Enjoying the Chaos

I've been studying culture lately and learning about how it affects how we act, speak, and even subconsciously behave. But is it more than that... Does where we live or the culture we are raised in affect how we feel about ourselves? Our self-esteem? In the western world, there are cultural expectations of how someone should look. I found an article on eating disorders. Apparently, until the 1990s there were relatively low cases outside of the western developed world. Since then thanks to the Internet, media, and the increase of social media it is spreading. In this  article  from the Borgen Magazine, it says; " In Pakistan, one study found that girls in Pakistan who had a larger exposure to Western media and television were at greater risk of developing an eating disorder. While many of the women admitted to being  dissatisfied with their bodies , only 20% were actually above the normal weight. Many of these women said that their body dissatisfaction was inspired by the bodie

Have you ever traveled to another country and been surprised by what is or isn't polite. One thing that has surprised me is language. There are a few words in the UK that are considered not polite that are common in the US and the other way around. I remember when my family had just come back from the US to live in England again. My sister said something and an older lady was offended and went to tell my mom. My mom then obviously sat us down and had a conversation about how different things are acceptable in different countries. Obviously, my sister didn't use that word again...and I'm not even going to tell you what it was ☺ The article  13 examples of Good and Bad manners around the world  lists some examples that you may not have heard of; Is belching (burping) always considered rude? Could it be considered rude to shake someone's hand? What about making the peace sign...or the same sign the opposite way round? Check out the article to find the answers to those ques

We live in a society where we come across people from different cultures every day. I think more people move to live in other countries than ever before.  People moving to different countries means cross-cultural experiences in the classroom for students and teachers. When I was eight my parents moved to the United States. My dad was in the RAF (Royal Air Force) and had been advised to send my older sister and me to boarding school. The thought behind it was that moving to the States and the difference in education would affect our long-term education. My parents didn't agree, they thought that moving to another country as a family and having new experiences together would be better for us. So as a nine-year-old I started school on a military base in the middle of Nebraska. I had a great experience and it was my first experience being in a different culture. Although English and Americans speak the same language (debatable sometimes) I was definitely experiencing a different style

We all make judgments all the time. It is a part of our human nature and how we protect ourselves to some extent. If someone doesn't feel safe we stay away from them etc... What is attribution - from what I've read it can be explained like this, Attribution is how we explain or try to explain why something happened or why someone behaves the way they do.  The funny thing about attribution is that they are made up of our own biases and experiences. When we decide from what we see happen why someone did something we are making judgments. The funny thing about this is that we tend to judge ourselves and others differently. From what I've read we are more likely to judge like this; If someone else is successful it's because of something outside of their control. They have great parents, went to a good school, lived in the best neighborhood. If someone does something bad it's because of a personal choice they made or they are just a bad person. When judging ourselves we

This week I have been researching personal space. It's such an interesting topic to me as it affects each one of us differently. Not only does culture affect what we view as personal space but even the type of community we live inside that culture can affect how we feel. I was watching my dog earlier and I noticed something interesting. When a person or animal comes towards the house her body goes on high alert. They don't even have to ring the doorbell to get her attention. It's like she has a built-in sensor for someone crossing a certain line at the end of the driveway, this line circles the front and back of our house. She will protect her area by barking to warn all who trespass that a wild ferocious albeit small dog lives here. When you are inside, however, if she likes you it's all belly rubs and attention. If she doesn't like you she won't come within ten feet of you if she can help it. Believe me, it's that black and white and there is no rhyme or r

When I was young I lived in England. Most secondary schools in England have school uniforms and my school was stricter than most - we even had to wear the same color socks and the same style of shoe. I remember going to the school outfitters with my Mom and Dad and feeling like I was going to die of fashion shock. I refused point-blank to wear the summer dress and matching hat - that was going WAY too far in my opinion.  I recently checked out my old school online and they still wear uniforms but they are A LOT better than the one I had to wear. Plus the school is now CO-Ed!  Looking back I can see the benefit of wearing a school uniform. For one it made getting dressed every morning easy. You knew exactly what skirt, shirt, sweater, blazer, socks, and shoes you were going to wear, and if there was any choice it was which grey skirt or which blue sweater it was. Oh and before I forget we also had to wear a tie! My sons never had to worry about just asking their dad for help! Secondly,

