Personal Spaces Differences

Claudia Acosta

5/26/17

Personal Spaces Differences

The territory is the space around a person who cries out for his own place. Each has its personal territory that includes the area of their own possessions. The animals also mark their own territory, the saves and the fish, each one of different way according to its species. In the same way we also do human beings, we mark our own territory away.

The personal space that each one marks as our personal territory is determined according to the culture. Just as in some cultures like Japan it is acceptable and normal, the crowding, in other cultures they prefer a wide open space to maintain the distance.

"The golden rule is to keep the distance”

My personal experience

In Uruguay it is very normal and common that people are very close to each other, either waiting at the bus stop, talking, standing in a line waiting to be attended, above the bus and if it is the peak hour the bus is Crowded to the door, and even on the street driving, they all drive very close to each other. The people all greet each other with a kiss, it does not matter if you know them or do not know them and if they are family or friends they are also given a hug between men and women and even men like relatives and close friends among each other greet each other with a kiss and hug. Men only greet another man by the hand when they do not know or trust each other.

When I arrived in the USA accustomed to living the Uruguayan culture and not knowing a different one, for me personally, that sharing was something completely normal and acceptable.

One of my first experiences when I felt a rejection from the other person was when I arrived at a meeting where there were only Americans and I out of respect and custom I wanted to greet people with a kiss. People felt uncomfortable and tried to keep their distance.

I also lived another moment waiting in the row of the bank to be attended, the person in front of me happened to the bank employee to be attended and I went behind her and I stand very close to her back, as it did in my country. Obviously the person felt very uncomfortable and asked me to keep distance for her.

At first I learned from my mistakes but also I began to observe and thus I became acquainted and learning from the American culture.

Conclusion

This is a very interesting topic to learn not to go through embarrassing experiences or get into a problem.

In a school there exists a variety of students from different countries with different cultures if students do not learn the golden rule, this can become a big problem.

As a teacher, I would like to talk very closely with my students. I would like my students to learn from other cultures, to know and respect them, but above all to learn to respect the differences of cultures between the students and in the country where they live.