Tuesday, July 9, 2013

International Habits I Picked Up

Being almost 24/7 with people from 13 different countries aside from mine for about a year developed some habits in me.

The Italian gesture
When I feel like saying WTF, I do this sign:


Cooking rice like pasta
Boil rice in a pan with lots of excess water, just like you boil pasta. I do it when I'm too lazy watching over the pot and when I don't want to scrub the pot.

Adding salt to rice
Just like how my friend from Ghana would do it.

Greetings by kisses
On the cheeks, like the Dutch and most Latin people. Twice, and sometimes three times.

Words in other languages
In Paris, I had the habit of saying bonjour, sil vous plait, mademoiselle, monsieur, and merci even to my friends (and none of them are French). In Sweden, we often say hej hej and tack as well. Also, I would greet my Spanish speaking friends with ¿cómo estás and thank them with muchas gracias. And occasionally, I would spit out chingao.

Forks and knives on the table

Instead of spoon and forks. I'm kind of used to eating rice with a fork now. Not very intuitive for me, but it works.

Sunbathing
I still don't like sunbathing but I would occasionally join my friends for a sunbathing session.

"What did you learn today?"
It is a phrase that my dear German friend would ask at the dinner table.

Late lunch and late dinner
In the Latin culture, lunch is at 3 PM and dinner is at 10 PM. Fortunately, this did not happen too frequently.

0 comments:

Post a Comment

Comments are welcome, but please comment responsibly :)