Understanding and acknowledging the cultural differences between people from various cultural backgrounds is a tool that most of us has to equip ourselves with. This is because we might never know when we will be put into situations where we have to deal with the people outside our community. We must always be aware that what is common to us might be perceived as strange to others. Therefore, knowing and respecting the diverse cultural differences can be just what it takes to avoid unnecessary conflicts.
This topic reminds me of what happened during this Chinese New Year. I was not able to celebrate it with my family back in Malaysia due to the overwhelming response of the air tickets. Devastating as it was, I still took it positively as it was a totally different experience. However, something great actually happened few days later. One of my hall’s officers actually invited me to her house for lunch during the second day of Chinese New Year.
That day, I reached the place quite early. After several attempts to locate the correct unit, I finally stood in front of the right door, sweating and panting. I knocked on the door several times and to my surprise, an uncle answered the door. Initially, I thought I got the wrong door. However, I was fast enough to catch a glimpse of my officer behind the huge figure. In the midst of feeling relieved, I quickly extend my handshake expecting the same in return. However this was not the case. I noticed there was a change in expression on the uncle’s face, a change as if he was expecting something other than a handshake. Both of us stood by the door expecting a different thing in return. It was that time my officer came forward and whispered into his ears. After that, the uncle shook my hands and left. Throughout that afternoon, I was left wondering what actually happened. Before I left, I approached my officer’s parents and thank them for the great meal. In return, they gave me two mandarin oranges. Only at that instance I realised that it was a culture to exchange oranges during Chinese New Year in Singapore. Before I left, I explained to them that I was not aware of the culture and was really sorry for that.
Although they did not put that in mind, it was definitely something that I would never forget! I learnt that it was really important to know the cultural differences to avoid needless conflicts and misunderstandings.
