The confusion I got into when I came across the way in which different cultures deal with the body
Two muslim women bathing in the sea wearing their burkas
People generally take the habits of those who live around as a rule. They think that everything that differs from their culture is weird, crazy. They consider Indians inferior, Muslims uncivilized, and Asians very exotic. In the platoon of life, we are the only ones who march with the right foot. Everyone else marches on the wrong foot.
But what I didn't expect when my company sent me to do a one-year internship at a research center in France was to find some French customs strange. Especially with regard to their relationship with the body. Shortly after my arrival in France, I was told at the research center that I would have to undergo a medical examination. In the medical sector, after delivering the urine sample for toxicological examination, I was asked to enter a cubicle measuring 1m x 1m, with two doors, take off all my clothes, except underwear, and press a bell to be called by the doctor. Take off all your clothes to meet someone I've never seen in my life? I'm not that uninhibited! When the other door opened, the doctor looked at me and started laughing. He thought it was funny that I stayed in pantyhose. “It's the cold,” I pretended.
A week later, I had a back pain attack after carrying and assembling the new furniture I had bought at IKEA by myself. I was suggested to make an appointment with a kinesiotherapist. On the scheduled day, I arrived at the address provided at 8 am, but I had to go around the building several times looking for the office door before finally deciding to announce my arrival over an intercom. With a dry click a door was unlocked, giving way to a staircase that led to the basement. “Please come down,” said a voice over the intercom. Suspicious, I went down a few steps and, as soon as I entered a large room with a few physiotherapist equipment, I heard the phrase that had already become commonplace for me: “take off all your clothes”. But what I didn't expect was what she said right after that: "and hang yourself there on that pendant ring from the ceiling". Naked, and hanging from the ceiling of an unknown basement? My God, what if she's a psychopath? Without having the courage of opposing her command, I did everything she asked, shacking in my shoes. "Are you cold?", she asked, unaware of my fear. Although the reception was unusual, the treatment was super effective and I was soon calm and without pain.
In this year that I lived abroad, although I have always been a passionate fan of long walks in the countryside, I never had the courage to participate in the randonnés promoted at work as a way of integrating the workforce. Right at the beginning, my Brazilian colleagues warned me that, at the end of the hikes, people threw themselves into the river to wash the sweat off their bodies and regain strength, and then changed all wet clothes for dry clothes before returning to their houses. The problem is that all this was done in public, without any shame. Unable to process this situation in my head (how to face the same colleagues who saw you naked the next day at work?), I decided to forget about my passion for trekking for a while. The few French people I spoke to about my dilemma were incredulous. “But you Brazilians go to the beach covered only by tiny bikinis!” But what they don't understand is that for the common Brazilian it is unthinkable to take off this bikini in public, no matter how small it is.
Traveling through the Middle East, I came across new surprises. Accustomed to almost naked bodies stretched out on the sands of Copacabana, I discovered that Muslim women not only wear their black burkas to walk down the street, but also use them to bathe in the sea. Therefore, when I traveled to Oman for work, I packed a pair of neoprene pants and a blouse, the kind surfers wear at sea. I considered that I would be reasonably covered by these clothes, so as not to shock the Muslim assistants who accompanied us on the expedition, as the trip included a submarine dive to study coral reefs. The assistants, however, were already well used to the exotic habits of Westerners and paid no attention to me or my younger colleagues, who, oblivious to the local culture, took the plunge in their usual bikinis. In the late afternoon, after returning to the hotel and taking a shower, we all went out again to walk along the beach promenade near the hotel where we were staying. My classmates, all young, pretty, boisterous like a typical Brazilian tour group and dressed in skimpy shorts, were stunned when they were solemnly ignored by a passer-by who nearly broke his neck as he turned to admire a Muslim woman all covered in an elegant black burka with hot pink border.
Getting to know other cultures has shown me that the concept of right and wrong, so ingrained in each of us, must always be questioned, as it changes from one culture to another. What's most important is knowing what makes you feel comfortable and doesn't harm those around you.
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