This journey of life is a life of growth and insight. The increasing exposure to the difference in the way life is done in the West having come from an Asian context for more than 20 years of my life has shown me that self-expression in particular is much more celebrated here.
With self-expression comes many forms of art and creativity since art is about the various creative ways of expression. Below is a photo taken in an outdoor exhibition area at Tottenham Court Road station. It was a photography exhibition showing the best of London in the cultures captured in pictures.
Today, I experienced something culturally different while in London. While I was on my way home after doing some grocery shopping, a guy while driving, pulled down his window and said “beautiful” while looking at me in a rather genuine manner not to poke fun or disturb me. I looked around me immediately and back at him realising he was speaking to me. I expressed my confusion by looking at him in a puzzled manner. And he mentioned that I was beautiful at least 4 more times till I acknowledged and said thank you. And that was when he drove off. This was the first time I experienced anything like this — never in any part of Asia (especially Hong Kong and Singapore), nor in Sweden while on exchange. People in these parts of the world tended to mind their own business.
I came back to my accommodation meeting some friends telling them of this very incident. And Ionut mentioned and observed that people in London express themselves very openly. If asked how they felt, they would share and need not be taught to do so. In his own personal experience, he shared how he needed to guide a Chinese asian friend to speak more openly about how he felt. There used to be frustration but not anymore as he came to be more aware of their communicative habits. We reflected and noticed that a simple response of “good” would be received if asked how someone felt in the Asia context. And let’s not speak of openly complimenting someone in a rather reserved culture. There might even be cultural implications if done in a distasteful manner. It’s interesting… that as I observe the world around me… I’m growing! I was told that as an Asian, I am more expressive than most multiple times and was ever told that I might have been from America, associated with more open and transparent forms of expression. But the funny thing is up to now, I have never stepped in US soil. And a friend commented, “I cannot wait for you to be there and am excited to see what you think”. This discovery has been rather fun!
p.s. I spoke to another friend in London and she mentioned that she experienced something very similar. While being on her holiday in New York, a guy who had a partner came up to her to let her know that she was a beautiful lady to genuinely compliment her and left as soon as the compliment was given