Lights out!

I was teaching English this week, and the topic was "Jumping to Conclusions". The students were all given a scenario and they had to come to their own conclusion about what had happened. The scenario went something like this: Carol lives alone and came home to find her TV and radio on. Carol knows she hadn't left them on when she left. One of my students raised his hand and said, "Maybe there was no electricity when she left, and it came on while she was gone." I just had to laugh! That probably never would have came to my mind if it were not for having lived in a country with frequent power outages. :)

"Personal space"

We as Americans value our personal space. For example, you walk into a restaurant and try to choose a space away from the rest of the people. Albanians are the exact opposite. I experienced this just this morning. I went to a Christian-owned restaurant to work on something that required some peace and quiet. There was hardly anyone there when I went in, so I chose a quiet corner table. About an hour later a couple of girls walked in. I could tell by where they sat that they were Albanians. Out of all the tables, they chose the one RIGHT NEXT TO ME! I've experienced this several times. We like to go into a restaurant and choose a place with no one around, whereas they like to be close to people. Another cultural difference!