Culture Shock

This week starting a new unit on different cultures has been really interesting. Learning about the Japanese toilets, and other things that would be considered normal in other countries was an eye opener. When I saw the picture of the toilet in the middle of the city that looked like mirrors on the outside and on the inside you can see everyone else out there, it reminded me of when I went to St. Martin. In 5th grade, I went on my first Caribbean cruise with my family and one of the stops was St. Martin. St. Martin is split because of the two countries that originally settled there, so the side that we docked on was Dutch, and the other side was French, and they would both speak their native languages there, along with having each countries flags. I really liked the Dutch side, but my family wanted to see what the French side was like. When we got there, we got to this really nice mall but me and my mom had to go to the bathroom. We got there and the doors went from floor to ceiling with brass door handles, but you could see the shadow of someone sitting on the toilet. You could see every move that they made and I didn't feel comfortable with people watching, but to the natives it was no big deal. You would have to pay ten cents for toilet paper and you would just go in and do business without even thinking about women standing outside possibly watching. It was a huge culture shock for me.