Why do people laugh at me?

Nick-H

New thread:

Why is Peak laughing at me?










.

anar

certainly the most interesting thread on im - with no sign of the op since her original post.

deej

Having worked in secondary schools and youth clubs in the UK I can say that teenagers / young adults generally can be a giggly silly bunch, especially when confronted with something outside of their comfort zone and exisiting realm of experience, so maybe this is something that transcends cutltural differences.

Adults is a little harder to deal with I agree and can knock your confidence if you don't know what to make of it. I can only say that when I travelled in Kerala with my husband we were giggled at a lot (and this was in quite well-touristed areas like Cochin, Munnar, backwaters). I never got the sense that this was due to something we were doing 'wrong', but as other posters have said, more in a vein of curiosity and excitement. In Munnar we met a lot of north Indian honeymooners who wanted to pose with us for pictures and were generally very giggly in the intoduction stages despite being obviously well-educated middle class people who presumably led fairly cosmopolitan lives with access to images of western culture on TV etc, and were just excited to meet us 'in the flesh' as it were - so I don't think this is something specific to remote places.

If I was the OP, I think the laughter from my colleagues in the school is what I would find tough to 'laugh off', as it sounds like it is udnermining her confidence in what she is doing and making her feel very unconfomfortable. Perhaps there is a senior teacher or headteacher she could have a quiet talk with about this? Or is she is volunteering through an agency does she have a contact there? Then maybe this person could shed some light on the situation that will make her feel more relaxed, or if all else fails have a gentle word with the colleagues to let them know the consequences of their behaviour. In my limited experience Indians are very welcoming and hospitable people, and would not want to make a visitor feel unwelcome, especially a valued volunteer.

AusE

ooooh I love this thread.

guess like the OP I am not the only FREAK out there...haha.. ..I believe i have gotten SEMI-used to this and do not want to slap nearly as many people as I did a while back....also believe selective hearing and an Ipod still works wonders (although my music taste is appalling at the moment...Nelly Furtado and all the boppy chicks... ). I put it down to a mixture of basically what everyone has send above.

Just wish for once they would ask me if I was from Bollywood, and not a tv serial.... always the bridesmaid