Culture Shock

In class the other day we played cards, but there was one rule, we couldn't talk. As you can imagine it  was very annoying not to be able to talk. We started playing in a group and were given a set of rules for the game. When time was called the winner would move to one table and the loser would move to another. When I started playing with my new group, I put down an ace and thought  I won because for my rules it said an ace is the highest card. Though the other people thought that it was the lowest card and started hand gesturing that it was lower and I lost. When the game was over our teacher told us that each group had a different set of rules explaining why I thought one way and the other person thought another. He explained to us that we were representing different cultures and that each culture has different rules. Each of us were experiencing culture shock. When I traveled to London, I was going to dinner with my family and British family friends. When we got seated and while I was sitting in the restaurant I noticed this person drinking a beer and did not look old enough to drink. I asked my British friend what that was all about and she said that in London at the age of 14 you are allowed to drink if you are with your parents. This was a total shock to me because in America if I was sitting in a restaurant drinking a beer with my family and there was a cop in the restaurant my parents would be arrested right away. As well as London, in Greece I experienced culture shock when I went to a beach and people were naked. This was totally normal and acceptable to them, but to me I thought that this was totally weird and uncomfortable. Back at home if someone was naked at a beach people would find this very disrespectful and inappropriate. From what I have learned in class and looking back at my experiences, I realize that every culture has a different way of living and that doesn't mean that it is the wrong way and we shouldn't judge the way they live. Instead we should think like sociologist's and use cultural relativity and be more open to the way they live.