Since the beginning of the semester, I have heard many friends complain about their Asian roommates. "They are just dirty and disrepectful." is a common phrase my friend kate enjoys using. As a bystander, I find thoes words awful and close-minded, but then again, I don't have to deal with her situation.
Kate's roommate comes from a rich part of China where her house is cleaned daily by maids. So here, she never cleans anything. Not once has she vacuumed the carpet, taken out the tash, removed her black hair from clogging the drain, or even washed her sheets. To us, that may seem unhelpful and unsanitary, but to her it is completely normal. She has never done things like that before, so why would she realize they are necessary to do now?
The bathroom discrepencies between here and China also serve as a huge catalyst for major misunderstandings. In china, there is one drain at the center of the room and the entrire room functions as a shower. In America, that is not the case. As a result, the Asian roommate frequently floods the entire bathroom. She is not used to having a small section specifically for the shower and she lets the water go everywhere. imagine having that to clean up, with a roommate that won't clean!A bit more disturbing is the toilet paper situation. Apparantly in China it is not customary to flush the toilet paper down the drain. You do your thing, wipe, and then throw it away! Well, once again, the Asian roommate abides by her customs and throws her used toilet paper in the garbage (which, remember, she never takes out). Ponder that scenario and ask yourself, how patient could you be with this culture barrier?
I understand where you are coming from with this example because my brother, when he was in college, had chinese roommates as well. Everyone American in the dorm was caught off guard when the putrid smell of digested sesame chicken and soy sauce was found stuck to the trash bin next to the toilet. Although their culture practices this stinky way of doing things, my brother and his buds were less than understanding. ewww...
ReplyDeleteMy friend sean, (he's black) he lives with some asian roommates. & im not gonna lie, they do make some stinky food... but with that being said, the cultural class is definitely there.
ReplyDeleteI've had to deal with dirty roommates but not because of cultural differences but just poor cleaning habits. That would definitely be frustrating to deal with, since it's not that their lazy or dirty but aren't used to having to not flood the bathroom while showering.
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