by Thokozile Gurganious

Created on: November 30, 2009

During my life, I have been lucky to travel to a few countries of the world and to experience different cultures. I have lived in Kenya for thirteen years, and among the over 10 countries that I have lived in, Kenya tops as the place with the noisiest people. Go to Kariokor in Nairobi, and all the bus conductors of the various buses leaving Nairobi for other cities will be yelling at you as if they can actually convince you to go and visit another city even if traveling was not in your plans. They will yell the name of the place where their bus is going to so much that for the next week their voices will be echoing in your ears.

I have also lived for three and a half years of my life in Edinburgh, Scotland, and I can tell you that people in Edinburgh can really irritate you. One day, I boarded a bus in Edinburgh. There was an empty seat next to a gentleman. I took the seat. As soon as I sat down next to the gentleman, the gentleman started behaving like his blood pressure had suddenly gone up: he quickly got hold of a newspaper from his bag and erected a wall between me and him. I was annoyed, so I peeped over the wall. The man was so angry with me that he was sweating. When I related the story to my friends who had lived in Edinburgh longer than me, they told me that that is how people are in Edinburgh, Scotland. Apparently, they value their privacy so much that they do not want strangers to sit next to them even in a bus! I was appalled because I come from a little village where people talk to each other.

If Kenyans are annoying with their noise, go to Uganda next door and their politeness will irk your nerves. I was in Kampala, Uganda for one month for training. I got bored with the hotel food, and one evening I decided to go to the local market and mix and mingle with the local people. I bought some roasted sweet potatoes and a can of coke. I was enjoying my food as I strolled through the local market. A woman selling smoked fish called me aside. "You will never get married," she said to me. My eyes popped out as my sweet potato fell down. I was bewildered. "A woman does not eat while walking. No man will ever want to marry you," the lady added. I looked around, and sure enough, not one woman was eating. Apparently, Ugandan women do not eat in public, and it was regarded as very impolite and unladylike for a woman to eat while she was walking.

Then I visited New York. I got lost somewhere around Fifth Avenue. I looked around me and decided to stop a

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