What is the biggest culture shock you have ever faced?
I worked in Japan for 6 months. There, I met a girl who’s also from Croatia. We became really close friends. Besides her, I also met a Japanese guy who became our best friend there. We were going out together, having fun, talking a lot, and giving each other advice.
One day, he came to us and told us he wants to bring us to meet his family (which he hasn’t seen for over a year). We were in shock. And honored, at the same time. We agreed.
The two of us met him around 5pm. He told us, before we go to meet his family, he has a surprise for us. He took us to a place where you can rent a kimono, they did our hair, we chose a kimono we liked and were ready to go.
I can’t explain how special both of us felt. He knew how much we wanted to wear a kimono, and he made our wish come true - although we never asked for it.
We were set to go. Excited. Thrilled. On our way, he started telling us the story about his relationship with his parents. It was complex. He was so nervous, shaking, thinking this dinner will be a total disaster. We calmed him down a bit.
We came in front of the house. The two of us were practicing our Japanese greetings, because his family didn’t speak English. We knew some basic Japanese, but definitely not enough to hold a conversation. We were also a little bit nervous.
We rang the bell. His mom opened and saw the two of us bowing and greeting her in our kimonos. I can’t find words to explain how happy she was seeing us like that. It was the most genuine smile I’d seen in a long time.
After meeting all of his family (mom, step dad, 2 sisters and a brother-in-law), we sat and started eating and chatting a little bit.
Dinner was delicious, so I (insecurely) said “Oishii”, meaning delicious.
His mom said “UKUSNO”. What? That’s Croatian for delicious. My friend and I looked at each other and started laughing in confusion.
That’s when his mum picked up a notebook she held behind her. Opened it and showed us Croatian words that she and her husband were practicing for us.
The notebook was full: dobro veče (good evening), kako si (how are you), kako se zoveš (what’s your name), etc.
I was speechless. The two of them came that day from work, probably tired and they found time (besides preparing us an amazing dinner) to learn some Croatian.
I don’t think many people would do it. I didn’t even think about learning something new in Japanese to prepare myself for this dinner… but they did.
A little bit later, his sister (she left the room for some time) came back and gave us the drawings she made of both of us. These drawings were beautiful. And we were again surprised. We couldn’t thank them enough. I couldn’t remember the last time I felt so good, or laughed as much as I did with them. The energy that night, the kindness of these people, the relief in our friend’s eyes when he realized that this dinner is everything he needed, it just can’t be described.
I don’t think I will ever see people who are as nice and polite as Japanese. It definitely made me a better person.
Thank you all so much! You made my day!
Here is the picture of me with the drawing his sister made. I changed back to my clothes here, because it was too hot and too tight.
Thank you all again