I think this "intrusive manner" is a part of the culture in the East and Latin America. People are more family and community oriented, the family ties are generally much stronger and everyone feels like they're connected. So these people might ask questions either because they're curious and because they think there's nothing wrong with asking, I'm sure if they thought it was an offensive question they wouldn't have asked. Where I come from, everyone knows everyone in the neighborhood, and although it's nice to feel like a big family, it can get annoying when everyone is butting their nose in. The same thing if noone knew anyone, it would good to have ur privacy but it would suck to be kind of alone. So everything has it's pros and cons I guess.

I'm not always right, but I'm never wrong :P - Garfield