Seeing that we have an hour to spare, we decided to get ourselves a gelato each to enjoy under the scorching sun. We then headed back to the meeting point at the Colosseum 15 minutes earlier so that we don't have to keep the rest of the tour waiting.
However, after 20 minutes passed the meeting time, the tour guide has yet to arrive although a group of 14 tourists have already gathered at the meeting point. Some of the Americans in the tour group as well as the impatient Singaporeans (which was us) started to get annoyed. The hot summer heat exacerbated the situation.
Finally, the tour guide, dressed in a loose fit tee-shirt, bermudas and slippers greeted us with a relaxed and cheerful disposition. He was extremely charismatic and quickly charmed the group. The initial unhappiness was quickly dispelled. He did a quick introduction of himself as well as briefly interviewed each of us to find out where we came from. What was interesting was, when he brief us on what we will be expecting from the tour he added a comment, "This one hour tour will take approximately 40 minutes, 45 minutes or maybe even less. *pause* Oh come on! This is Italy! Not Singapore. I know in Singapore a 1 hour tour will end exactly in an hour, no more no less. By the way, have the rest of you been to Singapore?"
The rest of the tour group then expressed that they have never been to Singapore. The guide then continued, "When I first stepped into Singapore, I've got a great shock! I've never seen so many signs in my life! No eating and drinking, no smoking, no chewing gums and many more!"
All of us laughed at his exclamation. His remark made me realised the differences in culture between Singapore and Italy (or Europe in general). In Singapore, we have a culture of being "law by law." This means that most of us tend to follow strictly to set of laws and is afraid or unwilling to deviate from it. This may be due to the fact that many of us are afraid to challenge the laws or afraid to suffer from any punishment as a result of deviation. This punishment may be a legal punishment or an informal punishment such like not receiving the maximum benefit out of any activities.
In countries like Italy, however, there is a more relaxed culture whereby Italians generally greatly value life's enjoyment such like good food and music. Most of them are more flexible in the schedule and tend not to follow to a rigid routine. They strongly believe in living life to the fullest. This explains why our tour guide appeared late for the session but felt that it was completely acceptable with no need to apologize. It also explains why his vivid impression of his visit to Singapore was that Singapore was an extremely clean country with lots of laws. This is because he was unfamiliar with such a culture and had to make effort to fit into it.
Such differences in culture between countries have to be made known to tourists. This is because some tourists may encounter a "culture shock" and ultimately result in an unhappy travel experience. However, if we were to understand the differences in culture between the place we are visiting and where we come from, we will be able to rationalise why and try to adjust our mindset to accept the culture of the place we are in. This way, we will be able to fully enjoy our vacation!
The charming Italian tour guide then ended the session by shaking each one of our hands and hugging a few of the Europeans in the tour group. By the way, he was really good looking too. ^.^
So although the session started off badly with me feeling frustrated with the lack of responsibility on the part of the tour guide, I felt better after understanding that the tour guide's late-coming was not due to his poor work etiquette but it stems from the culture that he is submerged in. Not only did I enjoy my tour at the Colosseum, my entire stay in Rome was one of the best holiday I've ever had.
In fact, I think I fell in love with Rome, from the architecture, the art, the food, the gelatos and the extremely friendly Italians. :)
Will be back there again in the future, for sure!
Hi Jacq!
ReplyDeleteI'll be visiting Italy this summer and I hope I get to enjoy it as much as you do! Gelato yum!!
I think it's kinda sad that it's so 'strict' in Singapore, in that locals actually do not dare to violate the laws. That is why you hardly see protests occurring (partly also due to the government's (partial) restriction on our freedom of speech). Ah wells, I guess the bright side of this is that we're all cultivated to become guai kias!
Cheers!
