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Typical scenario on return
The returning expatriate is often faced with the following situation on 
return to the home country:
I’ve changed
↓
Home’s changed
↓
No one seems to care
↓
Who wants to know anyway?
Reverse culture shock
When one goes to live and work overseas, there is usually an expectation 
that life will be different in the new culture and some form of pre- departure 
training or briefing may be organized prior to the commencement of the 
new assignment. Reverse culture shock experienced on repatriation is often 
unanticipated. It is accentuated by the fact that most people expect that 
life in the home country will be the same as before. They expect to be able 
to move back into the community, renew friendships, re- establish contacts 
and fit easily into their former lifestyle. However, reality may well be very 
different, for the following reasons:
friends may have moved;
people are not interested in what they have experienced overseas;
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Selection and Preparation for Foreign Assignments 119
some resentment or jealousy may be encountered at work about their 
time overseas;
their new appointment may lack comparable status and scope with what 
they experienced overseas;
few attempts may be made to debrief them on their overseas experience 
or contacts;
family members (especially children) may encounter difficulties in 
re- adjusting.
Returnees are often surprised and disorientated when they find that their 
home country does not live up to their expectations and that the idealized 
home country of their memories is, in reality, very different. Reverse culture 
shock impacts on all members of the family and can result in the following 
behaviour patterns:
alienation: negative feelings about the home culture;
reversion: denial that important personal changes have taken place as a 
result of their period overseas;
integration: difficulty experienced in fitting back into the home cul-
ture as a result of the changes in lifestyle and outlook experienced 
abroad.