Culture shock for real!

When people talk about culture shock, they usually refer to things like gestures, food, looks, and other things which, though important, are usually not matters of life and death. However, real culture shock has to do with things that are not as easy to pinpoint, and can lead to serious communication problems with grave consequences.

Something like that happened with mom and her landlords. It turns out that most of the negative attitude was due to miscommunication, partly because of bad translation (thanks, P. for attempting to con mom's landlords the glorious Greek way - shame!) and partly because of cultural differences. For example, apparently it is a common practice in Bulgaria to cook in the balcony. When the landlord brought the burner up he expected mom to be delighted and grateful for the courtesy, and he was equally shocked with mom's reaction...go figure!

Long story short, there were good intentions on both sides, and a good atmosphere was restored. Mom learned a very useful lesson, and all's well that ends well.