Hey Kristyn! :D
DeleteI was deciding between whether to write about the strikes that I experienced when I was in London and this but they both relate to the same point that in Singapore we have a law abiding culture where we don't dare to go against the authority. When I was in London, i witnessed a tube strike (whereby the subway's operation cease), a public administration strike whereby even the airport custom officer stopped work for a day as well as a student protest! We don't get to see all this in Singapore because of our culture and the norms that are instilled by strict laws. :)
I hope you enjoy yourself in Italy! I love it! Especially the gelatos! :D
Hey Jacq!
ReplyDeleteI really want to go to Rome! It's so beautiful! I really really can identify with your frustration at the lack of punctuality of the tour guide and would have been really annoyed too. I guess Singaporeans really care about value for their money and time, than to "waste" it standing around doing nothing. Still, this is ROME! Looking around Rome is not time wasted at all, spending time feeling annoyed is. Man...I think that I have wasted too much time in my life just fuming while waiting for others to show up.
I am also struck by how Italians really value the quality of life. In Singapore, our value in life normally has Darwinian roots - the survival of the fittest. So we often bemoan at our lack of opportunities and push ourselves so hard just to ensure we survive. As a result I think that our universities are stronger, we appear to have more educational accolades and research programs that involve Imperial, Cambridge and what not. Still, I think it would be really sad to hear someone say that the meaning of life is "Success in life". I really think we should learn a thing or two from Italy.
I would have fallen in Rome too! Heard so much about the place!!!!
Thank you for your blog post!
It was a really enjoyable read!
CHeers
Thanks Titus! :)
DeleteRome is absolutely gorgeous. I took a walk along the river to get back to the guest house I was staying at. Watching the sunset while strolling along the river was definitely the highlight of my entire trip. While people say that the europeans can be really stuck up, I was lucky to have met many nice people in Italy. Another one of their culture is their dining culture. They really eat alot! Before every meal, they will serve a huge basket of assorted bread and their meal times usually dragged for a really long time because they really eat a lot! :D
I think if we were to say being competitive on the academic realm, we can't say that the students from the european countries are less keen on success instead I say they have very good time management and efficiency. For example, in UCL, the students drink ALL THE TIME. The British are drinking in pubs almost every other night but yet they still get work done. In fact, their work and prep for lessons are really of good quality. So I will say they have a culture where they learn to reward themselves and relax but yet they don't compromise on their chance of success. :D
Hello Jacq!!
ReplyDeleteI fell in love with Europe even without visiting the place. It is a place that I MUST visit before I die!! Haha I love the pictures you posted up! I bet the structures are even more gorgeous in real life!
Looking at how you describe the Italian lifestyle, I can fully understand why is it that Singapore is considered a stressful society. But I am surprised that your tour guide actually brought up Singapore as an example! Was it because he knew that you are from Singapore? Or was Singapore "famous" in Italy for all the laws that we have?
I like your blog post as it gives me an insight on how foreigners view Singapore (:
Hey Gladys! :)
DeleteThe tour guide visited Singapore before and we all did a self introduction of where we came from before the start of the tour. :) After hearing that we were from Singapore, he immediately went on about how strict it is in Singapore!
Btw, when the Europeans generalize Asians to be Japanese or Korean. At least I get that a lot when I was there, gets quite annoying sometimes. I don't really know why either. If you want to see or read more about the trip you can read it from www.littleredcoat.wordpress.com :) :)
Thank you, Jacq, for sharing this interesting scenario with us. (How lucky you are to have had a tour of the Colosseum while eating gelato! ) Your description of some of the different norms comes to life in the persona of your tour guide. At the same time, I'd use the word "norms" rather than "culture" when it comes to many Italians being relaxed about time, signs and so forth, because I don't see Italians as all that relaxed once they get excited about something, and because you are discussing specific cultural traits. I also have a problem at times because you mix verb tenses. At the risk of giving the impression that I'm picking on you, I feel it might be worth us discussing some of these in class (but that is your call, since we have done so already).
ReplyDeleteIn any case, with the many photos and smiles added to your description, this is an entertaining post. I can see too from the comments that you are the envy of classmates (and your tutor as well!).
