Interesting cultural experiences
In my previous post, I shared my cultural encounter in Indonesia. And for today, I want to share more interesting stuff with you –
not just culture shock in Indonesia, but all kinds of shocks I got from all sorts of cultures.
In Malaysia, people are colourful. There are a lot of Malay, Chinese, and Indian people plus many other minority races living together and interacting with each other in everyday life. A Chinese family normally has only a few kids, but it’s a norm for a Malay family to have 10 or more kids. It’s quite an interesting contrast in family structure amongst different races. I think this is not a good sign because having too many children means that each child will receive less education. The people of next generation will most likely not live a better life.
Singapore is a country with proper order. Streets are nice and clean, buildings are in good condition, and the transportation system is top notch. It sounds good, but the problem is that Singapore is TOO good. It’s common to see a lot of signboards warning people to behave themselves. Do not jaywalk, do not skateboard, do not ride bike, do not ride motorbike, do not bring flammable things, do not bring durian (a kind of local fruit), do not smoke etc.
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Other than these WTF signs, hidden cameras and videos are installed everywhere to monitor people. I’m not joking when I say that you can see hundreds of security cameras on the ceiling of each MRT station (Singaporean subway). It’s bad when there’s little law enforcement to keep things safe, but when it’s overdone, it becomes like “The Big Brother is watching you”.
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A proud Singaporean once asked me if I feel safe in Singapore. My response was a firm NO! I’m not afraid of criminals in Singapore, but I’m afraid of the government’s role in ordinary folk’s everyday life. You will get what I mean if you watch the movie Enemy of The States, where the government uses technology to keep track of people. The government is the watchman, and the main question is who watches the watchman? Is there a check and balance mechanism? I’m not sure if I can live comfortably in this nanny state.
Another order freak nation is Germany. Unlike in Singapore, the Germans don’t need to be forced to behave well, because order itself is an essential value of German culture. But sometimes their order can be quite funny from other culture’s perspective. The Germans value privacy and quiet Sunday. To keep things in such order, people are not allowed to wash cars on Sunday because it makes noise and disturbs the neighbourhood’s peace. Bathing at night is discouraged because it might disturb the neighbours. Most shops are forced to close on Sunday because Sunday shopping is strongly opposed by the churches. You can bet that it’s pretty boring on German Sundays.
I find the German’s philosophy of eating quite interesting. Eating is like “adding fuel” – just to keep them going and not much about indulgent. They always eat very hard bread (super hard in Asian standard). Hard bread is good for the teeth, can be preserved for a long time, and get digested slowly so that the eater doesn’t get hungry too soon. But it’s hardly enjoyable, which is like chewing a rock. Also: why the Germans like to eat salted butter bread is beyond my understanding.
Many Germans place a plain chunk of meat called Fleischkäse or Leberkäse in a hard bread and eat it everyday for lunch. Luckily there are Turkish kebab shops in Germany that sell delicious Döner Kebeb as alternative food. Despite the hard bread, you can still find some nice German food. Traditional food in Schwäbisch region and Bavarian white sausage with sweet mustard are highly recommended.
That’s all for today’s cultural sharing. Next time I’ll tell you about other spicy culture shocks I experienced while travelling around the globe. Do you know that the Finnish consume the most coffee in the world?
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{ 8 comments… read them below or add one }
as always, interesting write up.
i feel safe in singapore actually, probably because i dont go there often.
the germans, hmm probably because hitler once ruled over that country haha.
well, malaysia is plain simple lol =)
kenwooi’s last blog post..YouthSays’ Sign Up Nuisance
Interesting…
I agree with you about the state of S’pore, although you feel safe from criminals but you can’t help but wonder if the government is watching over your shoulder as well. The end of the citizen’s privacy.
As for Gernans, they are really very much in control of themselves, no?
Angie Tan’s last blog post..Waiting…
hmmm….i’m gobbling down the info that you’ve posted. much like a hard rock. but it seems, cultures out of bolehland (malaysia) is kinda funny. especially the germans. i didnt know about it till today.
calvin’s last blog post..The world loves black
I guess there’s always something unique with the culture of every country. I kinda like Singapore despite them overdoing things : )
foongpc’s last blog post..Guess This Song And Win!
It seems like Jackie Chan commented about Singaporeans recently….
@ German
Haha The Germans don’t like him actually.
@ Angie Tan
They are like disciplinarians but lazier than us Asians.
@ calvin
Malaysian culture is funny in some ways hehe… such as promising something that cannot be done.
@ foongpc
I like Singaporean girls… Their looks only haha… Lotsa hot chix
That is why Singapore is call the FINE City.
=P
HuiHuiakaTara’s last blog post..Driving Lessons and Gym
Singapore becoming the new england? they also have alot of security cameras, hence ‘big brother’ was coined.
and malays in malaysia have many children because the government subsidizes for them. and to ensure that there will be more malays than other races, so they can keep on controlling malaysia as majority.
german sundays? lol. thats sad…. whole day sleep XD
WayeYoung’s last blog post..Pulling Out (heh!) the Stops on Traditional Medicine
@ HuiHuiakaTara
I wonder how they fine people who don’t flush their toilet bowl.
@ WayeYoung
I think the controlling in Singapore is worse than England.
In England, the people have the spine to break the cams.