The first couple of months I spent in Ukraine I make a series of faux pas. I suppose, to an extent, when your’re travelling in European capitals it’s ____ that there are a number of shared customs and conventions, but you forget just how different things are elsewhere. Really, nothing should be ____. I was an undergrad in Lviv when I first met Olexii. We got on well, enjoyed discussing philosophy and literature. As is ____ in these situations, he eventually invited me to his house to have dinner with his parents. This is a fairly ____ occurrence for exchange students, so I thought I’d pull it off without causing any diplomatic incidents. Unfortunately, I was young and didn’t realise then what you have to do when you go to dinner in Ukraine – you see, there are quite clear rules. It’s all very ____, but in my enthusiasm I didn’t bother to find out more. First, I took some flowers – nothing ____ there, surely? Sadly, my choice of blooms was totally ____. For Ukrainians, yellow flowers symbolise the end of a relationship. Olexii didn’t look overly happy when I gave his mother yellow roses. The next thing I did wrong was to keep my outdoor shoes on. I suppose that’s not ____ in the UK, but I was more concerned about the potential embarrassment of exposing my threadbare socks. I thought it was just a normal family dinner, so I also wore my usual student attire. An exasperated Olexii told me that you really ought to dress well when someone invites you to dinner, as this indicates you think the invitation is important. When dinner arrived, the food was fantastic. I ate everything on my plate, but was very full. When Olexii’s mother offered me more I said ‘no thank you’. She looked a bit put out. Evidently that was an ____ response by guests in the household. Later, Olexii explained that you need to leave a little food on your plate to show you are finished. I kicked myself for making such an error of judgement. The tradition isn’t ____ Ukraine after all – there are a number of cultures which do the same. Equally, if you refuse more, your host might think you didn’t enjoy your meal. Luckily they forgave my lack of manners, and invited me back again.

normal/abnormal

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