abaya

Certainly, yes... at least, the child-raising aspects, and how much work they had to go through to inculcate basic manners in me (especially on the Thai side).

Then again, the strange thing is that as I grow older, I also see in my parents some lack of manners on their part (at times)... a lack of awareness over appropriate behavior, appropriate audience, etc. That is actually quite difficult for me to deal with, especially when I'm in the same social situation, because I can't exactly correct them. This may be more a matter of culture than anything, though (in the US, you would never notice these differences, except maybe between socioeconomic classes--but in Iceland, yes, some things are different).

I've also had conflicts of "manners" with ktspktsp at times, perhaps because he was raised with a different cultural context of manners... we bump heads about these kinds of things at times, but it also makes me realize that manners (for me) can be a source of insecurity. If I am not making the right gestures, then I feel very insecure and stressed about the social situation. For him, it's not such a big deal--and I have a hard time relaxing about those kinds of things.

__________________
And think not you can direct the course of Love;
for Love, if it finds you worthy, directs your course.
--Khalil Gibran