Cultural difference ?

Being able to converse in the core language of both western and eastern, I have uncountable advantages living in Hong Kong. Although the ability of speaking multilanguage back home in Malaysia is no big deal ( as most of us speak at least 2 languages and we converse, at least in my case, more than 1 language in my daily conversation), but here in Hong Kong I'm getting a taste of the benefits I'm gaining :) I never felt more proud than I am now being as a Malaysian, having bred in a multiracial environment. Although my initial thought of going Hong Kong doesn't excite me much because of the similiarity of the culture hence little cultural indifference and cultural exposure or shock that I wanted to experience so much, but spending time with the new European friends (non-AIESEC) sort of make up the little piece of puzzle missing of my traineeship in this canton island , which is a good thing :) The more I spend time with my new made European friends, the more I realized I am more Asian than I thought in so many ways. Very often than not, I must admit I'm not being very Chinese back home in Malaysia in some ways.

With the differences in lifestyle, mindset, way of thinking , way of communicating, culture, family background, in this case, country background , and etc, it takes more patience, tolerance , acceptance than usual to blend in harmonously without causing any conflicts. And I am usually the type of person who wants nothing but to please everyone and try to be a good sport in any occasions. The very crucial cultural lesson I learned in AIESEC is to understand and respect other people's culture especially sensitive issue like religion and belief ( especially with Malay friends around it's a very sensitive issue ). At least if not cultural wise, the basic mannerism of commnicating with people. So when this new friend told me off rudely to ask me to get off her towel when I was back from a swim in the beach , I was caught off guard. I thought my ears was deceiving me when she said " Get off my towel now. I mean it." I took more than few seconds to digest what I've just heard. As if I couldn't believe what I've just heard, she repeated " I'm serious. Get off of my towel now." My other girlfriend pulled me out of the confusion and shock when she saw the incident. I still didn't know what just happened and was too shock to give any reactions. If I'm don't hold myself back , I would have snapped back at her. But I don't want to spoil the atmosphere and the fact we were having so much fun at the beach, so I discarded all the emotions that was swelling up in me. Cultural difference? I don't think so.

But then again, everything happens for a reason. Tough situations or bad incidents might irritates or get your on your nerves, but if we succeed in not letting it hold up to our emotions or let emotions control us, well we learnt and we are moulding ourself to be a much wiser person.

Despite all these, I find myself being more open-minded than I was before towards new things, new people with different characteristics and new environment. And I'm loving it. Differences won't draw you apart, it only make things more interesting that it draw us more closely together.