8 th October - Preparatory Course

Act out
An interesting energizer was played by Banda. Each participant had to enact something and then that person would move onto a new participant and this person would have to enact it back and then create something that was totally new and then move onto a new participant.

Wow
Anita Gurung’s and Suraj’s presentation about their learnings in the earlier session was brilliant to say the least. They used interesting visuals and crisp summaries to underline their learnings. What added flavour to their presentation was interesting short videos on human rights which was simply superb to say the least.

Feedback on the ‘America…America’ Song
- The song was anti-American rather than anti-Bush. It was awkward.
- That message was mis-directed. Creating negative attitudes against a specific country rather than a specific government.
- Personally I agree with Sacha.
- There are very many American nationals who protest against the policies of Mr. Bush. Therefore it is not nice to target the American public.
- The video focused not only at Americans but also various other aspects of American policy. It showed the fact that Americans value freedom but deny it in other countries through their actions.

What’s in a name?…A lot actually!!!
Christopher Macmillan & Rachel Burgh from Metaculture conducted the session on Cross Cultural Communication & Conflict Resolution. Cristopher started the session by asking each person in the room to stand up and give his/her full name and then share the full history of the name, how one got the name, the meaning of the name and anything else to do with the name. Cristopher wanted to explore the history behind each name and the findings were interesting to say the least.
‘Su in my name means good but Iam not a good person’.
‘I don’t know the meaning of my name’.
‘We provide milk for generations to the King in Lanka.’
‘My name means Prince’
‘My name means Arjuna from the Mahabharata. The second part of my name is the title given to our family by the British.’
‘My name means fresh water.’
‘My name means beautiful, but Iam not beautiful.’
‘My name is typical of the farming community but our grand parents are not into farming so they changed my name.’
‘My name is taken from Sanskrit and it means song.’
‘My name is taken from a famous character in Indian culture.’
‘My name means nation’.
‘My name means dream.’
‘I was born during sunrise and therefore I was named after him.’
‘My name means the breeze and Kshatriya which is a fighting clan.’
‘Iam named after a flower.’
‘Iam a bridge.’
‘Iam named after the night. A monk named me.’
‘Iam named after truth.’
Cristopher asked the group ‘what did you notice from this exercise’? The group responded with, ‘names reflect our culture’, ‘a lot of people had their grandparents names’, ‘where the names were different to pronounce, there were nicknames’, ‘lots of different meanings for names’.

Identity Wheel
Cristopher gave a brief overview of Transactional Analysis by Eric Berne (‘I do something to you, you do something back.’) Then he distributed sheets with what he called Identity wheels. These were circles, which were divided into 8 equal parts. He then asked participants to list different aspects of their identity (social, religious, cultural roots), which they felt very strongly about onto that sheet.
Strong images emerged with regard to gender, cultural identity, defining interests and multiple identities.

Doors and walkers exercise
This was an interesting energizer with participants divided into ‘doors’ and the ‘walkers’. The ‘doors’ were participants who created doors by holding hands with each other. The ‘walkers’ were the others who had to move about slowly with their eyes closed, their key to going through the doors were the warning sounds made by the doors when they were going away and encouraging sounds made when they got it right. This energizer paved the way for the session on cross-cultural communication.


5 stages of culture shock
Stage 1 – Settling in (Incubation)
Stage 2 – Adapting (Transition)
Stage 3 – Insight
Stage 4 – Mixing (Integration)
Stage 5 – Re-entry Shock

Stage 1 – Settling in
Symptoms – Bliss, Pleasure, Excitement, Everything is new.
Solutions – Build solid foundations- good living situation, personal social network (old & new), bring select items from home.

Stage 2 – Adapting
Symptoms – communication difficulties, Discontent, Impatience, Anger, Sadness, feeling incompetent. Danger – Expressing feelings as facts.
Solutions – Support systems, understanding feelings as messengers, take action.

Stage 3 – Insight
Symptoms – Gain some understanding, Pleasure, Sense of humour, Psychological balance.
Solutions – Keep an open mind, seek out different perspectives, hold the complexity, be flexible.

Stage 4 – Mixing
Symptoms – New culture has both positive and negative sides, double or triple integration, Feeling of belonging, self-definition, goals for living.
Danger – exoticism or avoidance.
Solution – find the value in each culture, try to view the culture from it own perspective, find a place for your authentic self in each culture

Stage 5 – Re-entry shock
Symptoms – Person who goes home isn’t the person who left.
Danger – Reacting to family or situation negatively.
Solutions – Consciously balance new parts of you with home culture

General Recommendations
 Don’t forget the good things you have
 Have a hobby
 Be constructive
 Avoid unfavourable or hostile environments
 Don’t try too hard.
 Have regular physical activity or exercise.
 Have time for relaxation and meditation
 Maintain contact with your new culture
 Maintain contact with your ethnic group
 Set simple goals and check your progress
 Be patient, and stay confident

Framed
‘The conspirators at work’

Spotlight
Shopna Akther is from Bangladesh. She has been working in the area of social work for the last 8 years. She is also a freelance photographer. She has jointly developed three documentaries. Regarding the workshop she says, ‘this workshop is challenging. The homestay was a challenge. I didn’t understand the language at all’. She likes the fact that the workshop is based on real-life experiences. However she prefers if it was more visually supported than just remaining lecture-based. Her loves watching Tom & Jerry and reading Harry Potter. She also loves watching Indian movies. She hates ‘bad behaviour’ and ‘unsafe people’.

Gaurav Gurung is from Nepal and as he admits, ‘Iam a shy person. I don’t like to talk too much. But he isn’t too shy talking about his girlfriend. He finds the workshop ‘very helpful as it has exposed me to various situations. It helps me to communicate and has improved my presentation skills.’ His biggest dream is to build a hydropower in Nepal. He loves the sharing of cultures that this experience has brought about. Gaurav loves playing football and his guitar. He hates selfishness and ‘backbiting’.