Cultural Shock

Cultural shock

        Last Thursday morning, our tutor finished class ahead of time. So we could go to eat our dinner earlier. I waited for my roommate to have dinner together as usual. He came out with his tutor, a woman I thought is a local in Singapore at my first sight. And what happened then proved my guess. My best buddy told me that his tutor was going to have dinner with him. So I said let us went to have dinner together. And the tutor did not refuse me then. That time I just wanted to eat dinner with more people so I can talk more in English. The tutor brought us to Kent Ridge House. I did not mean to have a free dinner before the tutor said she would treat us to a meal. We talked a lot at table and then parted.

Everything just went smoothly in Chinese concept. But today morning, the tutor sent a message to my friend saying that she wanted to see us outside the classroom again when we arrived. We were both confused why she wanted to see me again. And we got up early, took the first bus, reached NUS early, and waited for the tutor. I even felt something bad would happen and I got a little nervous. Then the tutor came.

“Why did you come along?” she said angrily. I was suddenly shocked and did not understand what she had said. She noticed that I was confused. So she asked me again. “Why did you come along with us? You know that your friend is my mentee, and I want to treat them to a meal. So why did you still insist on coming along?” I was totally astonished then and did not know what to say, so did my friend. We just did not know why she was so angry. “What you have done was definitely rude in Singapore. And it showed that you did not respect me.” The tutor continued. We lowered our heads and apologized for our behavior. “We did not mean that” my friend explained, “Because in china, it is very normal.” “But here is in Singapore!” the tutor added.

“Sorry, sorry. We will never do that again.” We both begged for her forgiveness. The tutor said gently finally. “I know that you guys did not mean that, but I still ask you to see me, because I am your tutor, so my duty is to let you know the different culture between Singapore and China. I am going to have class now; the reason why I spare my time to talk with you is that I want you to remember this kind of cultural shock. And never, never do that again.” And the tutor left.

This is the story I want to share with you. And this is the first experience about culture I have had after I came to Singapore. I know that I will meet with more and more this kind of experiences in the future and I will learn a lot from those.