Perceptions

I chose this title because living in a different culture people perceive many things so differently. Some things I have adapted to here in Thailand and other things I just can't understand how they perceive things that way.

One simple thing is how they perceive the size of a person. I am actually considered fat in Thailand compared to the Thai people. When I buy clothes on the street I often have to buy at least a medium and sometimes a large. I was so thankful to go back to America for a few weeks so I could have a change of perspective for a few days. In America, everything I bought needed to be a small or x-small so I was feeling quite good :) Almost everyone who saw me told me how good I looked and that was certainly a change from being told or thought of as fat. I have actually adapted to that difference in perception and it doesn't really bother me at all anymore.

The culture here is also very different in how they perceive education. Students copy a friend's homework and think nothing of it. My guess would be for about every 10 students 1 student does the work and the rest copy. The student that does the work doesn't mind and i don't think any of them view it as cheating or anything bad. The teachers that check the work obviously don't care either because at least 10 students have the exact same answer word for word. It really drives me crazy but I guess it works for this culture. Everyone does it and I really think it would be impossible to change their mindset about it. I like that in America students (overall) think for themselves and have lots of different ideas. Here it is like a mind of a robot. Everyone thinks/memorizes the same thing and nobody has any ideas especially outside of the box.

Thai people are very very very polite! They have a special greeting that you always do for those older than you to show respect and they have a special word that they end their statements with that doesn't have any meaning it is just polite. I really love that about Thailand. My 2 week visit to America was a real eye opener for me. Americans are not polite (overall). My perspective changed. I always thought America was a fairly polite country but after going back for 2 weeks I don't think so. Maybe my perception has just changed because I have been living in an overly polite culture for 2 years.

I could write about so many things but I think that is enough for one post. When you live in another culture your perception of people and things often change.