Planning a Holiday: Thanksgiving

"Hey! We are having a Thanksgiving afternoon at Elizabeth's house, which is in 114CR434, and we wondered if you can come. It will begin at 11 am next Thursday. Please bring a dish for lunch."

What would you answer to this party if you were invited to it by your best friends?
There may be different reactions to this invitation. For North American people, Thanksgiving is a very special date for people from the United Sates due to it is an opportunity to thank God for many things that have happened in your life, and also to be able to share these feelings with the people you love. Although its origin is religious, Thanksgiving is seen today as a meeting where relatives and friends share a nice moment having lunch and dinner together and watching football games on TV the whole afternoon!

As we are planning a real party, here there are some other details which people who are attending to it have to know:

-Date: November 25th, 2010. (Fourth Thursday of November)
-Dressing: Semi formal clothes.
-Dishes required (May be appetizers, desserts, cakes, etc.)
-Good wishes to share with the others.

Here there are some details of the organization of the meeting:

-Supplies included: Turkey meat (A whole turkey, cornbread, onions, chicken, dumplings, gravy, salads, cranberries, apple and pumpkin pies, wine (red), wine cooler, sweet tea, paper plates, decorations.)

-Guest List: Elizabeth's friends and family: Her husband Aaron, Josh and Jill; Evan's friends: Blake, Georgia; Daichi's friends: Lee, Min Ji; Wladimir's friends: Nelson, Karol, Gabriela, Loreto, Eduardo, Marjorie and Luis Felipe. Children also included!

The idea of the meeting is that people come after lunch time to prepare everything and to be ready to enjoy a peaceful and lovely day together. As the main meal is a (one) turkey, some people may have something else to eat if there is not enough turkey meat for everyone, hence the advice of bringing an additional dish with them.

After Lunch, everybody is invited to join the football games that are being shown on TV on that season. Th whole afternoon would just be a football afternoon. Finally, In the evening all people gather together again and have dinner or drink coffee or something else together. During the whole day, people talk about whatever they want, but there is always a familiar and friendly environment when sharing time with each other. Th thanks for the good things that you have received or that have been given to you may be mentioned before eating in lunch time.

Breaking The Rules: Handshake

What does it come to your mind when you give/receive a handshake? It is not certain, because it depends on the level of formality and the culture you live in. For example in Amsterdam when meeting someone by the first time, a simple handshake will do; while greeting your friends a kiss on the cheek (three times: left-right-left) is appropriate (/http://travel.nationalgeographic.com/travel/city-guides/amsterdam-cultural-tips).
In China, handshakes are mostly used when doing business or in very formal contexts, but kissing each other's cheeks would definitely not be a good idea (Reference: Korean students).
My classmates and I were supossed to meet in a certain place and at a certain time, but due to health problems I could not assist to the meeting. However, I did my own research and 'experiments' trying to see how people reacted when I broke the rule of handshaking them for almost no reason. And it all happened in the University of Mississippi, with special attention to American people. Their reactions were diverse and the only way to know those reactions, at least partly, was by looking at their facial expressions. Some of the people were asked for directions and specific information about places: most of them did not have a particular or 'strange' reaction to my greeting after I had asked for the information. I believe that they guessed I was a foreigner and that I did not know that handshakes are used for more formal situations, specially if the handshake was with my left hand!
What happened when I went to talk with a person who is in charge of some administrative issues was that he was not so surprised by the handshake we gave each other when we finished talking, only a smile came out of his face. Other different reactions were found when greeting some friends and acquaintances. They laughed and were kind of surprised by the handshake.
In the United States of America people mostly greet each other with a 'hi, what's up' or 'how are you doing' in informal situations. The handshake is considered more formal and is mostly used when having formal meetings.
In my country, a kiss on the cheek is considered to ok when greeting someone. Most of the Latin-American people greet each other with a kiss on the cheek and there is no much surprise when doing it. I remember that once, I tried to greet a Japanese girl with a kiss on the cheek and her reaction was as if she had been being attacked. I almost got kicked of the group I was in. Hahaha. I had forgotten that rule, but i knew it, so it will never happen to me again, give it for sure. But what would a person who does not know those important 'culture tips'? It is difficult to know how to act and react in different contexts. If a woman does not like to be kissed on her cheek, what in the world could a French man to conquer her, if he cannot even greet her? Well, it is also applied to more formal and serious situations, when you want to do business with a person from another country you are required to know how to behave and give the correct greeting to them when saying hello or goodbye.
The interesting thing about this is that a greeting like this, or a kiss on the cheek, is one thing that makes a culture different from another. There are so many cultures around the world and so many different ways of greetings that it is not surprise that there may be some mistakes or misunderstanding when dealing with people of a different country.
According to the book 'A Cultural approach to Interpersonal communication' it is stated that: Cultures roll around the planet like so many billiard balls, self-contained objects that might collide or bounce off the cushion but still retain their perfect round shape'.

