Monday, June 7, 2010

Cross cultural flirting

For the last 10 days a friend from Thailand was visiting... and then just yesterday we had this interaction:

N. (Thai girl): Why do Brazilians look away when you look at them?
Me: What do you mean?
N: If there is someone staring at me and I stare back they divert their gaze...
Me: Well, in Brazil staring is considered very rude. So if someone is looking at you and you realize they will quickly look elsewhere. If they insist on looking at you and you look back it is considered flirting (when the other party is actually someone you'd be interested in... old ladies staring at you does not count as flirting though).
N: Really? I think I have flirted with over 10 guys so far!!

Later in the evening when N., A. and I are at a party:
N leans over to me: I think that, by Brazilian standards, a guy is flirting with me...

Less than 2 minutes later the guy walks over and is indeed all over N. She has a bfriend though, so the Brazilian had no luck, despite all his attempts. Guess N learned quickly!

And this is also funnier because I am pretty shy and could never get myself to look back at any guy that looked at me. And now she just came over for 10 days and got the hang of it really quick! Guess being Asian and used to staring helped :D

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