases.
• 25:30 - 26:10: Conclusion The chapter concludes with a reflection on the differences between daily life in Vietnam and America. It highlights how in Vietnam, purchasing items like groceries is very affordable, contrasting with the higher expense of grocery shopping in America. The narrator finds it surprisingly awkward to drive a car in the U.S. after getting accustomed to riding a motorcycle or scooter in Vietnam, emphasizing how the experience of driving differs significantly between the two countries.

What It's Like Returning to the US After 7 Years in Vietnam Transcription

• 00:00 - 00:30 so in today's video I'm going to talk to you about something that I think is pretty interesting and it's called reverse culture shock so it's basically the things that I find really different or shocking about returning to the US after living 7 years in Vietnam I'm going to start off with the negatives because I think those are overall a little bit more shocking and then I'm going to go into some of the positives as well of returning to the US after living so long abroad for those of you that are interested right now I'm in Riverside California this is where my Mom and Grandma live I split my time
• 00:30 - 01:00 between here and then in the South Bay Manhattan Beach and Rondo Beach where my dad and stepmom live so let's go ahead and get into it the negatives of returning to the US from abroad the first thing is the high price of everything so I went to go get a haircut I hope it looks dip chai but hope it looks handsome it was $28 plus I gave them an $8 tip that would be a $2 haircut in Vietnam plus I usually tip another $2 as well so there's in general really high cost
• 01:00 - 01:30 for the haircut another example is it was like $2 for a single avocado at the grocery store that would be like a 50 40 C avocado at a Vietnamese grocery store a bow of here is like $15 at a Vietnamese restaurant of course that's going to be like a $150 at a restaurant in Vietnam so everything's just a little bit higher price and obviously that just makes living a little bit less comfortable you start to be concerned about should I really get this or can I afford this and
• 01:30 - 02:00 in Vietnam those things are just kind of like of course I'm going to get it you know no big deal it's it's only 40 cents now it's like I don't know you know your grocery bill ends up being a couple hundred here where you you struggle to spend like $60 at a Vietnamese grocery store another main difference is driving is really weird so driving a car here in America it just feels awkward you start to get really used to like driving a motorcycle or a little scooter in Vietnam
• 02:00 - 02:30 that becomes your normal especially after like 7 years then when you come back here and you get in a car and you're kind of flying at high speeds on the freeway it's scary and it's just awkward sometimes you'll pull up to like an intersection where here in America people are going to stop before they make a right turn but in Vietnam it's not a guarantee so you're always kind of like slowing down a little bit oh shoot are they going to stop just little
• 02:30 - 03:00 things like that but yeah driving is definitely a little bit awkward as well speaking of driving here so I was going to the post office to mail something and I was trying to pull into a parking spot it's really crowded not very many spots so I waited for this person to come out of their parking spot waiting patiently but I was in front of someone else who was trying to get out after I'd already been there waiting so they started pulling out I had no way to get back so if they would have kept coming out they would have hit me so I honked to let
• 03:00 - 03:30 them know you know like you're going to hit me um I got into the spot I was in they waited there just to honk back super angrily and let me know that they are pissed off at me I was like come on what you know what am I supposed to do so I mean I know you'd probably think that the traffic being as crazy as it is in Saigon that driving here wouldn't be as much of an issue but surprisingly it is so driving here awkward
• 03:30 - 04:00 when I got into the I'm going to across the street here I don't know what this is anyways when I got into the post office I could understand everything everyone was saying it was both English and Spanish my Spanish was good enough to understand what people were saying around me and then obviously English and one of the women there was frustrated at another person because they were taking too long and asking too many questions
• 04:00 - 04:30 so basically she said like hey look super angry hey look there's a lot of people waiting here you're asking too many questions yada yada and it was just this overall feeling of anxiety this just stressed out feeling of the whole situation that I don't know I mean maybe it was it was the post office it was busy I get it um people just want to get out of there but at the same time it was like it was almost like when I don't
• 04:30 - 05:00 understand everything in Vietnamese there's a sense of bliss in that ignorance and being able to understand everything that's going on around me I'm able to understand that frustration I'm able to pick up on everything around me almost like I can EES drop on every single conversation and there's a little bit of Stress and Anxiety that comes with that it's a very hard thing to explain but I definitely thought that was worth mentioning as well and if I'm being honest there's sort of a Stress and
