Today, the director informed the teachers that since the kindergarten students wear indoor shoes why not the teachers? Starting Monday everyone will have a set of indoor shoes to wear in the school (because the cleaning lady complained?).
The kindergartners wear white crocs inside. So I kept thinking, does that mean we need to go buy white crocs, or just bring in a clean pair of shoes?
Then what about the elementary students in the afternoon? Aren't their shoes dirty too? Shouldn't we just sweep up after class? I think they do that in Japanese schools. And hey, why not just get a new cleaning lady? And ... and.. ugh.
I need to drop it.
One of the most valuable lessons I learned from Canada World Youth was about cultural adaptation. First off, I'm the guest, I adhere to the standard here. Second, this is completely harmless, why should I care if it doesn't make sense to me? Koreans take off their shoes when they go to someones house or even many restaurants! It's just the standard. A harmless standard.
In Ghana, greeting people and offering to share food were so important even though it felt so meaningless and unnecessary at first. The perception of my actions were more important that any direct purpose they served.
Invite people to the meal, 99% of the time they won't join you anyways.
Say hello to everyone, even if it seems fake, or you don't know them, they are waiting for you to say "good morning!" and you'll embarrass yourself more by not doing it.
Here: wear the shoes. Even if the floor is still dirty at the end of the day, it gives to perception of cleanliness and adherence to the rules.
So yeah, probably going to find a pair of white crocs this weekend.
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