Cultural Differences

My cousins are visiting from Thailand. Pong, who is 24, is here taking English classes so that she can pass her TOEFL, and from there get into grad school. She is staying with my parents indefinitely. Pam, her younger sister, who is 20, also came for a visit while on summer break from Uni. She is staying until Memorial Day weekend. Their cousin from their mother’s side, Ploy, is also visiting. I believe she is the same age as Pam. All of them live in Thailand and have only visited the States a handful of times. We’re pretty close in age, but it’s amazing how different we are.

Pong, Pam and Ploy

My cousins are pretty sheltered. Just recently, since attending University have their parents eased up on them. Now they go out on weekends and hang out with their friends such as going to the movies or out to dinner. They go to sporting events and concerts without any parental supervision. It’s probably a great and exciting time in their life. But for me, I have been doing activities like that since I was in high school. As soon as I got my driver’s license, my foot was already out the door and on the gas pedal.

My cousins have never had any boyfriends or even kissed a boy. I know that they want boyfriends and talk about guys all the time, but have never dated anyone. I think part of the reason is that before University they went to an all girl’s school and secondly, I’m sure their parents would have disapproved of them dating in high school. From their pictures, I know that they have male friends, but so far they haven’t met any guys that they have liked or vice versa.

And when it comes to fashion, we couldn’t be any more different than night and day. Pong bought a sweater with Tinkerbell on it and wears it all the time. It reminds me of a sweater a six year old would wear, but she could care less. Pam and Ploy are more fashion forward and like things that are trendy (in Thailand standards, they do follow some of our fashion trends, but also Japanese trends). Chucks are insanely popular in Thailand, and that is all they wear. I couldn’t imagine them in any pumps, stilettos or even strappy sandals.

They both still live at home and won’t move out until their married. Even then, their father has talked about building them homes either on their property or in the same neighborhood. My cousins have said that they would prefer to continue living with their parents when they are married than with their husbands. Here in the United States, kids cannot wait to gain their independence from their parents and get their first taste of real freedom when they go off to college. I wonder if they think its weird that I live by myself.

It can be hard for me to hang out with them because I feel like we can’t relate on certain topics. I would never take them with me to a bar where I’m meeting up with friends. They don’t drink and I think would be shocked and embarrassed by our conversations. So I try to stick with safe topics such as school, work, movies, family, and things that interest them so that I can get a better understanding of them and learn who they really are. I’m sure Pong after staying here and studying will shed some of her Thainess and adapt to some American ways.