One of my students told me this joke today. “With marriage there are 3 rings. The engagement ring, the wedding ring, and the… what’s next?” I had no clue. “The suffering”. Just another reason I love Bhutan!
The idea of marriage and relationships here is interesting, fabulous, and just downright hilarious. One minute you hear stories of marriages that involve simply moving into someone’s house. Greatest country ever, right?
I thought so too, until I gave my number to a friend, who proceeded to call me 3 times a day for the next week. Or better yet, when a Bhutanese guy nonchalantly asked me to be his girlfriend after knowing me for a week. Looking back, I realize I may have been a little rude upon saying, “Ha. That’s not how we are in America.” At least I didn’t say what I was really thinking, “This is my nightmare, this is my nightmare!”
This is absolutely not a post tooting my own “chillip” horn, but merely a post to explain the culture shock (and horror) I have experienced. I explained to my roommate that I feel culturally ignorant while complaining about it. However, for the time being, I prefer cultural ignorance regarding relationships, to a “stage five clinger”.
At this point, I just feel happy to live in Thimpu and not the east, where the men partake in “night hunting”, or crawling through a women’s window at night to establish a courtship. Yikes!
No comments:
Post a Comment