11/12/2025
Cultural Differences
One thing everyone who travels to a new country face is CULTURAL SHOCK, from greetings to food to social rules—
everything is different.
And yet, little by little, you adapt.
You learn. You grow.
For me two cultural shock I experienced that I am yet to assimilate fully are;
First, the fact that I need to call people older than my father by their first name. I am still fighting myself for not call them Uncle, daddy, Mr. or Sir 😁. I remember an older got angry when I called him Sir. He was like he isn’t a Sir😁. “My name is Henry”, he said. So make I call 80 years old man Henry? 😳
The second one is not saying SORRY to someone who is hurt. I remember saying sorry to someone who slipped and fell due to water on the floor. Immediately I said sorry, she was like, Josh, you don’t have to say sorry. You didn’t do this, or was it you who spilled the water on the floor without cleaning? at this point she was looking at me like a culprit. I had to quickly deny o, me ke? Pour water on the floor? I left that place before someone will put what I didn’t do on my head. Well, what they expected from me is to say, “be careful” or “Are you alright” (even when I could see that she is not really alright 😜)
🇨🇳🇳🇬🇲🇽🇮🇳🇵🇭
👇 What’s one cultural shock you’ll never forget?
