m & m's melt in your mouth, not in your hand

the video we watched before Dr Deng started class was really interesting - "A World of Differences" and how apt the title was. It was interesting to also see sign language in the video, they are often neglected when we talk about culture and language. Call me ignorant, but I always thought that sign language was universal and it was definitely interesting to know that sign languages between different groups of people will differ. A huge contrast between the sign of showing the middle finger. Definitely something new I learnt from that video.

Different countries also have the different kinds of culture and I think Singapore culture has got the unique lingo of lahs, lors, lehs - Singlish! haha, I think food is also another one identifiable with Singapore because one of my sociology lecturer from Australia says that Singapore is the only place he seen that food is so readily available, like every few steps you see a place selling food? and shopping? haha, i know that Australia shops close super early and German shopping centres are closed for the weekends because they want the people to be spending time with their family and not doing shopping during the weekends - shopping in Germany is reserved for the weekdays only.

I think Singapore dimensions of cultural variability is very much reflected in the institutions itself. Singapore and I think some other countries have a mixture in terms of the cultural variability and not a single fixed one being attributed to them.

Like for example, in schools (especially primary and secondary school), there is high power distance, where students have to greet the teachers and talk to them politely. But as I entered poly, my facilitators all told us to call them by name, like Esther instead of calling her Ms Ong or Ms Esther Ong which I found it quite difficult to adjust until a while.[mixture of high and low power distance here]

Collectivist culture is very much encouraged. I am not very sure about other polys but for mine, we have to do a presentation in groups everyday, no one is allowed to stand out ad everyone is expected to contribute their part for the final presentation. But individualism is also encouraged, we were told to ask questions during the third meeting and do a peer and self evaluation for both the team mates in our groups and ourselves. The 5 of us in the group will not share the same grade but grade is dependent on (1) individual's participation in class, peer evaluation and the reflection journal we do (individualist) and also (2) how well we worked in a group and the quality of the team's final presentation  (collective).

Masculinity traits is very prominent in Singapore too, with achievements, success, wealth and material possessions being prized and emphasized. And men are supposed to protect females from insult. But I find something quite contradicting here, as the lecture notes says that masculine culture tend towards aggressive communication style, which emphasizes competition and impulsive rather than being cooperative and reflective. But we have a bit of both, cooperation but yet still creating competition, for improvement? for success? or because we sometimes need to work together to make miracles or produce good results?

Dr Deng mentioned that Singapore is a low uncertainty avoidance culture but aren't we supposed to be less stressful, less tense and more relaxed? but we exhibit the symptoms of those in the high uncertainty avoidance culture. Haha, this shows that it is very hard to define what a certain culture is because the different dimensions of one culture can be intertwined together. There are many faces in a culture, the culture can be multi-dimensional and when we look a different cultures, it is important to remember to see them as dynamic and we cannot overgeneralize them. Lastly, we can be affected and shaped by many culture,s like me! for example, I have the Singaporean culture, the Malaysian culture, the Taosim culture, Poly culture, Chinese culture and the list goes on~ a case of multiculturalism?

Cheers to cultures for they make us unique!!!