Two Weeks In: Still On Our Honeymoon

I have a friend, C., who has lived most of his life as an expat, in several different countries.  Upon learning that I was about to become an expat myself, he offered me some advice about what to expect.  Here is my understanding of that advice:

For the first six months or so, you'll go through this honeymoon period, where everything is charming because it's so different.  Everything is interesting and so much fun, because all you can see is the novelty of the culture, the food... the little trinkets that would make such cute souvenirs for all your friends.  It's like being on a never-ending vacation.

Then you start to notice the crappy things about the culture and the place.  Perhaps the locals don't accept you as quickly as you had hoped.  Despite frantic study, your lack of language skills start to become a real handicap as you attempt to go about the chores of daily living. You inevitably compare everything to how things are in the U.S. and think it's so much better back home.  You realize that this is no longer a vacation and that you actually live here.  Profound depression sets in.

After about a year or so, you start communicating with a little fluency.  You've established yourself in various relationships, maybe through classes or a job.  You don't have to struggle so much to accomplish anything because you've started to learn the system.  More importantly, you actually accept how the system works.  Now you begin to enjoy yourself, but as a resident, and not as a tourist.

I've been here two weeks now, and I'm definitely in the honeymoon period.  I take a lot of photos, observe the culture, and sample the food.  Any bumps on the road in moving here have been taken care of by the wonderful folks at our relocation company.  The city is safe (much safer than Memphis), and no one gives foreigners a second look because there are so many expats here.

I think the struggles will begin once we move to our apartment, as it's not in a tourist neighborhood.  Yesterday, A. and I bought a tape measure from a little shop just outside the apartment building, and the shopkeeper did not speak a word of English.  He had to punch in numbers on a calculator to show us the price.  So... first item on my to-do list, maybe even before getting furniture, is to find a Cantonese tutor.