Sunday, July 04, 2010

Perspective Change?

I've been wanting to write about this interesting topic since ages ago, but only now I remembered again ha ha ha ha...OK, imagine a tomboy girl living in Indo. She's really a tomboy that she doesn't like looking too "girly". Thus she doesn't like the idea of padded bras (any kind of padded bras). She thinks that it's disturbing if she makes her chest look bigger on purpose. She actually shivers just at the thought of wearing bras that would make her chest look bigger.

Fast forward 10 years. She's now moved abroad and she finds herself a western hubby. She's found her femininity and she becomes more in touch with her "girl powers". She now wants to look as pretty and nice as possible for the hubby, so now she likes padded bras.

However, what's interesting is that when we both saw the "before" and "after" picture of some girl who's done breast implants, she now thinks that the "after" picture is better than the "before" one 'coz in the "before" picture, the girl's chest is small.

In the past, when she still lived in Indo, the community doesn't really think that big chest is all THAT big of a deal. After all, most Asian ladies have smaller chest than westerners. However, after living in a western world for about 10 years, she has changed her perspective. She was even at one time thinking that having breast implants would be a welcome idea (though that doesn't mean she's going to have breast implants - the bottom line is the change of perspective on chest size).



Isn't it interesting how society can change our perspective? After living in Finland for 3 years and 3 months, here are the contrast of cultures I've noticed after having submerged myself in Finnish culture:

1. Indonesians "care too much" about other people's business. They ask too many unimportant questions - that are none of their business, such as: "When's your turn to get married?", "When are you going to have your child?", "When are you going to give a little bro/sis to your first child?, etc.

It is good in a way that the culture looks "warm" 'coz they do talk and chit-chat with their neighbours, whereas here in Finland it's a "colder" culture where neighbours just say hi without talking too much about their personal lives. However, too much is too much and I think Indonesians should learn to somewhat "back off" before asking too many annoying questions.

2. Indonesians are far too loud people. Yeah, 'coz Finnish people are basically MUCH MUCH quieter than them.

3. Indonesians care too much about "outer appearance". That's why it's far easier to sell a trend there than here in Finland. For example: over here not many people have iPods or Blackberries or something like that, but in Indo there are SO many people who use it. I remember when I still lived in Indo, the pressure about outer appearance was SO huge that even though I couldn't care less about all those things, but I could feel it all around me.

4. In Indo, you can visit your neighbours/relatives without asking first. You can just drop by unannounced, but over here it seems rude to do so.

5. Now I'm used to eating pulla or sweet bread with coffee; (rice or wheat) porridge with sugar, berries, and yoghurt; and ruispalat (dark bread).

6. I've never been invited to any wedding parties here - whereas if I'm still living in Indo, I bet during 3 years I'll have been invited to at least a dozen wedding parties of my relatives or friends. In Indo, the more friends/relatives/coworkers/church friends you have, the more wedding invitations you'll get.



OK, I won't make this post too long. Just wanna share some POVs and now it's time to blog-hop. Tomorrow I have to get up early to go to work and it's going to be my first long day (8-hour shift), but the good thing is that I will only work again on Fri and Sat. WHOOOOPPPEEEE!!! :-D

4 comments:

  1. Hahahaha!! Too true!!! well, except the part where you can visit without asking..coz people do it all the time here. Kinda annoying! hahaha =P

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  2. Shinta: Oh yeah? That's interesting that over there it's also considered normal to barge in somebody's house unannounced he he...

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  3. Yup...awalnya gw juga bingung karena setau gw in other parts of europe..it's considered rude. But then again, orang2 di sini lebih nyante..

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  4. Shinta: Menarik juga yah he he he...tapi kebayang sih bisa agak bete kalo ujug2 ada tamu tak diundang tuh...apalagi kalo udah biasa budaya tamu tuh telepon dulu sebelom dateng. Satu2nya tempat yang kita kunjungin tanpa kita telepon tuh paling rumah mertua gua.

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