Question

escribe a personal experience with another culture or sub-culture that was very different from what you consider normal. This can be a culture from another country or the sub-culture within your friend's family. What did you learn from your experience?

Answer 1

I recall an experience when I was invited to friends house for dinner. My friend's family have come to US from UAE and they very much followed their culture here as well. I remember when I reached my friend's house I was expecting that all the family members will have dinner together on a table but I was surprised to find out that only the male members sat on the table and my friend's mother was serving us who was all covered in clothes and only her hands and face was visible. Being born and raised in an open culture this came to me as a shock. I also found out that women in his house only eat after the male members have finished eating to show their respect towards man. This experience was a cultural shock for me as I never have had any such experiences in my life.

Before this experience I had narrow perspectives of the cultures around the world and this experience broadened my perspective of the world. I learned that people have different ways and methods of doing the things around the world and one should not believe that one is inferior. When I later shared this experience with the friend whose home I went for dinner, he told me many things about Arabic culture and he also taught me a few Arabic words as well.

I believe every individual should experience different cultures so that they can be made sensitive towards other culture and by this way we can create a world that is culturally diverse yet united.