Recently I have been building a house over in Vanuatu with the help of my father, and I am hoping to move there by myself after the house is built and I am finished with university.
Our house is on a small island, and to get to the markets we always needed to call one of the locals with a boat to take us across to the mainland. We called the same guy for around 2 weeks who had a relatively small boat. We decided that we should call another local with a larger boat to get more bricks across per trip to save money. I didnβt have a second thought that this could offend someone.
Whilst we were waiting for the boat, our usual boat driver saw me and asked whether I needed a lift to the other side, in which I replied something like, βIβm alright, we have someone coming,β or something along those lines, although I jumbled the words slightly but didnβt think anything of it. This apparently came across as me saying that I didnβt want him and his help anymore, and he took offence to it. Word then got around the people that the young white man is rude and offensive and to avoid contact with him, and to not interact nor take across the water.
This occurred mainly due to the lack of social dynamics, along with poor social skills.
One of the main reasons why we are building the house is so that when I move over there I could make friendships with the locals, in which is hard to do in a western environment. Now I am going to be avoided.
Our house is on a small island, and to get to the markets we always needed to call one of the locals with a boat to take us across to the mainland. We called the same guy for around 2 weeks who had a relatively small boat. We decided that we should call another local with a larger boat to get more bricks across per trip to save money. I didnβt have a second thought that this could offend someone.
Whilst we were waiting for the boat, our usual boat driver saw me and asked whether I needed a lift to the other side, in which I replied something like, βIβm alright, we have someone coming,β or something along those lines, although I jumbled the words slightly but didnβt think anything of it. This apparently came across as me saying that I didnβt want him and his help anymore, and he took offence to it. Word then got around the people that the young white man is rude and offensive and to avoid contact with him, and to not interact nor take across the water.
This occurred mainly due to the lack of social dynamics, along with poor social skills.
One of the main reasons why we are building the house is so that when I move over there I could make friendships with the locals, in which is hard to do in a western environment. Now I am going to be avoided.
