Conclusion

Culture course is almost over and all the activities throughout this course have been a great experience for me. You truly learn a lot about cultures and it helps you be open-minded.  We all know that different cultures have different ways of viewing other cultures. Sometimes we have bad stereotypes about others because of their traditions and customs, and that does not help us to understand and respect each other. We have to study about cultures around the world, and bad stereotypes will not affect in a wrong way our points of view about other traditions.  

As Daisaku Ikeda said “People can only live fully by helping others to live. When you give life to friends you truly live. Cultures can only realize their further richness by honoring other traditions. And only by respecting natural life can humanity continue to exist.” (http://thinkexist.com/quotations/culture/) We have to follow Ikeda´s advice because we will find truly joy helping others and respecting people for what they are.  

Having some many differences regarding traditions, ritual, manners, etiquette, and customs is what make our own culture special. Without differences, there would not be anything to learn from others. Cultures are richness for all of us. They feed our spirit and make us stronger. 

Reaction #8 Islam

On Wednesday November 3^rd, I and my culture class visited the Cultural Muslim Center called Omar located in Calle Blancos, San José, Costa Rica. One of its members gave a speech about their religion. On this day, topics like the five pillars of Islam, the role of the women and men, weddings, among others were discussed.

The five pillars of the Islam are Iman, Salah, Zakah, Sawm, and Hajj. The first pillar is Iman or faith and it is based on the fact that the only purpose of a Muslim´s life is to serve and obey God. As well, the second pillar is Salah which is the name of the five prayers a Muslim must performed during the day.  Prayers are said at dawn, mid-day, late-afternoon, sunset and nightfall. By the way, we had the opportunity to observe them while they were praying.  The third pillar is Zakah which is the 2.5% of a Muslim’s annual capital. Muslims give this money to people who may need it. They help their families first, if they do not need the money, they give it to their neighbors, if no neighbor needs the money,  then, they must find someone in need. The fourth pillar is Sawn. Muslims every year in the month of Ramadan fast from dawn to dusk. Pregnant women, elderly people and women who are menstruating are permitted to break the fast. The last pillar is Hajj which is the pilgrimage. The pilgrimage to Makkah or Mecca is an obligation only for those who are physically and financially able to do so and must be done at least once during a Muslim lifetime. 

 

Women must use a veil to cover their hair. The veil gives a sense of dignity to a woman. When women are in their house, they do not have to use the veil. Also, when a woman is going to get married, the husband must pay for the wedding expenses and he must buy all the furniture, electronic and so on for the house. It is important for a bride to receive an insurance policy in case of divorce and to ensure her financial independence. Men are able to have multiple wives but they must deal with their wives justly. Something appealing to me that was discussed is that abortion is permitted if continuing the pregnancy would put the mother's life in real danger. Also, it is not very common to adopt a child but if you do so, you can not change the child´s last names. You must keep his or her real name. 

 

Going to this cultural center was a very interesting experience because by listening to them, you can have a total different point of view. Almost all the times what you see on television is not the whole truth about something and you can have a wrong idea of Muslims. All religions are different and that is part of each person´s culture. We have to be tolerant and respect them. If we do so, we can have a better and peaceful world. 

 

 

Reaction #7 Paralinguistic

Non-verbal communications is an important and indispensable element in our lives. Since we are babies, we understand non-verbal communication. Using this way of communication, people can express feelings, attitudes, and emotions. It can be expressed consciously and unconsciously. That is why it is very important not only to study nonverbal behaviors in different cultures but also understand and respect them.

Nonverbal communication can be classified into a series of categories but most classifications divide nonverbal messages into two categories: those that are produced by the body, for instance, facial expressions, eye contact and so on, and those that the individual combines with the setting such as space, time and silence.