• 05:00 - 05:30 Anxiety that goes into just a lot of the tasks here and I'm not sure maybe that's related to the high price of things maybe it's related to a general attitude of people here in the country but there definitely does seem to be a higher stress level another big thing too about leaving what now feels like my home Saigon really feels more like my hometown than Los Angeles or something California does Riverside was never
• 05:30 - 06:00 really my home I I would come out here every other weekend to like visit my grandparents visit mom whatnot but there's still like a HomeTown sort of feeling to Riverside as well for me anyways Saigon definitely feels like my hometown now and part of like what's weird about that is I really miss obviously miss my girlfriend and really miss my friends there cuz those are those are my close friends now and there's sort of like a a disconnected
• 06:00 - 06:30 feeling to my friends and peers out here my friends and peers out here are getting married they're having families I'm 34 I'm traveling I'm doing things a little bit differently with my life and there just seems to be a bit of like a I guess I'm missing out on some things or I feel just a little bit disconnected where I feel very much like close to my friends in Saigon those are my people now going out and like meeting new people around here seems a little bit
• 06:30 - 07:00 more strained when you go out and you see like an expat or a foreigner in Vietnam there's sort of like an instant connection like oh we're both out here we're both journeying around the world we can easily relate about that and connect on that people here it's like why are you talking to me you know this is what's the point of this interaction type thing I don't really want to emphasize that too much cuz I think to a large degree that's Case by case and if if you're generally a personable person
• 07:00 - 07:30 or you have an outgoing personality that's not so much of an issue but it does feel a little bit easier to make friends and be social in Vietnam I'll mention too on the negatives is that there's a last call here in California so 2: a.m. if you're going out to a bar or you want beer or whatever 2 a.m. is the cut off uh that doesn't exist in Saigon you can get beer 24/7 alcohol 24/7 and there's always somewhere to go go out if you want to party that's
• 07:30 - 08:00 becoming less of an issue for me as I get older cuz I'm just less prone to like staying out for really late nights but still something I thought was worthy of mentioning another thing that's worthy of mentioning if you guys are liking this video go ahead and leave a like on the video subscribe to the channel it really does help out the channel and I really do appreciate it another thing I wanted to point out no bedday here no bum gun just this toilet paper so when I'm over here I'm not not actually going right now but when I'm
• 08:00 - 08:30 here I'm looking for the bum gun it ain't here and to be honest with you it feels a little bit cleaner using a bum gun versus just using toilet paper another sort of negative in terms of the reverse culture shock I'll show you one more thing I'm in the house yeah shoes in the house shoes in the house another like cleanliness thing um just like the bedet being a little more clean for your body shoes in the house a little bit less
• 08:30 - 09:00 clean for the house those are two things that you definitely get used to when you're living in Asia kicking those shoes off when you get in the house and then using the bum gun on your butthole and I will say something too um change of location by the way I'm in Manhattan Beach it's where my dad lives I will say overall this is a very safe neighborhood but in terms of like the general feeling of safety overall here in America I do think it's a little bit lower I don't know I can't really pin point exactly where that's coming from
• 09:00 - 09:30 there's an overall sense of it's a little bit more dangerous here I'm not like super paranoid I'm not like oh my God something bad's going to happen to me at all times strangers and people in Vietnam they seem to just be a little bit more like friendly um Everything feels just a little bit safer I don't know it's hard for me to pinpoint that exactly and it's almost kind of sad to admit that because I don't want America to feel like this place that's I don't know unsafe and it's not really
• 09:30 - 10:00 generally very safe you're fine no problem but if I have to be honest there's a smidge of like this a little bit sketchy but yeah anyways those are those are the negatives in terms of the reverse culture shock all right so that was a lot of negatives let's get to some of the positives overall it is cleaner generally more organized here like you just look at the the streets here you don't see like garbage on the side of the street um everything's kind
• 10:00 - 10:30 of more neat and well put together which is I think what what draws a lot of people who aren't from the US they see pictures of it and they see that and they're like wow that looks really nice and superficially that is sort of nice going to the grocery store everything's nice and neat you can find everything easily it's all in English uh one of my big things at the grocery store is I can get like any Mexican food I want
