I've been meaning to write this for quite a while now, so I figured it was time for me to sit my arse down and get down to it and I find it a wee-bit ironic that as I'm sitting here and trying to write this, Bruno Mars' "The Lazy Song" is cheering me on...
As you probably can deduce with those awesome Sherlock Holmes skills of yours, it was quite a cultural shocker coming to the UK.
I can honestly say that I haven't met nicer and more friendly people than the Brits. It doesn't matter who you approach to ask for directions or whatever, you will be helped. People actually go out of their way to try and help you and that's definitely not something I'm used to. It makes for a nice change, it's just too bad that I've been damaged by my semi-Danish upbringing. I'm way too picky as to whom I'll ask for directions and I'm always suspicious of the people I ask, it's almost like I've decided that they have less honorable intentions as to why they're helping me. I know, paranoid much?! I need to lay of the horror films and stop re-playing the theme from Jaws in my head!
...time for another story from real life...
It was a cold, windy and very rainy afternoon, two girls set out to find the nearest computer and gadget store...*enter dramatic music*
Nah, just kidding. We went looking for one, because Sarah's computer practically went up in flames, so being two girls with little or no flair for computers, we decided to seek the help of computer wizards in a land far far away. Once we entered Curry's PC-World, an employee of the store spotted us and went straight for us. We had literally just entered the store and there he was, all ready to help us. Albeit we did look completely soaked and probably lost, I hadn't imagined that within two seconds a person would drop everything in his hands in order to help us. It turned out that the computer couldn't be salvaged, the guy then spent almost half an hour with us to try and find out, if a Danish computer could be shipped to their store or if we could purchase a Danish keyboard online. That guy went out of his way to try and fix our problem, I'm not that gullible that I don't know that he was also trying to make a sale, but it was still very nice for him to go to some lengths in order to help us. So if the short Asian bloke is reading this - a very big thank you!
So an interesting fact, Brits don't greet by handshake, this gesture is seen as being very business-y, so whenever I greet somebody, I have to keep that in mind. I'm not the biggest people person out there, and I can honestly say, I really dislike touching random people, but I don't feel like I've greeted the person, unless a handshake has been exchanged. This has been difficult for me and I have to admit that I've forgotten this and sometimes this has resulted in many strange looks. I mean, c'mon - you don't know that you won't be doing business with me in the future, and then what? Should I shake you hand after all those years, let's just get that big boy out of the way right now!
What's more interesting and very peculiar, if you were to try to understand the two things in extention to one another, is that Brits stand very close to one another. A distance of 2 feet (oh no! I've been in this country too long, I've forgotten my beloved Metric system!), as I was saying a distance of 0.5 metres is kept between one another, and that's extremly close! I mean, if you were standing any closer, you'd be in my lap! I was told that personal space is very important and it's probably true for most people, but how much personal space can you have within 0.5 metres? So it's all very odd. People don't want to shake your hand, but they want you to stand in their grills - yeah, that totally makes sense!
What's more hilarious is that I can't get it right, I want (well, not want, but you get it) to shake hands, but as soon as someone enters my space, I immediately back up, and I catch myself doing it, I instinctively arch my back away from the person. It's quite the conundrum!
So to all of you, who prefers handshakes and maybe 1 metre of distance (or maybe even 0.75 metres) - it's all good! Unless you're in Britain, then tug away that devilish hand of yours and remember, it's 2.5 feet and not 0.75 metres! ;)
-xoxo-
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