Thursday, January 17, 2008

WRONG TIME IN A RIGHT PLACE!!! CULTURE SHOCK!!!

Wedding is such a big deal here in Jakarta. I remembered few years back then when I got back to Jakarta after my graduation in Australia. I accompanied my friend to a wedding, it was the first wedding I attended after my arrival in Jakarta. Of course I was feeling all dressed up with my knee-length simple black dress and well combed long black hair.

Arriving in the wedding venue, held in one of the fancy hotels here in Jakarta, I was shocked. All the girls I saw around me wearing very fancy evening gowns!!!! You can actually tell how expensive those dresses are simply by looking at the details of the gowns, they were all beautifully beaded, delicately laced, elegantly looking. Not to mention, their hair were all so stylish! Of course you would know that they all went to salon beforehand. And their makeup were all so perfect and they were all looking so pretty.

I was stunned by all those beautiful girls, then I took a look at myself. Wearing simple black dress and definitely not fresh from salon hair. I felt like a laid-back rookie in a very perfect fashion show with all the pretty models in it. Maybe it was just my imagination, but I was quite sure people were looking at me. Gosh!! I was so downhearted that I even told my friend to go inside the ballroom, congratulate his friends, and I’d just wait in the lobby.

I was experiencing so-called culture shock. After years abroad, getting used to the simple, western style wedding, I was thinking to myself that I should really be more careful the next time I should attend wedding or any formal occasions in certain countries. Jakarta is my hometown. Imagine if I were attending wedding in some countries, looking all like a foreigner and yet dressing up so wrongly or maybe could be weird to some people. Gosh!!! Culture shock in my own hometown. Great!!! Well, at least I learn something here. Do ask around beforehand if you don’t really know the culture in certain town or countries. And definitely, if you are visiting a wedding in Jakarta, DO really dress up!!! Big time!!! (^-^)

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