Cultural Shock??

Source: google.com (can be seen in Melbourne)

Source: google.com (seen in Bhutan)

I really did get a cultural shock when I first came to Melbourne. Everything looked so different from what I have seen and been to. I have never been out of my home country for more than 3 weeks. 3 weeks is just enough to have explored new places, tried new things and just you are starting to miss your home, you are back in town. Departing to Melbourne has been toughest for me especially because this was my first separation after the birth of my beautiful daughter. Well, that is another long story altogether, perhaps one day I will post about my two years stay at home with my daughter.

Coming back to the point, back in home, I am so used to seeing elderly people chanting Baza guru near the Chorten that I really get surprised when I see people at similar age group going shopping and doing some transactions in the bank. I am not used to leaving a baby in a pram and not pay any attention even when she/he wails. I am not used to sitting across each other in a bus and pretend you don’t care about others. I am not used to people asking me ‘how are you?’ and not waiting for my response. Only later I realized that may be “how are you?” here means “hi”.

It really came as a shock to me when students don’t even care about the presence of the professor in the class. I mean how could they put their feet on the table in an ongoing class? I would not see such behavior back in my home even in our private places. While it was very interesting for me to experience the diversity in the culture and social, it made me appreciate the values that I am being brought up with. I am glad I am from a country where we show respect through our gesture because I feel that only when we feel it in our heart that we will be able to express it. I don’t know if my professor care about it at all but I make an gesture to show my respect to them though it may look ridiculously funny to people who are not used to seeing such rare thing. But this is the person I am molded into and old habit die hard.

(All mentioned above my personal views and thoughts)