Excellent essay. When my wife and I moved to Bangladesh from Texas, the change in "personal space" and privacy was one of the most difficult adjustments to make. We were newly married and were living with a family in village north of Dhaka. At home we were used to people never coming into "our room" or "our space"; in Bangladesh, though, the idea of "our space" was hilarious.
I'll never forget returning to the United States and walking out of the airport thinking, "where is everyone." It's interesting how different experiences teach you more than you realize. Now I find myself laughing at my fellow Americans' feeling entitled to "personal space." As you so well put it, I feel glad to be able to temporarily enjoy the world and my place in it.
Some day soon I hope to return to Bangladesh where I expect I will find the push and pull of humanity familiar, and not as foreign as I first did.
My family returned to Bangladesh after 30 years of living abroad. This blog recounts some of our experiences after returning home.
My (Yahoo) email name is ihtishamkabir; you can contact me there.
(All text and photographs are copyrighted and may not be reproduced in any form without my permission.)
2 comments:
Excellent essay. When my wife and I moved to Bangladesh from Texas, the change in "personal space" and privacy was one of the most difficult adjustments to make. We were newly married and were living with a family in village north of Dhaka. At home we were used to people never coming into "our room" or "our space"; in Bangladesh, though, the idea of "our space" was hilarious.
I'll never forget returning to the United States and walking out of the airport thinking, "where is everyone." It's interesting how different experiences teach you more than you realize. Now I find myself laughing at my fellow Americans' feeling entitled to "personal space." As you so well put it, I feel glad to be able to temporarily enjoy the world and my place in it.
Some day soon I hope to return to Bangladesh where I expect I will find the push and pull of humanity familiar, and not as foreign as I first did.
Hi Seth,
Thanks very much for your comments and your kind words. Yes, Push and Pull of humanity - that's a new and incisive way to look at it. Thank you,
Ihtisham
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