Skip to main content

When In Rome...

When in Rome, do what the Romans do.
 That is a generally acceptable saying, honoured by any self respecting individual all around the globe. we try to, at least. Is it really that simple, though?

There are waaay too many downfalls when one tries to follow customs that are not (or not anymore) their own. Lack of knowledge, misunderstanding, old habits, difference in principals and perception, just to mention a few. I am no exception.

I was born and raised in Jakarta, and had spent my first 18.5 years of life there. Then for the following 11.5 years, I made Canada my home. Having moved to a totally different place at that age, not knowing the local culture, I was super lucky to have had people who guided me and supported me through. I was shaped into an individual that I am, I eased into the open western social standards. Or so I think. God knows if I offended anyone during those years.

Now at 30, I'm back at home, living like I was over a decade ago... NOT! I'm not sure if I had forgotten how it was, or if I had so tremendously changed that so many things here actually bother me. The food that I used to miss now makes me sick, my lifestyle totally changes out of fear of family judgements, my personality changes. I'm afraid I have to say that I don't like the person that I'm turning into since I'm here!

I'm starting to think.... do I really need to do this? Are the things that are expected of me here, actually expected by every other normal people? Or is it just expected by my family....... my parents... or even myself and only me? How much of a local culture and custom can one honour, when it's really bothering her?

The answer is yet to be decided. I guess I'll think about it some more...
Labels:

Comments

Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

Nintendo Switch Sleeve Tutorial

Hi! I'm Kirana from woofkiki.blogspot.co.id . I am going to write an introduction for this blog post. We bought a Nintendo Switch in Japan.  I really liked it and played with it almost everyday. If you're wondering what a Nintendo Switch is, it is a video game where you can basically  "switch" everything. The joy-cons and even the game! You can also connect it to your TV. It would be nice to bring it around with you, but when you put it in your bag... Oh no! The screen scratched! So, this is a sleeve that will fix that. Let's get started!😊 Kirana Now the tutorial (by Kirana's mom)... 1. Make your pattern according to the picture below. It is basically a 6"x24" rectangle with a semi circle at one end. Note: this is not a printable pattern 1. Cut your outer fabric, lining, and batting(optional). In this tutorial, I used minky for lining and a pre-quilted fabric for the cover, so I didn't need extra batting. For batting, I recomm...
Post a Comment
Read more

Labuan Bajo 2023 Part 3 - 3 Days 2 Nights Diving Trip With Chakana Liveaboard

  Photo credit: Lukas Rissing @thestudypacker A live-aboard experience is one of the highlights of Labuan Bajo. It has been on my bucket list for a while but every time I tried to go, something just didn't work out.... until now! The opportunity arose to join an impressive-looking boat this year and the dates matched Miss Kiki's holiday perfectly, how could I not take this rare chance! With less than a month to prepare, we booked plane tickets, accommodations, and whatever equipment we thought we might need. So off we flew to Labuan Bajo with little preparation and a lot of faith. ;) You can read the first and second parts of the trip in my previous posts. After we checked out of our hotel on the third day, we went to the pier and hopped on to a dinghy that took us to Chakana Liveaboard, a 47-meter-long phinisi-style yacht that was going to be our accommodation for the next two nights. My heart raced as we approached the pretty boat and spotted a group of staff excitedly wavi...
Post a Comment
Read more

World of Ghibli Exhibition Jakarta 2017

A few months back I received an email about World of Ghibli exhibition in Jakarta. My skeptical brain immediately thought, "Aah, how good could it be... I've visited the museum in Mitaka   and it's probably not going to be any better." Fast forward to August, a few of my Japan loving friends mentioned that rumours said that the displays are very good, made by Indonesians in cooperations with Ghibli representatives from Japan. In fact, so good that the Japanese company plans to take the displays and give them a home in Japan. Well hearing this from several different people definitely piqued my interest and I decided to check it out. It turned out that Miss Kiki and DH also wanted to go so I bought tickets from Traveloka  because they had a sale.  In the morning of our visit day, I asked Miss Kiki if she wanted to dress up as Kiki when she goes and she excitedly said yes. I made her a red bow headband with Cotton and Steel's Supreme Solid in Bandana  ...
Post a Comment
Read more