A German friend once asked me,”Why are Russian people so gloomy? Nobody smiles here”. I looked around and noticed that indeed, almost nobody in the Moscow subway was smiling. I said, “Why should they?” My friend raised his eyebrow in astonishment and changed the subject. I remembered our conversation and started searching for the answer […]
culture
Caution: Animals
Once I received a group email from my American colleague. She invited me and many other people from all around the world to a conference call. In the end of the letter, she wrote, “Be like an elephant!”. This phrase puzzled me a lot. What did she mean? Did she mean that we had to […]
Time Speaks Different Accents
Have you noticed that people from different countries manage time differently? Germans are known for their accuracy with time and for their desire to schedule everything in. My friend from Germany told me that in any business, Germans try to foresee everything in order to avoid errors and accidents. Perhaps this is why German highways […]