Different places have different context, therefore different behaviours of the people. I have been in Singapore for more than eight years, but I still remember all the cultural shocks I experienced when I first came here.
The first thing troubled me was that in Singapore, people just sit on the ground or floor like nothing. While in China we often use a newspaper to over the ground before sitting down. Unless it is no choice, we avoid doing that. Because the peasant workers in China often do that and block others' pathway, sitting on the ground is a symbol of incivility and being uneducated. However, it was after a while that I realised that in Singapore due to the weather and cleanness, most of the time it is okay to sit on the floor. And many places such as the school hall there are no seats, standing for hours is very torturous.
The second thing is people wear the same pair of slippers all the way from home to other places. It was like a "oh my god" shock. Wearing a slipper make a person look very slothful. In my hometown, we only wear those at home. However, it also took me not long to realise that Singapore is much cleaner that my hometown. Moreover, due to the weather, if we wear boots or other types of covered shoes, it would be very smelly. During wet weather (which is quite often in Singapore), sports shoes would be soaked and wet, it is very hard to dry them, and the process is quite smelly as well.
In conclusion, it is very normal for a person to experience differences in a new environment. And it is normal as well to think these new behaviours as awkward. However, human beings are very good at adapting to new environment, it is very important to be understandable and sensible to these new changes. Because one day you would be the same as well.
