Blog Assignment 3

When I just came to America, there was a phenomenon which made me confused. That is, every time when strangers meet, they would say “hi” to each other. The first time an American said “hi” to me, I shocked and replied nothing. I just wondered why they were so friendly that they could greet a stranger at that time. After reading this article, I learned that that was just a simple way of acknowledging another person’s presence. But I think this is a good way to show friendliness. However, in China, my hometown, such greeting to a stranger will be regarded as weirdness and abnormality. Usually Chinese won’t greet any person they don’t know.

Another phenomenon I feel different is the eye contact when talk with other people. In America, people talk to each other with a lot eye contact, which makes me feel uncomfortable. But if I want to show confidence and attention to the person I’m talking with, I have to stare at their eyes. It seems to be opposite in China. We only stare at other people’s eyes when we are angry or we are peers. However, when we talked to parents or grandparents, whoever is senior to us, we cannot stare at their eyes, which can show our politeness.

These are the two differences I’ve found between my hometown and America. Then I’m going to talk about the similarities of these two countries. People in both countries like to smile at each other to show friendliness, raise eyebrows to express shock and surprise, grimace to convey pain, disgust disapproval, and they have almost the same personal space to talk with each other. These similarities make me feel at home.

Above all, although there are so many differences among countries and cultures, there are still similar things which make people feel that the whole world is just a global village.