The Russian girl I met had never learned how to ride a bike.
She said that in Russia not many people do this, because it's very dangerous over there. The traffic, in most parts of Russia, is a mess, she told me!!!
I think this is because people in Russia are very particularist. They think the law is different in all circumstances. They interpret it the way they want, so they will be less galant and more stressy. Because of this the traffic becomes of course much more dangerous... And this is the reason why people avoid riding bycicles.
For the arrangement of my internship, I had to go to the Netherlands. Again I remarked some interesting differences between the Belgian people and the Dutch ...
Sources (Geert Hofstede) told me that Belgian people and Dutch people aren't very alike. G. Hofstede said that "there are no 2 countries so different than Belgium and the Netherlands".
- Belgians have more hiërachie than the Dutch people.
"De Nederlanders gaan al snel over op de informele termen; "je" en "jij" ."
This was also the case in my internship-meeting. The company was not very hiërachic. The Belgians are far more formal and that's the reason we think the Dutch people are arrogant and have little respect.
-A date is a date
"In Nederland toch, in Belgie zijn dit slechts een paar hoofdlijnen, waar je van kan afwijken of flexibel hanteren. De Nederlander is hier rechtlijniger in, en de Belg flexibeler."
This was also the case in my communication with the Dutch company
Family is very important. I think (hope) this is the case in ALL cultures. But today I have learned that in some cultures the family is even more important than in others (Or at least they give this impression) !
In Turkey, this is the case. Breakfast is never served as quick as possible and there is lots and lots of food!! Food for everybody ! Everybody is invited as they are also very collectivist. The people do it all together. they prepare it together and eat it togeter.
When we discussed this habit, I told the Turkish girl that most of the time I usually eat NOTHING for breakfast. She couldn't understand this at all
The word "NO" doesn't mean the same thing in all countries!!
I learned this and I will try to explain this by using 2 examples:
example 1 :
A while ago, I met a russian girl (an erasmus-student)
One evening she invited me for a cup of of tea....In Belgium, we would never do this, it's just a habit that young people normally don't do. For us, this is something for old people?! (=Cultural difference)
But I just couldn't say "NO" to her because she insisted ... So I agreed ...
Then she also insisted that I ate a cookie. She REALLY INSISTED. It even made me feel that it would be very rude to say "NO". It made me feel as if I would have said "NO" to her, she would think that I didn't like her. So, I ate one, but wasn't hungry AT ALL, but she was happy
example 2 :
Almost the same thing happened to me with a Turkish girl. She asked me to come to a party....
BUT I had a test the next day so I had to study
In this example I did say "NO" because of the test. And, as I expected a little bit, she didn't really understand that.
A Belgian girl would understand this giving the circumstances but it seems that, if a girl asks you something in Turkey, all men normally say "YES". The girls see it as an insult if you say "NO" to them, the reason why is less important.
Conclusion :
Think twice before saying "YES" or "NO". And always watch out that the other person interprets this "YES" or "NO" the way that YOU mean it!
(
Cultural shock 
, but she was happy 
