cultural norms

The first time I went to India on vacation to visit family, I had a terrifying experience.

I was nine years old. My grandma called my name, so I turned to face her. She told me lunch was ready and asked me to tell my brother, who was in another room. I turned around and saw a large monkey standing in the middle of the living room!

I let out a short yell but couldn't move to say anything. Luckily, my grandma saw the monkey as well. I didn't know what to do; I knew there were monkeys everywhere. I saw them in the trees. However, I never expected one to come into the house!

My grandma was able to scare it away. She closed our front door so it wouldn't happen again and explained to me monkeys sometimes liked to come into houses if they smell food, like our lunch.

Looking back on it, the experience was more interesting than anything, but nine-year-old me refused to go outside again for three days and made sure all the doors were closed and locked, not trusting monkeys not to be smart enough to use a doorknob.

I'm definitely not the only person who has had a terrifying experience in a foreign country.