Hey Brad! Thanks for your honest comment! I have absolutely no problem with discussing stuffs in class. It helps me to learn and best of all, it helps everyone to learn! So no problem at all. (I promise I won't curse you behind your back :P)
DeleteI was just wondering how exactly do we distinguish between norms and culture because I'd think that norms are acceptable because of culture. :)
I don't want to sound pedantic, but I see norms as being fundamental in the way members of a social group interact with one another. Look at our class, and look at the way we communication in the blogs, as an example. What are some of our norms? Well, students read an assignment and then respond in the form of a blog post. That's the norm. In doing so, each person needs to consider elements such as conciseness, completeness and language correctness. That becomes a norm. Then each needs to respond to at least 3 classmates' post. That becomes a norm. (Of course, some deviate from that.) In those comments, you need to consider what your classmates had written and then respond appropriately, taking into consideration, again, the 7Cs. Why the 7Cs? Because we value (or I set out the values) each of those traits as being helpful for effective written communication. That's part of our belief system in ES2007S.
DeleteWhere is "culture" in this mix? I'd suggest that it is the whole thing, everything that happens in our class, in total, the sum of our values, beliefs, behaviors, norms, goals, style of dress, modes of interaction, language(s) used, everything!
Tu intendes? (No, because speaking Portuguese is not part of our culture).
But if I ask: Do you understand? Then you can see that I am using a linguistic structure that is also part of our interaction---and you shake your head up and down and smile!
hey jacq! omg you're soooo lucky to go to rome. and the Colosseum??? i had no idea that was accessible for tours!i've only been there through assassin's creed. anyway, i totally agree with the ideas you brought up here. they are ideas that i have thought about based on my personal experiences.
ReplyDeletei think you convey a major difference between singapore and most western countries and for a long time i've thought that we need to take a tab from them. i spent 2.5 years of my childhood in the states and when i came back, i absolutely hated it here. i couldn't quite put my finger on it until much later. what i really hated about singapore is about how serious everything is. when i was in the states, i barely remember homework. i learnt about all sorts of things and it was out of passion for learning. there were no exams (in elementary school). everything was based on assignments. i came home from school every day and i'd have my mum's friends' kids over. some days, we would go fishing at a lake nearby. it was nice. i had a childhood.
then i came here in p2. for starters, i had to wear a uniform, wake up at 5 am and buy tons of assessment books for each subject. it was such a culture shock (don't get me started on the singlish lol) and i was honestly miserable. learning was not the goal. getting 95 when everybody got 94 was the goal. being first in class was the goal. singapore mentality is really sad and i know it's changed me. i'm not saying we should disband the whole exam system, or the uniform system, my point is that it's just too career driven right from childhood. too serious and quantitative. respect= get 270 and above for psle. get 2 (or 0) for o'levels. get 5A's for a'levels. sad life.
we live in a country that doesn't tolerate very much. that's exemplified in your post. i believe one of the reasons we expect people to maintain standards because we have a culture that pushes ourselves to meet certain standards ever since we entered the education system at the tender age of 6. this culture undoubtedly has its merits, i agree, but it has many casualities. we forget that life can, and should be, flexible at times too.
thanks for sharing this post and your lovely pics, jacq! very nice post and i enjoyed reading it! really wish i could go to rome!! lucky girl you are.
p.s. i'm sorry i rambled. i just had to share this because this is what made me the cynical and socially awkward individual i am today lol. and i am singaporean, so don't hate lol!
Hey Ariel! No problem with the sharing. I totally agree with you that in Singapore we are constantly stressed to out-perform others and even ourselves. Failing to meet the "standard" will somehow means failing in life. The funny thing is, most of the time we are the ones pushing ourselves to make sure we don't "fail." AND YES YOU HAVE A CHILDHOOD. I have a pretty sad childhood. My dad deposits me at the library in the morning and picks me up in the evening during school holidays. That's so sad right. :'( Right from primary school, no KINDERGARDEN we were pressured by examinations. I still remember having exams in Kindergarden. :(
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