Gestures are a very usual way of communicate, you can see people sending messages to others just by waving, placing hands on hips, folding arms, pointing, clenching a fist, shaking a finger, etc. All of these gestures can play an important role in life and as well in culture; they can have different meaning depending on the culture or place.  It is important to learn this before traveling to a country in order to avoid misunderstanding.   Also, facial expression might mean something different from place to place, for example, in many Mediterranean cultures, people exaggerate signs of grief or sadness, but Japanese and Chinese men have a desire to hide public expressions of anger, sorrow, confusion, or disgust. Eye contact is another essential aspect in nonverbal communication and it must be used differently depending on the culture. In some cultures, eye contact means that a person is paying attention, also it expresses emotions, but in other culture people must not see others in the eye because it is not considered polite or even an insult.

Touch is another aspect in daily communication. For example, people in Costa Rica are very friendly so when they meet friends and family, they are used to hug and kiss them, but in European countries this may be consider unusual and people may not feel comfortable with it. Space and distance can affect communication. Many people around the world love their personal space and if you cross that space, they feel you are invading them. Whenever you will visit another place, this aspect must be taken into consideration.

Nonverbal communication can people communicate with other people around the world, but it can also serve to lead to misunderstanding among cultures. It is critical that all of us learn from other culture´s paralinguistic. Learning this can be a great experience and it is very interesting.

Reaction #6 Arranged "Friendship has no religion"

Arranged is the third movie we have seen so far and to be honest it is my favorite. I really like this movie because it shows that friendship can be stronger than any difference between cultures. Many people tend to believe that people from different places and with different traditions and customs can not be friends, but that is not true. A person can put differences aside and get to know someone. This movie is about a Jewish girl named Rajo and a Muslim named Nazira girl and it is based in part of a real life experience.

 Rajo meets Nazira because they are teachers at a public school in Brooklyn.  During the movie, they share a lot of time and become very good friends. They are also going through arranged marriages because of their religions. Rajo´s family tries to set up some dates for her but all of the guys she dated were very different from what she really likes, she talks to her mom about the fact that she does not want to go on dates for a while, however, her mother is really concern about this because if Rajo does not get married, she is going to delay her sister´s wedding as well.   On the other hand, Nazira´s arranged wedding is going pretty well because she likes the man her family chose for her.

One day, Nazira goes with Rajo to her brother´s university to give him a book he needs, in her brother´s study group is a Jewish guy and Rajo likes him a lot but there was no way she can actually date him. Nazira pretends she is taking a journalist course and asks the Jewish guy some questions. She took also a picture of him and prepares his resume. Nazira stops by the house of the woman who is arranging Rajo´s date and gives her the resume she had prepared. Because of Nazira, Rajo´s goes on a date with the Jewish. At the end of the film, both girls get married and they have babies.

This movie actually makes you aware that people from other cultures can become very close friends in despite of their differences. Also, traditions such as arranged marriages can work out for people and they are very happy couple for the rest of the life. We have to be very open-minded and respect all cultures.

Reaction Paper #5 A Fond Kiss

    A Fond kiss is the second movie we watched in the culture II course. This is a love movie about a Pakistani named Casim who falls in love with Roisin who is an Irish teacher. Casim´s parents arranged a wedding for him because that is part of their culture. Casim is supposed to marry his cousin Jasmine but of course because he is in love with Roisin he does not want to do so. During the movie, Casim and Roisin take a trip to Spain, they are completely happy together but in the trip, Casim tells Roisin that he must marry Jasmine, something Roisin was not aware of. This destroys Roisin because she really cares about him. Casim realizes that he feels the same way about Roisin so decides to tell her that he will cancel the wedding.

    Casim leaves his house and start living with Roisin. All his family is aware of that but they do not accept it. They think that they can make Casim change his mind and marry him with Jasmine. Even Casim´s older sister Rukhsana tries to separate them. She takes Roisin outside his house to show her how her family is and that day Jasmine is there so Roisin feels so bad about the fact that she is going to lose Casim. She even loses her job at the Catholic school because she is living with him but besides everything she is always there for him. At the end, they stay together because love can be much stronger than anything.

   This movie makes you think that if you love someone, if does not matter what culture are you from, love is what always wins. If you care about someone with other traditions, customs, you can work together and make things work out. You can show society that people can change and we must accept each culture regardless its traditions, rituals and so on.

