These lines from a famous Rolf Harris song (apparently it was due to be in the movie Peter Pan but got cut), seemed to apply recently.
The situation I found myself in was this - having taken pains to make sure that my two co-teachers and their husbands would be able to attend the end-of-year Sakornet party, I duly proceeded to book the tickets at 75000 won per person. Only to be told a day before the party that they would no longer be able to come! And could I cancel the tickets.
No, I couldn't! The whole idea is that the pre-booking is to ensure that there is food prepared and tables laid etc. and hotels generally don't allow cancellations on stuff like that!
OK, so given the salary I earn, 150000 won is not that much. However, to have wasted it in this way really drove me nuts. If I had that money to waste, I would be sending it to my family in SA, where it is worth over R1000 - think what they could have done with it! Or it could have gone towards paying for the room.
Coming from a culture where, if you accept an invitation like this, especially well ahead of time, you basically have made a firm commitment and other invitations have to be set aside, this kind of rudeness is, I suppose, what is meant by culture shock.
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