I came to the United State in 2004 to pursue my college education. I begin my college life in a place whose history, language, and culture are totally different withPreposition those inPreposition Taiwanl. I recall my first day in Santa Monica College. When I went to class, I was astonished to see how many student are drinking water in class. In Taiwan studentSing/Plu are not allowVForm to drink anything in a classroom, even water. From that day on, I became an explorer of a new world. Since then I have observed the difference of culture value in directness, politeness and tipping, taxing system.

    First, Americans are very direct. They usually carry the topic straight to the point when they want something. Furthermore, if they want something different form what is offered, they ask for it. But people in Taiwan usually respond with a "no" the first or eventSpl he second time they are offered something{***}Punctuation even if they really want it. It's a traditional chineseCapitalization actsSing/Plu of politeness and we don't want to bother others. It's very common in Taiwan for someone to repeatedly offer something to a person and then impose it on him or her even after having haSpl it rejected a number of times. I sufferVTense many times in the first year at this foreign country{***}Punctuation when my American friend ask me if I need any drink, I refuse at first and I never got my drink later. During that time I was really thirsty. It tooksVForm me almost one year to learn theArt directness. It is hard to learn when I get usedWChoice to the behavior in my culture.

    Second, in America, when someone ssaysSpl to you, "That's a beautiful sweater you're wearing," you might respond, "Thank you. My mother knitted ir for me two years ago." But if this conversation happens between two Taiwanese , the response will be, "Oh no, I have had this ugly of thing for two years" Modesty is another Taiwanese cultural norm. If a person is given a gift, he or she will usually open it and say, "O, how beautiful it is! Thank you very much." In Taiwan, a person usually accepts a gift and then leaves the gift aside, unopened. Opening the gift in front of the giver is considered impolite. In addition, Taiwanese people usually present their gifts just before they leave, while Americans usually give their gifts right after they arrive.

    In Taiwan we never tip anybody. Taiwanese students find it hard to get used to the tipping system here and feel very embarrased when they forget to tip a waitress in restaurant. Same thing with tazSpl, in the United State taz is the extra money which is added when he or she is ready to paid. In Taiwan, supermarket and resturant have already add the taz and tip ntogether in the menu or the price list. Therefore people don't need to worry when they see a 100 dollar electronic become 108 when go through cashier.

    Even thoughtSpl he United StateSing/Plu have different cultures indirectness andtiping, tazing system, as long as people understand why they will have a better understanding of it and therefore get use to it more quickly. As far as I concernVForm, directness and tiping are desirable. The tippiing system help to impreve the manner and effiency of the waiter. If a waiter brings to food quickly and have a good manner toward customer, the customer will usually paid moretip in return. Same thing with the directness, it also help the efficiency of doing a job. When doing business with another company it's stupid to as many times if the buyer want a drink. It also a wasting of time to try to think fo abstract way of telling the objective to a worker. It is better to said the objective clearly and let the worker achieve the objective.