Off I go to have a cuppa coffee at Cafe L'affare in Wellington, New Zealand... possibly the best coffee in town... the lady comes up to me and in a very loud voice asks, "What do you want?" I guess she's friendly, I guess that's how it's done here, but oh dear... then I go into a shop to buy a banana and the lovely Asian lady behind the counter asks, "Howzit goin'?"... Next I'm off to the supermarket where the guy at the checkout calls me 'mate'... What is with this country? Oh, that's right... we're all equal here, no social hierarchy... no huge difference between old and young... no worries mate... New Zealand is the land where the people who collect trolleys in the supermarket car park consider themselves equal to the doctors and university professors... I first met it when I got off the plane halfway through last year and the guys pushing luggage trolleys chatted to me as if I was his long lost sister!
Please forgive me anyone who hasn't lived in Thailand or other parts of Asia, I've been living for nearly a decade in a land where the social strata is very layered... there I found it hard that people treated me differently because I was a Westerner... an ahjarn (educated person)... older (well, I actually liked that one)... I found it tricky to not thank people when it wasn't necessary... (eg waiters, bar tenders, anyone in any service industry). Also living in a land where if you hear someone shout or raise their voice you wonder what's going on...
Here's a story then...
Isaac and I went for a drive into the country one day (in Thailand) and found a beautiful park. We got out of the car with Kuri, our dog, and proceeded to take her for a walk around the park. Turns out it was a private residence. We found this out by chatting with the lovely lady there who was actually the housemaid/gardener/go-fer for the man who owned the property.
Isaac lost his chain while there, so the next week we went back to have a look for it. The lovely lady was there again and we sat for a while and chatted. She shopped at the same market as I did, so I saw her there a few times as well, we would always stop, hold onto each other's hand and chat, chat, chat... She invited us to come visit whenever we wanted....
Next time I popped over to 'her' place, her boss was there. I smiled at her and went to take her hand and have a good chat, she bowed her head and backed away, not saying a word... her boss came and chatted with me, talked about how he'd developed the land, basically showed off about how much money he had and how much land he owned and 'blah, blah, blah'... from then on she didn't speak to me at the market... guess I crossed over some 'line'....
Now?????? Now, here in New Zealand.... I really don't know where the lines are, if there are any, if not - how to work without them.... after so long of having to learn to live with them... :)
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