Unlearning & Relearning

            As citizens of the USA, we are somewhat isolated from other cultures. It’s very rare that many Americans head too far south to expose themselves to the Mexican culture, and if we decide to visit Canada, there aren’t many differences in culture to which we must adapt. With that being said, we often take for granted the numerous functions of daily living which are employed so frequently that they are completed without a passing thought. We look left, right, and then left before crossing the street. We easily count our bills and coins when checking out at Walmart. We enter a restaurant, wait to be seated, order drinks, then dinner, eat, and then pay. These functions seem almost innate, as we’ve either been performing them or watching others perform them for our whole lives. 

             However, the struggle we encounter when being introduced to a new culture is we are forced to unlearn these our seemingly innate functions and relearn new ones. We must look right first before crossing the street in order to avoid getting hit by a double-decker bus. Instead of having four different coins to count out, we now have eight coins of varying values to learn. When entering a restaurant, there is no sign that reads, “Please wait to be seated,” but rather, the local customers just seem to somehow know when they’re supposed to wait to be seated, seat themselves and then order at the bar (and pay when they order), or make an ‘eat-in’ or ‘take away’ order at the counter upon arrival. 

This is inside a pub called Dirty Dick's in Edinburgh. I sat at a table for a few minutes waiting to be served when the cheerful bartender notified me that customers are supposed to order at the counter when ready. Lesson learned!

             Perhaps the best practice when relearning is to accept that our learned ways are often no longer applicable in another culture. Though this strategy goes against our human nature of being comfortable, secure, and even somewhat ‘all-knowing’, we simply must carry on; pay attention to what the locals do before crossing the street, struggle through counting out pence and pound coins at checkout, and ask the bartender if we’re supposed to order at the bar. There’s a strong possibility that we may look foolish at times, but there must certainly be some value in relearning our societal and cultural functions, as evidenced by the millions of people that have taken the journey of integrating into a new culture before us. 

The McManus Art Museum & Gallery. Surprisingly, this is NOT the front entrance to the gallery, though the grand double staircase here seems to indicate otherwise.