A Morning Conversation with Elizabeth, Daichi and Evan

January, Friday 29th

Very early in the morning I went to the IEP (Intensive English Program) building of the University of Mississippi to interview three of my valued 'Cross Cultural Awareness' classmates:


Name: Elizabeth Graves
Age: 32 (Almost reaching 33)
Elizabeth has a strong presence, white skin and blond hair. Her eyes are blue and she has a normal height. She has been living in Oxford for seven years, she is married and has a five years old daughter who is very sporty.
Concerning Elizabeth’s favorite food, it can be said that there are two main things she loves eating: the first one is chocolate and the other is sea food. Elizabeth’s favorite sport is soccer, and she likes watching her daughter when she plays it. Her favorite sort of music is Classical music, with a special interest in Opera, and she listens to it when she studies. Elizabeth enjoys reading British Literature, and one of her preferred books is Harry Potter. Her favorite movies are those which have mafia as the main subject of it.
Elizabeth’s first degree was related to the education for children with critical needs, which also was one of the first areas where she decided to work on. When being in Austria, Elizabeth met nice people, although they were very distant.
In the future Elizabeth would like to teach abroad or teaching in an American school for several years.
To sum up, it can be said that Elizabeth does have a sense of professionalism and that she will be excellent at whatever she plans to do.
[Picture] (upcoming)
Name: Daichi Misaki
Age: 20
Daichi comes from Hiroshima, Japan, where he rents an apartment by his own. He is originally from Osaka, which is four hours away from Hiroshima approximately and he is a very good user of English. He has been studying in The University of Mississippi for one semester and is staying for this spring term. Daichi’s father has a Transportation Company and works there full time, while his mother is a temporary worker on the same Company.
Daichi is tall and thin, he has got black hair and dark eyes; Daichi’s skin is not white at all. One very interesting thing that happened to him was that when he was in his home’s bathroom, the door locked by itself and he couldn’t get out but with the help of a rescue team, which his mother called after she realized what was going on.
Daichi’s Favorite food is raw fish. His favorite sport is soccer; he participated in a soccer team at his school before he went to the University. Daichi’s favorite color is black. He likes listening to pop music most of the times and he has also read the book Harry Potter, which he enjoyed very much.
In the future, Daichi thinks of taking his father’s company over and he also would like to travel to some other countries to visit new places and to meet old friends.

Name: Evan Russell
Age: 24
Evan, the same as Elizabeth, is a graduate student of the University of Mississippi and he lives with his parents at Pontotoc. Pontotoc is twenty minutes away from Oxford and he has been living there with his parents for two years, after he had been living in an apartment by his own.
A particular fact about Evan, is that he applied to the Air Force because it was enormously appealing to be part of it, actually it was his one of his dreams for a long time. He was not able to pass the health exam because of some blood requirements.
Evan is a very tall person, and he also is thin. He has short blond hair and blue eyes. He has white skin.
Evan’s favorite foods are: shrimp, fried chicken, corn bread and Macaroni cheese. He does not have a favorite color, although he says he likes blue. He also enjoys watching soccer when he has time and or is able to watch some. His favorite music is rock and classic music. His favorite movies are thrillers and mystery movies. Evan loves the serial called Lost, but he does not like watching TV very much.
When he finishes his career, Evan wants to teach overseas. He wants to get married and have some children. He already teaches three courses here in the University of Mississippi.

Introduction

Society has been defined in many ways, all of these definitions are connected with people living together in a specific place or as the whole group of people that exists on the earth. This term has even been applied to groups of living beings that are not necessarily human. But what are the differences between those groups of living beings and humans? One of the many answers and one of the most important ones is that people all around the world have different cultures and that they must be connected among themselves in order to establish a good relationship and not to cause a worldwide chaos because of communication absence.

This Blog intends to serve as a tool for the course "Approaches to Intercultural Communication" - MLL 599 [TESL 552], which is given by the Teacher Tamara Warhol at the University of Mississippi, USA. Here I will be posting the tasks and homework that will be given to us during the Spring Term of the year 2010. Even though this Blog is meant to be active just for one semester, new entries may be included afterwards with the intention to contribute to this relevant field of study.

The main language used in this Blog will be English, but there will also be entries in Spanish; and who knows? Maybe some time into the future there will be some other languages going around this page, as well as different cultures, and so on, because this Blog has an Intercultural purpose and is pointed towards the use and interests of every human being able to get here.

You are now officially welcome to this Blog!