2.8 Learning review

Read the case study and in your learning journal note down what you think went wrong. Refer to your knowledge of interculturality, perception, experiences and expectations and be guided by questions about the encounter, the people involved and the feelings of the participants.

One of the more apparent challenges for me was living with my Indian colleagues. I had big problems adjusting to loud noises, pungent smells and the pretty much non-existent hygiene of some of them. I met four Indian colleagues during my time at the company. I lived with three of them under the same roof. Two of them had the habit of conducting early morning phone calls. One of them did not want to clean at all because apparently believed that it was beneath his dignity. After I had told him several times that he had to clean like everybody else and he finally accepted. But I realized that he only pretended to clean when it was his turn. On top of that, he did not clean the toilets at all. Apparently, they do not do that where he is from. On another occasion, one of the other guys from India who had adapted slightly to the European standards cleaned the kitchen floor with the same rag he used for the bathroom floor. When I confronted him and said that this is definitely not a hygienic move he replied that he always does it this way.

I was willing to accept their habits but most of the time they did not accept what was important to me or criticised ‘European habits’. For example, there was an occasion where the lab leader came over for a beer with Malu our lab technician. I was cooking some Spaghetti Bolognese. He opened the pot and laughed. “What kind of shitty food is that?”, he asked. I said: “Just try it. Maybe I can prove you wrong.” Then he just walked away. In situations where I wasn’t so sure whether my stomach would be capable of handling Indian food, I sometimes declined their offer. Immediately, you could see that they were disappointed and sometimes even angry at me for declining.