Culture Shock--Usa Yamagami

This time, I would like to talk about culture shock regarding buses. 

First, there was the day when the buses that come only once every 30 minutes did not come. That was two days in a row. I was indeed frustrated because it was quite hard to keep waiting for the bus in the cold weather and on top of that, I would be late for class. I asked my host mother and she told me to look at the online sites. When I looked, I found that there were no more buses available at the time I wanted to use, due to the driver's illness. In Japan, a substitute driver is always provided and the bus comes without delay, so I was surprised that New Zealanders are fine with buses not showing up and not getting angry. But I couldn't help it, so I checked the website every day and took an earlier bus. 

However, what irritated me most was that one day the bus left earlier than scheduled. I left my house to be at the bus stop before the scheduled time, but I couldn't catch the bus and that made me late for class. I think that if a bus arrives at a stop earlier than scheduled, it should stop there until it is on time. But I thought this is the difference between the Japanese who care too much about time and the New Zealanders who are not bound by time. In other words, the difference between Japanese with high Uncertainty Avoidance and New Zealanders with low Uncertainty Avoidance. Since then, I have been leaving my house to arrive at the bus stop five minutes early. 

This is my culture shock experience in New Zealand. 

(288words)