{"id":3100,"date":"2018-01-24T13:55:11","date_gmt":"2018-01-24T11:55:11","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/staging.connect2us.eu\/verhalen\/han-feels-at-home\/"},"modified":"2024-09-11T14:02:02","modified_gmt":"2024-09-11T12:02:02","slug":"han-feels-at-home","status":"publish","type":"portfolio","link":"https:\/\/connect2us.eu\/en\/stories\/han-feels-at-home\/","title":{"rendered":"Han feels at home"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

Han and his family have been in the Netherlands for a while.\nhan finally feels at home in the nice neighborhood where they now live, even though it is very different from their home in China.\nThey soon meet most of their new neighbors.\nThe neighbors are very friendly.\nWhen Han sees them on the street or in his store, they sometimes chat.\nSome neighbors then ask about his country and his family still there.\nHe likes that. <\/p>\n\n

\"\"<\/figure>\n\n

Still, Han is confused.\n“I invited the neighbor, Anna, and her family to come over for real Chinese tomato soup sometime. But they haven’t been yet, they haven’t even answered.”\nHan was looking forward to Anna tasting the delicious tomato soup and being able to be together, with the children.\nShe and the other neighbors are friendly, but also quite distant. <\/p>\n\n

Anna thinks Han is a fine neighbor.\nHe, his wife and children are very enthusiastic.\nThey wave and smile when they meet.\n“You hear a lot about China in the news. When I saw Han the other day, I stopped and asked how things were going. He invited our family to join him for dinner. I hardly know him yet and of course it’s very busy. I said I was going to discuss it at home. Nice that he wanted to do that. But everything in its time. Right?” <\/p>\n\n

Where is the connection?<\/h3>\n\n

Han invited the family because he thought Anna’s interest would be the beginning of a friendly relationship between the neighbors.\nA meal would make the relationship stronger and bring the families closer together.\nHan comes from a we culture and likes to share his hospitality with everyone. <\/p>\n\n

In the Netherlands, with a strong I culture, a distinction is often made between friends and acquaintances such as people at school, in the street, on the sports field, at work, and so on.\nFriends are usually invited home, but acquaintances are not; you see them where you know them from.\nHan tries to get to know his neighbors better.\nBut Anna doesn’t need to.\nThe schedule is already so busy and she hardly gets around to friends. <\/p>\n\n

Still, Anna might accept the invitation.\nNor does it have to fit exactly into the agenda.\nEating that soup together is already very nice.\nSuch moments are very important to the Chinese.\nThey are the beginning of a bond of trust between neighbors.\nAnd they won’t walk out the door after that.\nOr, if Anna prefers to keep some distance, she can also suggest a picnic in the park.\nBoth families can bring food.\nEach something from their own kitchen.\nThat way, for Anna, there are no obligations.\nAnd for Han, such a picnic is already a very nice way to be together. <\/p>\n\n

Want to read more about culture dimensions?<\/a><\/p>\n\n

Important to know<\/strong><\/h3>\n\n

This anecdote is based on stories shared with us.\nConnect2Us strives to highlight the dilemma from both sides.\nNot to label people.\nOr to suggest that one or the other should behave differently.\nAwareness by those involved is enough to move towards each other.\nWithout pretending to be completely different. Connect2Us aims to help readers recognize and avoid prejudice. Read about prejudice, discrimination and racism here.<\/a><\/p>\n\n

<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Han and his family have been in the Netherlands for a while. han finally feels at home in the nice neighborhood where they now live, even though it is very different from their home in China. They soon meet most of their new neighbors. The neighbors are very friendly. When Han sees them on the […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":3,"featured_media":3101,"menu_order":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_vp_format_video_url":"","_vp_image_focal_point":[],"footnotes":""},"portfolio_category":[],"portfolio_tag":[],"class_list":["post-3100","portfolio","type-portfolio","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry"],"blocksy_meta":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/connect2us.eu\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/portfolio\/3100","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/connect2us.eu\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/portfolio"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/connect2us.eu\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/portfolio"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/connect2us.eu\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/3"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/connect2us.eu\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=3100"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/connect2us.eu\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/portfolio\/3100\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":3102,"href":"https:\/\/connect2us.eu\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/portfolio\/3100\/revisions\/3102"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/connect2us.eu\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/3101"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/connect2us.eu\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=3100"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"portfolio_category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/connect2us.eu\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/portfolio_category?post=3100"},{"taxonomy":"portfolio_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/connect2us.eu\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/portfolio_tag?post=3100"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}