Talked with Friends Yesterday about Some Cultural Differences

Yesterday, my roommate and I entertained a friend who had just come back to Botswana from China. We cooked for him. After eating, we talked around the table. It is a rare but rewarding conversation, which doesn't happen these days.

We talked about the food that he ate back at home during his holiday in China.
We talked about how scarce the things that you can have a bite here in Botswana.

We talked about the people in Botswana, black and white, and those in China.
We talked about the weather, air and sky and their difference between that in China and that in Botswana.

What he said made me nostalgic. The good thing is that I am going to leave for China in February, which not that far away. I will experience what he has experienced, but with a little bit of difference, because I live in the countryside in a different place.

He talked about the changes that China and Chinese people are experiencing. He mentioned how his parents are using WeChat on smartphones all day everyday without looking away.

I can imagine and sympathize with him because each time I went to see my parents in the past I was always see no less of surprises.

If he, one who comes from one of the big cities in China, was surprised, I am sure I can get my mind boggled even more. That is the difference between the urban area and the countryside in China.

Now that we mentioned about cultural difference, we must also talk about the different categories.

1. As talked about before, the difference between the city and the country within the same province;

2. The difference between cities in the same country (no of much if you must say);

In China, all cities grow similar with each other. And even some were built after some modern cities around the world. When I first went abroad to South Korea, I didn't find much of a difference in it from Shanghai. Maybe that is why I didn't learn much about the local cultures there, no more than what I see on Korean TV plays, that are put on throughout the TV stations of China.

3. The difference between the North and the South, the East and the West within the same country;

There is much cultural differences between the North and the South of China. I firstly experienced this difference when I went to college.

I grew up in the North, so to speak, until I graduated from high school. I lived my entire adult life in the South, however, studying and working.

I grew up eating steamed bread as the staple food. In the south, people eat rice instead.

People speak different languages in the South.

They cook foods in different styles.

4. The difference between home and abroad.

This category might be of the biggest difference among the above. People in different countries speak different languages, cook different foods, and even think in a different way.

Thinking differently sometimes causes problems. But when you agree with it, you are going to love it. And talking with people from different cultures is amazing, making yourself an open-minded person.

Being able to have come to other countries have expanded my horizon, thanks to the companies that I worked with and sent me abroad.

I should also thank the fact that I learned English.