Wednesday, August 09, 2006

Welcome to the USA

Since I am starting a new phase in the US at the moment, I believe this blog may shift into a bit more personal vein particularly since I think it may be a good way to share pictures and share some observations and insights from my current adventure.

So here we go with the first one. I am participating in this International TA Development Program and today I received an "International Teaching Assistant Manual". On page 5 it has an explanation of what small talk is and one of the paragraphs goes like this:

"In many cases, small talk is initiated when one person comments on another person's appearance or belongings. However, there are a few social norms to be aware of in these situations. Women can generally compliment other women on their clothes or shoes. However, men generally do not compliment women, and women do not compliment men on their clothes. An exemption may be when someone is wearing a shirt or a hat with the name of a place you have visited."

Well, welcome to the USA! :)

2 comments:

Lisa said...

I second that welcome to the USA!

How bizarre.

Unknown said...

Change the "location" field in your userinfo. :)