• 10:30 - 11:00 tortillas enchilada sauces Salsas even I found like soap base which are like little corn cakes for the type of food I like and that I grew up with it's much easier to find all that here in America but the the main positive feeling and really the whole purpose of coming back to America for this visit is being able to see my family being able to spend really special moments with my family that take on like a more special and more significant sort of feeling because
• 11:00 - 11:30 they're so infrequent and I know that I have to really like Savor each moment and cherish each Mo each moment because I don't know if it's going to be the last moment you just when you're gone for so long and you're on the other side of the world it's not that easy to just hop on like a 15-hour plane and like it's like a 24-hour trip to get here so then when you see friends from back here your peers from back here almost doing anything back here it takes on like an extra special significance and there's something kind of beautiful
• 11:30 - 12:00 about that and something definitely worth noting about that where Everything feels just a little bit more special because you're not sure how often you're going to be able to do it so you don't really take it for granted like you would if you were like living here so one thing I do want to say is that I'm just super grateful to spend the time that I'm spending back here if for nothing else really for those moments of seeing and spending quality time with my dad my mom my grandma my Aunts Uncles
• 12:00 - 12:30 Cousins being able to soak in moments of my hometown in Redondo Beach spend time in Manhattan Beach with my dad come out here to Riverside where I spent a lot of time growing up as a kid being able to soak in those moments just feels feels really good feels really special and uh it's definitely not something just to be taken for granted and I I'm really really happy I was able to have the opportunity to do do this for those of
• 12:30 - 13:00 you who are interested I know that this been a kind of a common question in my last video especially uh I will be returning to Vietnam this is just a visit I'll be coming back in early May so I'll be out here um I'll be doing some videos out here but mainly I want to spend the time to like really take in those moments with family and not stress so much about pumping out a ton of content but in a lot of ways it's sort of like I don't
• 13:00 - 13:30 know I I feel like I miss Vietnam a lot being back here in in America I almost feel like Brooks in the Shaw Shank Redemption where he he's like he gets his freedom I mean this is a weird analogy or a weird comparison but I almost feel like uh where he he comes out of sha shank and he's like oh I wish they' just send me back so I could see my friends I'm kind of looking forward to coming back to Vietnam
• 13:30 - 14:00 uh so that I can see my friends and my people and also where it just feels more of like an adventure and going out and vlogging just seems way more like all right yes there's a there's a really cool and interesting thing to do um here's some really good street food I can go try so being here sort of feels like I'm this energy is being pent up and I'm like really eager to get back out there and and film like a lot more stuff in Vietnam so that's that's
• 14:00 - 14:30 exciting but yeah I I mean definitely reverse culture shock is a thing I would say it's even a stranger feeling than the sort of culture shock or the differences that I experienced when I moved from America to Vietnam and I think a lot of that has to do with how happy I am living in Vietnam and how I left America to go live in Vietnam and when I come back here it's more like leaving what I feel like is now my hometown and where I'm happy to come
• 14:30 - 15:00 back here but nonetheless it is an important thing to do and it's something that I definitely do cherish in certain ways one more thing I got to mention this isn't this would be more on the positive side of things I'm wearing a sweater and I'm comfortable it's a temperate climate it's definitely different than that humid basically tropical climate you're getting in Saigon I sort of like a little bit colder weather so for me I'm going to notch that in the uh the positive
• 15:00 - 15:30 section of reverse culture shock I'm sure my experience is different than everyone else some of you have visited Vietnam and come back to America or lived in Vietnam and come back to America or even just spend time in another country and come back to America or your other Home Country and you've noticed different sorts of reverse culture shock I'm really interested to hear what you've experienced and the unique sorts of things that are different to you e Better or Worse about being abroad and then coming back definitely interested in your
• 15:30 - 16:00 perspective and what sorts of things that you think would be shocking after a return to your home country after being abroad for so long but anyways guys I really hope you like that video if you did like the video click the like button subscribe to the channel to support the growth and leave any comments you have I'm really happy to hear from yall and I'll see you all in the next Vlog peace