At this point, foreigners have settled into their new homes and some of the shine of the initial romance of living abroad has worn off. They may be starting to see some problems that they were able to ignore in the early days.
Foreigners in the distress stage may feel like they don’t understand or feel at-one with the locals. They may say things like: “Why can’t Thai people just tell me how they feel?” “Why is every dish so spicy?” or “ Why does mai pen rai mean so many different things?”