When in Rome...

So, I think It is sort of well known that when your in other countries you adapt to thier forms of living out of respect to their lifestyles and choices they have made. After all, you are visiting their country.

However, our volunteer house seems to have a rule system all of its own. There was sort of a falling out tonight amoung the French and the Koreans (yes I know it sounds like some old war movie). Luckily, as I am not the leader/overseer of this situation...yet!...so, it really isn´t my problem now. Although it does effect my living situation a bit. Nevertheless, it was a very good lesson for me, as I will encounter the situation again in the comming weeks. Always be respectful and polite no matter who/what/when/ or why. I have been writing about my problems- as you have seen in my previous messeges- and some of my feelings are shared. However, others have not been as coy with their comments and emotions as I believe I have. Of course, I´m no angel- I probably have enimies in the house I don´t even know about. But I suspect not- its hard to make enimies when you can hardly communicate!

When so many people are living together, in tight quarters, and from different cultures there are inevitably problems. But these aren´t the problems they had on the ´Real World´ because when differences arise, people act as if you are not only offending them, but their entire country, gender, or race. As you can imagine problems become accelerated with these feelings.

Hey, maybe MTV should get in on this!?

I guess the lesson here is always respect others, even if you can´t stand their cooking, dont agree with their self-cleaning principals, and even if you think they are insulting your gender. There is a time, place, and a way to solve such differences, and I hope when the leader role becomes mine I am able to handle these sensitive situations the right way.