Reaction Paper #4 Finland

We had to give a presentation about a culture so I decided to present about Finland which is the fifth-largest country in Western Europe. People may not know but there are lots of interesting facts about this country. Let´s start with their identity, most Finns are very proud of their achievements regardless of the field, for instance, they want you to know at least about the sports careers of Paavo Nurmi and Lasse Viren who were two or their famous runners. During the 1920s, Nurmi was the best middle and long distance runner in the world, setting world records at distances between 1500 m and 20 km and Lasse Viren was the winner of four gold medals at the 1972 and 1976 Summer Olympics. Also, that Nokia was invented by a Finn as well that Linus Torvalds, the inventor of Linux.

 

Most Finns belong to the Evangelical-Lutheran Church while another part of them belongs to the Orthodox Church. Something that caught my attention was the fact that chauvinistic attitudes towards women are generally considered unacceptable.

The  Finns’ mother tongue is either Finnish, Swedish or Saami. They are very good at listening, so, words are taken seriously and interrupting is considered rude. Also when introducing themselves, they will say their first name followed by their last name. They rarely mention their titles for example Dr. Adams but they are expected to be addressed that way in their professional or in official contexts. When greeting, they shake hands and make eye contact, children are greeted that way too, and kissing on the cheek is very unusual.

Finland is the country where coffee is consumed the most and the average of alcohol consumed is close to the European average. Tipping is like here in Costa Rica, service is already included in the bill. Unlike Costa Rican, Finns are very punctual; if you are late you must apologize and give a brief explanation. The Sauna is something completely natural to Finns, and you can do it for the first time in the company of a Finn friend.

"Take a man by his words and a bull by its horns," says a Finnish proverb. Remember that Finns take words seriously and if you visit their country, this might be a good advice. Always try to be very punctual and apologize if you are late.  We all know that all cultures are different and that is why it is a good idea to learn about all the traditions, manners and etiquettes from the Finns before traveling to Finland.

Reaction Paper #3 Song

One of the assignments for my culture II course was to present a song related to culture. At the beginning I had no idea what song to present. I thought about a few and I asked my professor about it. I had no success; they were not closely related to culture or maybe I did not know how to explain their relation with it. 

Then, I remembered about a song that one of my professors presented in the class two years ago. The problem was that I did not remember who the singer was not even the name of the song. One day, while I was watching Cartoon Network, one song that was being played on TV, caught my attention. The singer´s voice was familiar to me and guess what, it was Jack Johnson, the one that I was looking for. 

Now you know who the singer of the song I presented is. The name of the song is “Taylor”, Jack Johnson wrote this song about a girl named Taylor. The song tells the story of three characters: Taylor, Peter Patrick and Sunny. In the song, Taylor works the night shift, passing out tickets but it does not say where, and she is dreaming about a better place; where sadness is unknown, and if she finds a place like that, she will run away. The second character is Peter Patrick who is in love with Taylor, but in the song they do not say how they met. But I believe it was probably while she was wandering in the streets. 

One day, when Patrick is out of his house, he finds out that is locked out of it. He pitter-patters on his window, but, Sunny who is Peter´s wife will not let him in, because somehow she knows where Peter Patrick has been going to, he has been with Taylor. He realizes about his mistake and thinks that going to church every Sunday will make things right again.

For me, the song is related to culture because each character has a particular lifestyle. Many people live like any of this characters and it can have many consequences in life. These lifestyles many times are passed from generation to generation. People around the world tend to believe that is the best way you live because that is what they have learned from their parents.

Reaction Paper #2 The White Massai

Last Thursday, our professor from the “Culture” course, Nuria, brought a movie to class. The movie is called “The White Massai”. It is a very interesting movie because you can see the reality of being with someone from a different culture, having totally different rituals, traditions, behaviors and so on. Of course, there are many differences between them and many miscommunication problems as well. The movie was about a girl named Carola who is from Switzerland and a Massai warrior called Lemalian who fall in love. 