I recently learned about a term called a TCK. It means Third Culture Kid. Although my parents are both British, I spent a lot of my childhood in the US. I know what it means to live in a culture different culture. Although there isn't a HUGE difference between the US and UK culture it still does exist. Although I think the gap is getting smaller.  This talk explains exactly what a TCK is - in case you like me hadn't heard the term before. Alice Fernades talks about her experiences. She talks about how she answers the question 'Where are you from?" I get asked this question quite often, living as an adult in a country where my accent makes me different. I probably get asked that very same question every time I leave my house. Similarly to Alice in the above video I have to go back quite a bit to give people the answer they want to hear which is 'England' whereas if truth be told that's the place that I have lived for the least amount of time and I don't

Culture Miscommunication... Miscommunication is a funny thing. It can happen anywhere, anytime. We have miscommunication with our spouses, siblings, parents, friends, neighbors, etc... Why? Because we are different, think differently, and feel differently. Even siblings brought up in the same household can feel differently about things and not understand each other.  There are many times in our lives when we have to sit back and try to understand someone else. Marriage is a huge example of this. Two people get married and move in together. They have been raised in different environments by different people, with different priorities.  It can be hard to blend these family cultures together to make a new one for the new family. I remember when my husband and I were married there were a few things that we each did that were strange. My husband likes to do things correctly...that's how he was taught. Now I'm not saying that I don't do things correctly but I approach things diff

            “There is more to life than simply increasing its speed.”   Mahatma Gandhi When I was a child I remember going to a Native American Pow wow with my family. We were living near Omaha Nebraska at the time. We were there with friends and enjoyed a fun day of food and games. The pow wow was scheduled to start at a certain time in the early evening. As a child, I can remember looking forward to the event and of course, kept asking my parents if it was time for it to start yet! My parents told me the time it was scheduled to start and I counted down the minutes. The time came and went and still the pow wow hadn't started. Hours went by and finally the pow wow started - It was an amazing experience that just started a lot later than we had thought. My dad spoke to someone after and was told that start times were more suggestions than reality. They started when they started even if it was hours later than posted. Have you ever heard of monochronic and polychronic? Apparently, m

I recently watched a Ted Talk from Delali Bright. She shares her personal story about growing up in West Africa. She talks about how the cultural paradigms of her childhood affected how she felt about herself as a person. Then how she suffered a shift when she moved to the United States later in life. Because of her experiences, she is a self-image activist. She feels that people should not be made to feel less because they do not fit into the physical appearance paradigms of their country. Her talk is really interesting and the video is available to view  here . So what can we learn from this experience? I'm sure many people suffer from the same kind of struggles. If you look back into history you can see the same kind of situations. Once it was considered ugly to have suntanned skin as it meant you had to work outside for a living. If you were pale, you were beautiful. Now it's considered beautiful to have a 'healthy' glow.  How do cultural paradigms affect our everyd

Have you ever read an article that really resonates with you? I recently read the article  Is The Great American Teacher Dead?  You ought to read it! It's quite thought-provoking. I can remember when I was young maybe third or 4th grade I had a teacher that brought her guitar into the classroom and at the end of the day, we would all sit around and sing songs. I can remember lining up in the classroom racing to recite my multiplication facts You might wonder why this is relevant...I bring it up because I can only remember a handful of teachers and these two teachers are always the ones that come to mind first.  What makes a teacher memorable? For me, they were either really good, like the teacher I mentioned above, or really bad like a Religious Studies teacher I had when I attended boarding school. Or the foreign language teachers that basically kicked me out of class because I had moved to a new school where the other kids were years ahead of me and they wrote me off as too much