When we cross into another culture, it is helpful to have a “cultural insider,” one who shows you how to maneuver in the society or workplace. This may mean your new acquaintance takes you around to the shops and help you set up your household with electricity and water. It could mean she explains how to act properly in public, something experts have called “social grammar.”
I’m thankful that we had a house helper named Munkhsoyol when we lived in Mongolia. She was a young woman who not only helped me get meals on the table for the family, she solved my daily problems and showed me how to navigate my new world in Ulaanbaatar.
I hope that you have a “Cultural Insider.”
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