What is amazing is the fact that the movie is based on real life. It really happened! Everything starts when Carola and her boyfriend Stephan go to Kenya, they meet Lemalian and Carola falls in love with him. When Carola and her boyfriend are at the airport, she decides to stay and look for Lemalian. She does but he is already home. So she goes to Samburu and stays at the house of an European girl. To get there, it takes her 13 hours by bus. She finds Lemalian and they start living together, eventually they get married and have a baby girl named Sarai. 

Carola opens a shop in Lemalian’s village but it is not successful because Lemalian gives too much credit to the mini chief. Time passes by and because Carola is friendly with her customer, Lemalian thinks that she has a boyfriend and calls her a whore. 

She gets sick of being treated that way for no reason, so she decides to tell Lemalian that she is going to Switzerland because her mother wants to meet her daughter, so Lemalian signs a document giving Carola consent to take Sarai out of the country. Carola never goes back to Kenya.

For me, this movie shows a lot about two such different cultures that anyone would believe one is right and the other one strange (Is this what you wanted to say?). Many things were shocking to me. For example, the first time when Carola and Lemalian were alone, Lemalian made love to her but it was without passion and it was really quick. Carola was confused but for Lemalian that is the way they do it, but luckily Carola taught him how to do it in a better way for her.  Besides that, when girls are fifteen they are ready to get married and they cut their clitoris. That is so dangerous, they can even die and their sexual organ might get an infection.  Something interesting is that women are not allowed to show affection for their significant other in public nor can see other men directly to the eyes nor be friendly because that means you have something with them, like if they were your lovers.

That is my point of view; some people may believe that is right, some may agree with me. We are all different and we have to accept our differences. Let´s try to get along and that way we will have a better world.

Reaction Paper #1 “Culture and Communication- The Relationship between Communication and Culture, Characteristics of Culture, Glimpses of Culture”

In the article “Culture and Communication- The Relationship between Communication and Culture, Characteristics of Culture, Glimpses of Culture”, it is shown that culture is created and changed through communication between individuals and there are factors that may affect it. Culture can be developed in a two-person relationship, groups or even in organizations and each one has its own identity. The relationship between communication and culture is vital, otherwise it would be almost impossible to conserve and transmit all traditions, rituals, laws, customs and so on from one generation to another within a culture.  Technology and the media can contribute to learning from other cultures but it is well known that culture can be affected by them; the most appropriate example would be that countries with great access and control of technology will overpower those who have less resources. In my opinion, humanity would not exist without culture and communication because it is the way we can be identified and it is a great tool for survival.

As the author captured in his article, all social units develop a culture. In a two-person relationship, partners develop their history, share experiences, have a language pattern only they can understand and have specific habits; for example in Costa Rica couples tend to give nicknames to their significant other. On the other side, groups have specific characteristics; for instance, they have a certain way to greet each other and usually have specific vocabulary to do so. Organizations also have their own culture. Companies can have different ways to train their employees, may have different dress codes and even different ways to lead.  On a daily basis, people should develop communication skills to be successful; culture must do it as well because otherwise it would not survive from generation to generation and would disappear. Technology and the media play a great role. They transmit cultural background, traditions and customs to different countries, that way people can learn from other cultures.  As well, it may have disadvantages because developing countries will not have the resources to let the world know they exist.

As Edward Hall said, "We should never denigrate any other culture but rather help people to understand the relationship between their own culture and the dominant culture. When you understand another culture or language, it does not mean that you have to lose your own culture."

Introduction Culture II

This is the first time I create a culture blog, and I think it will be a great experience we will have in the Culture II course. The blog is something completely different than we used to do in the Culture I course and I am really excited about it. I know it is going to be time consuming but I am going to do my best. I expect to improve my English language skills because I need to write a lot, so I am sure I will improve not only my vocabulary but also my grammar and writing skills. I believe we will have a very good time publishing posts about the different assignments and activities related to culture. I hope you can all enjoy my blog!