Working and living abroad

Nobody owes anybody anything. If it was passion for our job, love, or better welfare that led us to move in a new country, shouldn’t we embrace its culture too? Not many people that I’ve met in my journey fully embraced the culture of the new country they were moving in. And a noticeable effect were always the sour complaints against people, food, lifestyle or other things that were typical for that country. While it’s so hard to change our habits because they are so well tattooed and are a result of our background, is it really impossible to open up to other habits too?

“This is who I am and I’m not going to change that.” - I hear that more often from people lately and as an empathic person my first response is always: “And you don’t have to!” My favourite saying in Dutch is “Niets moet, alles mag” which translates to “nothing is a must, everything is possible”. Truth is I categorise these people as inflexible at first, and then I feel how a change in perception about a new culture can feel like an attack on their person. So what do we feel we give up when we are faced with these changes? And do we really have to give up to make room for new cultural habits?