What's Normal?

It's tempting to go to a foreign country thinking they should just be reasonable, and act like you! It's not recommended, though.

A conversation from my walk to the office with the guys yesterday will illustrate one of the "interesting" differences we've encountered.

You may realize that crossing the street is a daily adventure here for us expatriots. (If you need a definition of that last word, it's a person working in a country that's neither his country of birth nor his nationality.) Somehow Alain is much better at it, and accordingly, much more comfortable doing it. We were mentioning that the other two of us just try to cross with him, when I quipped, "Yes, if it were culturally appropriate, I would grab on to Alain whenever we were crossing. Wait, you could do that, Steve!" At which we all had a good laugh.

What you need to know is that it's inappropriate for an unmarried man and woman to have any physical contact. (Perhaps a man could offer his hand to help a woman with a difficult step; I think that's true.) Married couples don't show any physical affection publicly. But it's quite acceptable for a couple men to hold hands or touch each other casually. It indicates nothing but a friendship. As you would guess, this has been a tough adjustment for the guys, though it feels natural to the Indians they are befriending.

Awkward for us? Yes. Wrong? Who says?