Your experience of culture shock in Mauritius

hi,,,wanna share my till to date culture shock.
When i saw sm1 in their house,having light a lamp,put some fruits in a plate n rose flowers,,,i still wonder what form of worship is this cz at 1st i thought it's witchcraft,

Would be glad to know why they do this.

nazlin24 wrote:

hi,,,wanna share my till to date culture shock.
When i saw sm1 in their house,having light a lamp,put some fruits in a plate n rose flowers,,,i still wonder what form of worship is this cz at 1st i thought it's witchcraft,

Would be glad to know why they do this.

First it will better to write in proper English ( not SMS language type) please
Secondly , it is advisable to anyone going to a foreign country to familiarize oneself , at least, about the people, the religions and languages ( it is easy - everything is on the net , just take some few minutes)
Thirdly, it may not  be witchcraft  ( though black magic does exist on the island- just have to read the newspapers ) but it could be people who do follow Hinduism or even Buddhism  ( check the Chinese Pagodas) or one of the Asian religions.
If you have managed to watch/observe  them , then they are praying and giving offerings to the deities or God or whomever they hold in "high places.

Thankyou for your response

Hi ,
I lived in the Oman and UAE for 25 years and associated with all kinds of people. Moving to Mauritius in 2009 was not only amazing but also a huge culture shock for me in a positive way. I found every one very nice and friendly and most of them clean hearted and decent and also very helpful without any ego. I now find it difficult when I travel back to my own country or to  countries as I expect the same atmosphere that I find in Mauritius.
Mauritius is not a perfect country nor are Mauritians  but are the  nicest people in the world

Cheers
Terence

I agree with you Terence

I came to this island as a newly married lady, married to a Mauritian man. Our wedding was performed in my country which is Indonesia, in my birth city Jakarta. When we landed I had no difficulty in communicating with the local people since they speak English as I do. The obstacle was the Creole language, because when my first child was born and when she started speaking, the first sentence was in Creole. And it all started, my girl with Creole and me, a dumb mother. I thank the Lord, the patience of my daughter's great-grandmother who taught me the language, but it was after the birth of my son, suddenly... zap! My Creole language started rolling like a Lamborghini rolling on a toll-road until their family exclaimed:" Listen to her speaking Creole! Incredible! " Everything became easier since. So language is a very important means of communication.

Hi there,

I have to agree with Terence.

We've been in MU now for 10 months and we have adapted very quickly and love it, and its due to the reasons Terence mentions.

The only draw back is the old debate of the treatment of their dogs.  While I'm an animal lover, I'm also reasonable in my expectations of how other people/cultures etc treat their animals.  But I see so many animals tied to very short chains, where the animal has to eat, urinate/deficate and sleep in close proximity.  The animals are often just fed bread or left over rice, so they are malnourished and have skin conditions and fleas. I'm involved in a work that involves me regularly calling on peoples homes, so I have seen this first hand, and its not an isolated case, but seems to be the norm.  Many dogs are also enjoyed when they are puppies and once they become adults or fall pregnant they are dropped off in the suger canes or on the side of the road to fend for themselves.

Mauritians are such nice, friendly, helpful people in many ways, so my conclusion is ,a lack of education of the needs of a pet.  Any suggestions on how one could highlight animals needs without being insulting and getting their backs up?

Thanks for hearing me out and any suggestions are welcome...

I agree, I have just returned from Mauritius yesterday and I feel if they want to take away the opinion of being a third world country, one of the important matters would be to take care of other sentient beings.