How Open?
Case 1°
One day, my friend said to me, "Oh I'm going to xxx for holiday with my boyfriend." What, Boyfriend?!!! I thought he (yes, it's a he) was joking. I jokingly said, "So are you the girlfriend?" and I bursted out giggling. Yah, I know that's very mean of me, but it's just difficult to accept. He is my friend. Also it's the first time that someone is so open about himself, in this aspect. So I was just surprised. I did took a while to re-organize my thoughts, before I could apologized to him and continued the conversation. I respect him for being confident and open about it.
Case 2°
Another day, it was during a casual conversation that my colleague said, "...those legal fees from my divorce is really killing me..." Hmm...I paused for a while, bit of stunned, re-organized myself again, and I think this time I better keep my mouth shut!
Case 3°
Another one day, I was happily filling up this form for some subscription. Then I came across this field, which asked for my civil status, am I single/married/cohabiting/widowed/ divorced/ separated? Wah, so detailed, they even have an option for cohabitees?!!!
Maybe I am just too naive or maybe too sua-gu... Maybe these situations are rather common and people are more open and receptive to such things in this part of the world, just that I am not aware of it...
Maybe this is what you call culture shock?
3 comments:
Mm... you got to learn to be more sensitive. You are an alien (Japanese use this word in place of foreigner) now in others' country.
i always tell you my friend - you lived too long in singapore...Straits Times dun tell you these kinda stuff even though singapore also have lo.
cheers from hk
yes dear martin, i know ST dont tell me everything...
I believe there are such cases everywhere, even in asia, it's just a matter of whether people are open enough to tell u about it, and it's also a matter of whether the people around are open enough to accept...
my thoughts...
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