One hardly notices the strings in the background the first time you listen to a song

Nothing is ever what it seems on its surface.

Nothing.

All that undertones that people speak in, silent words surreptitiously slipped between sentences, a flicker of body language that's supposed to mean a thousand words - I just don't get it. I must be slightly autistic or something.

In Asian culture, every freaking thing is implied. It's implied that when a relative offers you help, you're expected to pay it back. When someone is of higher seniority than you, it is implied that whatever he says has gotta be right. If not, it's implied that you gotta pretend.

All this business irks me. Can't we just be honest and say out loud the words that we expect to be silently assumed? It's not hard to see why the westerners see Asian culture as an impenetrable wall of secrecy and unpredictability.

Another related grouse. When was the last time anyone here started a sentence with 'I feel that'? It might be Asian pride to look infallible and heroic and not express our doubts, but it's surely going to be seen as inflexibility and stubbornness.

Talk it out if you have to. Discuss things. Express your concerns. Before communication breakdown sets in and war ensues.