I belong to a minority group here in Singapore, which is strange if you think about it, considering I'm one of the indigenous people of these parts. When Raffles landed here all those years ago, he probably talked to someone that looked like me, while someone else that looked like me was busy laughing at Farquhar's name-tag.
But I digress. The point I'm trying to make is that since I'm a minority pretty much every experience I've had is an intercultural one. This blog post is about one of those experiences, and like many of my posts thus far it is set back in the days of my national service.
In the early days of my NS I was posted to a fire station somewhere in central Singapore, where I was part of an ambulance crew that would respond to medical emergencies in the area. One particular case I responded to comes to mind when I think about intercultural behavior, and it actually involves child-birth.
A woman was in labour and so together with her husband they decided to take a taxi to the hospital. However while one the way to the hospital they decided to stop by the side of the road and call an ambulance instead. As it turns out I was on duty at that time so we got to the scene shortly after and the baby was delivered right there in the back of the cab.
Now as part of an ambulance crew I have seen my share of accidents, but child-birth is by far the most disgusting thing I had EVER seen. The back of that taxi had blood and other types of unmentionable fluids all over it. It was an absolute mess, plus it smelled horrible too. So I expected the taxi driver, a Chinese man in his early 40s, to be significantly upset. After all, the cab is the main source of income for him, and now it is compromised. I was surprised though to see him smiling from ear to ear; he even waived the fare.
I would later find out that for taxi-drivers (a whole new sub-culture I never knew existed), a birth in your cab is actually very lucky, and would bring you good fortune. I would also later find out that Chinese people generally believe that birth of any kind is actually very lucky, so they do not mind the mess associated with it. Myself on the other hand, all of 18 years old and fresh out of junior college, really cannot get past the smell. It was a mixture of rotten eggs and vomit . It really was just plain horrible.
Relating this to what was taught in class this past week, I have come to realize that this is perhaps a good example of belief systems. If your culture subscribes to the notions of 'luck' and 'fortune', then you would associate certain events with those concepts. You would thus, just like the taxi driver, welcome such incidents. On the other hand if you do not believe in such things, then all you would see (and smell) is a sullied vehicle.
