Speaker 1 (00:00):

Uh, sir, may I ask, uh, so may I ask, like, you are dating a person, that person is the same race with you,
or she's Asian or she's Canadian? Uh, Canadian. She

Speaker 2 (00:16):
Is local. She is from.

Speaker 1 (00:18):
Oh, okay. So what about, you have any culture shock about romantic relationship with a local girl?

Speaker 2 (00:27):
Um, well, I think that there's a big generational gap there where in most of the cultural differences are
going to be understood by people who are interested in dating foreigners. They likely will have an
understanding of how relationships work over there. Mm-hmm. <affirmative>, but perhaps with the
families, certain things are, uh, it's similar to how dating worked in Canada maybe 40 years ago,

Speaker 1 (01:09):
<laugh>. Okay.

Speaker 2 (01:10):
You know, like, um, like my, the gen, the parents' generation here, their ideas around dating are gonna
be similar to what my grandparents' ideas around dating were.

Speaker 1 (01:21):
Oh. So

Speaker 2 (01:23):
For example, you'll have like, like people who have a child and their child's like 28 and they just assume
that their kid is not having sex. Uhhuh <affirmative>. And that's kind of insane. I mean, not to be
dismissive, but like that doesn't match the facts on the ground, you know, for people in their twenties,
you know, that's not what you should be hoping for with them. <laugh>

Speaker 1 (01:47):
<laugh>. Um,

Speaker 2 (01:49):
So that's a big difference. Like, um, for example, I live with my partner, but we are not able to disclose to
her parents Yes. That we are living together until such time as we are engaged. Mm-hmm. <affirmative>,
which makes me a little bit uncomfortable, but it's her family. So we, you know,

Speaker 1 (02:10):
Respect that

Speaker 2 (02:10):
Let her handle it. We gotta Yeah. Have that. She knows what's best. Whereas my family, you know,
they're very excited that we're living together for them. That's like, oh, that's

Speaker 1 (02:22):
About that too.

Speaker 2 (02:23):
<laugh>, that's a sign of commitment. Right. That's a big deal for them. That's

Speaker 1 (02:28):
Interesting.

Speaker 2 (02:29):
Yeah. So I think, you know, the, that's generational. Like I said, I think people under like 40 are pretty
much up to the, uh, are, are dating in a very Western style. Yeah. Cause I don't necessarily think it's a
Western style so much as a modern style mm-hmm. <affirmative>. But I think the, the generational gap
in expectations is bigger here. Yeah. Than it is in Canada. You know, like, uh, how, how my parents
understand dating to work is closer to how a young person here would understand it to work.

Speaker 1 (03:12):
Yeah. Okay. Okay. That's beautiful. Um, so, um, what about like ethics or ethical issues?

Speaker 2 (03:25):
Um, so ethically, I think consensus is the dominant ethic here, you know? Mm-hmm. <affirmative> like
people, people want what everyone's going to be on the same page about. Yeah. And that's manifest in
how conflicts are resolved.

Speaker 1 (03:47):
Yes.

Speaker 2 (03:47):
To avoid disruption, avoid, it's

Speaker 1 (03:50):
Similar to the story you said earlier, that someone wants to reject you here. They should not be that like
straightforward and Right. Yeah. Like, everything like to lie and stop, right?

Speaker 2 (04:02):
Yeah. Or how my, my, um, my superiors at work will start sentences with maybe mm-hmm.
<affirmative> when really it's an imperative sentence. They're asking me to do something for them.
Yeah. But they say maybe we could, cuz they don't wanna be go directly. They're, they're worried.
They're worried that I'll feel like they're telling me what to do, even though that's their job.

Speaker 1 (04:25):
Mm-hmm. <affirmative>. Um, whereas what about, whereas in Canada people would do that like
normally Right. Imperative.

Speaker 2 (04:30):
Yeah. In Canada, ethics are like, the ethics are far more individual, you know, there's a way bigger
emphasis on I versus we.

Speaker 1 (04:44):
Yeah.

Speaker 2 (04:45):
You know, I don't believe that. I won't do that. I don't agree are a lot more okay to say.

Speaker 1 (04:53):
Yeah.

Speaker 2 (04:53):
Like, also like how much you have to think about other people's feelings. Mm-hmm. <affirmative>, uh,
you know, if, if you, if uh, everyone's responsible for their own feelings in Canada, if you don't like it,
that's on you. Uh, okay. Especially with with older people. Older people. Yeah. That's a huge one here.
You know, we must be always a little bit deferential to older people.

Speaker 1 (05:22):
Yeah. <laugh>.

Speaker 2 (05:23):
Um, in Canada it's almost the opposite. Like, like, like nobody cares if you're older, congratulations you
survived 10 more years, you know, everyone will be like nice to grandma. Right. You know, and they'll be
like, oh, we love grandma, but people will maybe take her opinions and values less seriously. Yeah.
Because her time is over.

Speaker 1 (05:49):
Yeah. But here, like, uh, the voice of a grandpa at the age of 99 could be like whatever everybody agrees
on, right?

Speaker 2 (05:59):
Yeah, exactly. Or like here, if someone is like 40 and I'm speaking to them mm-hmm. <affirmative>, you
know, there should be like the idea that they know more than me and I should want to pay attention to
that and learn from that. Oh.

Speaker 1 (06:16):
Whereas I don't like that

Speaker 2 (06:18):
In Canada, they're,

Speaker 1 (06:19):
That's about eight.

Speaker 2 (06:20):
They're just some guy in Canada, you know, like Yeah. It's, uh, that's a different dynamic. Uh, it's okay.
People are a lot more alone in Canada too. Like, you're expected to operate way more on your own
imperative. Mm-hmm. <affirmative>. And like socially, for example, it would be weird to walk up to a
stranger and start a conversation. Uh, like it's a, the, the basic underlying premise of the society is
different here, right? Yeah. Like here we have, you'd call it Confu. Confucianism, right? Yeah.

Speaker 1 (07:01):
Confucianism from

Speaker 2 (07:03):
Confu. The dominant forces that shaped society are Confucianism, uh, Buddhism and socialism. Yeah.
And those are kind of

Speaker 1 (07:13):
Collectivism,

Speaker 2 (07:15):
Those all come together to make certain values. Whereas in like western societies when they were
starting out, it was, uh, individually Christianity. Yeah. Capitalism, liberalism. Yeah. So you, you get a,
even like though, those values change over time and not everyone believes in those philosophies. Mm-
hmm. <affirmative>, everything's built on that framework. Right. Okay. Everything's built on that
skeleton.

Speaker 1 (07:45):
Mm-hmm. <affirmative>. That's beautiful to know. Okay, so that's the end of the first question. So now
we move on to the second one.