Consider Everyday Interactions as Cross-Cultural

All interactions are cross-cultural in one simple sense. Each person brings different cultural experiences to the table. These experiences impact your identity and the way you work things out with others.  Even if you are in the same family, growing up in different generations, going to different schools, being of opposite genders and looking different make an impact that create difference gaps.

When you initially go to a foreign country, you are more likely to question your assumption about dealing with others. Why not bring that freshness to everyday situations? If you are already scratching your head about the other person, then you are missing something. Treat that gender, age or work difference between you as a wall that increased understanding will help reduce. Learning more will help build rapport.  When you learn information about a group, consider them as assumptions to be tested not as facts about that individual.  For example, you learn about how laid-back and relaxed Californians are. Treating this as an assumption to be tested with any individual Californian will keep you from jumping to possibly incorrect conclusions.

Look at your own cultural background.  This is not as easy as it sounds.  Your own culture is often invisible to you, like water to fish or air to human beings, yet highly visible or recognizable to the other species.  Individuals often remark that they never felt more American than when they lived abroad. Dealing with someone who you view as “irrational” is a clue on an issue about yourself that you may not have realized was there. Consider everyday interactions as cross-cultural to bridge the omnipresent differences.