Live among other cultures!

One of the great blessings and challenges of leaving our country of origin is living with people from different cultures. However, this is not an easy task for anyone; requires patience and the ability of knowing how to respect the habits and characteristics of other people.

The simple fact that you can walk on the street and see three, four or more different nationalities can be scary and exciting at the same time. With time this little detail may go unnoticed, but as you try to adapt to the new country, make friends, and strengthen ties, that can change.

For families with children this change quickly becomes routine, since every day in school children will have daily contact with friends from different parts of the world and soon will learn a new language, habits, behaviors and, as a consequence, teach it all this to their parents.

For families without children, the contact isn’t so frequent. Familiarity comes from interacting with friends from work or friends of friends. Visions of the world, behaviors and habits can often clash.

Regardless of your family setting, we need to observe how the interaction with others cultures enriches us in different ways. The first change is that our perception becomes more human, empathic and free of preconceptions.

Specifically for children, it is the opportunity to learn about the history of another country and its culture in a natural and respectful way. Transforming their way of thinking, behaviors and feeling towards others.

When we deal with different behaviors, we learn to truly respect the different and to understand that our opinions and thoughts are not the only correct ones.

Opening their eyes to another reality makes a person rethink thair own concepts. The worldview changes and you gradually see your own roots and traditions in a different way. Transforming our own identity. The opportunity to live outside the comfort zone, living with differences of culture and language, teaches us a lot about ourselves and, with this, new values and perspectives.

I cannot forget to say that everything depends on how you will face this opportunity. It boils down to that old and famous expression of the "half-empty/half-full" glass.

See you next time,
Laura

Photo: @sysmstudio