Tell Us 5 Things About Your Culture

Everybody comes from different country, state, background, race, upbringing, etc. and there's something that your race or family practice or does. I'm a Chinese but there are so many different types of Chinese (we call them different dialect group such as Cantonese, Hokkien, Teow Chew, Hakka, etc. and within a dialect group, there are sub-dialect groups), each dialect group have different kind of practice and also food. Let's tell each other 10 things about your culture; share some photos if you can.

I don't know much about the culture of my race but here's what I can tell you:-
1. Our food are mostly steamed, stir fry, broil, soupy, etc. and here are some pictures of the food we eat:-



2. It is very common to eat rice and variety of dishes on the table and everybody will take their share from the plates of dishes placed in the middle of the table, as shown below:-



3. There's a Lunar Calendar for the Chinese people and festivals are based on the Chinese Lunar Calendar such as:-
a. Chinese New Year - Usually celebrated either January or February of each year to mark the beginning of each year.
b. Hungry Ghost Festival - Celebrated in the 7th month of the lunar calendar whereby they believed that the gates of hell is open and all the ghosts will be released. People prays to the dead people and usually, people don't go home late, don't visit certain places (such as the sea, river, etc.) in case a ghost waiting to look for a replacement, etc.
c. Mooncake Festival - Celebrated on the 15th day of the 8th month of the lunar calendar when children carries the lanterns, eat mooncakes, etc.
d. Winter Festival - Three days before Christmas and on this day, people will normally eat the colourful glutinous rice ball.
Lots and lots more...

4. Whenever you enter your home or someone else's, you remove your shoes; either leave them outside or at a designated place in the home.

5. Chinese proverbs and idioms are commonly used among the Chinese (and I know only a handful of them) the following are some examples of them:-
Note: If I have misunderstood them and you understand them, please correct them for me coz I'm not very good in this myself. As I cannot read and write chinese, so, I used the pronunciation for the cantonese sayings.

a. Mah sei lok dei hang (Direct translation: When the horse died, you walk on the ground)
Meaning: If you have failed, you have to pick up and start from the ground.

b. Pak thou yan soong hak thou yan (Direct translation: A grey haired person sends a dark haired person)
Meaning: This is usually used in funeral which means, the poor man's child had died and it's very sad.

c. Hou ma pet sek wu thou chou (Direct translation: A good horse does not eat the old grass)
Meaning: Never return to the previous organisation you've worked for.

Actually i am chinese but i am now living in indonesia andmy nationality (written in the birth certificate) is indonesian. So i will tell some culture of indonesia, but especially yogyakarta

1. Every area in Indonesia has its own language. So, all the indonesians must have been able to speak in (at least) 2 languages. Indonesian, and the language from their area

2. When you are eating with the whole family, the father must be the last to sit down and the first to tske the food

3. In my hometown, you cannot stand up if the older person beside you is sitting down. You have to kneel down and your head must be in the lower level than his

4. When you shake hands with older people, you must shake their hands and bow down to put the other person's back part of hand on your cheek or nose or forehead

5. Indonesia has the most tasteful food. Most of them are fried and has sooo many seasonings. Sometimes it's not that healthy, but obvsly it's delicious
(Remember that Indonesia has the most delicious food in the world according to survey)

Hmmmm.

Norwegian culture has changed a lot over the last few generations I think, so there is a generation gap between my parents+ grandparents and the kids and teens growing up now.

1 Sunday= day of rest
When my mother grew up you were still supposed to go to church every Sunday and wear your best clothes and don't do any work, but I don't think that is as strong a "tradition" now as it used to be.

2 Food:
Traditionally we eat much fish, potatoes and grain (bread, porridge ect), with herbs, salt and pepper. Now of course we have food from all over the world, and plenty of spices (yay!).

3: Society:
Norwegians overall might come across as a bit.... rude? ... to other cultures. We don't use the old polite forms of speech nor titles like Sir /Ma'am. many Norwegians see honesty as very important, so such a degree that even I consider it rude. Still most people are well behaved though. I think our cold dark winters make us a bit reserved, so we enter hibernation at winter I personally am a loner, so I don't quite know what people do to socialize, but it seems like the younger generation goes to bars quite a lot, while the older ones prefers cafes.

4: Fairy tales:
Like many other nations we have a rich supply of fairy tales (and surprisingly many are common between countries).
Norwegian fairy tales tend to be about trolls, elves (not same as LOTR elves though) and the devil + a hero of course.

5: Nature
Even though many people are TV/ PC - slaves most Norwegians enjoy the outdoors when they can get their bums off the sofa.
Many people go to the mountain to ski during the Easter holidays, and those rich enough own or rent cabins in the mountain to have some time with their family away from everything else. I grew up on an island so I prefer being by (or if possible on) the sea

hmm..

America ..

1. we're petty.
   
2. we're proud, often without reason.
3. we have an ideal of inclusiveness but we often don't act inclusive to others who don't act inclusive.
4. we make great use of scapegoats.
5. we're generally very diverse in our opinions - our national politics usually reflect only half or less of the population.

oh, I forgot to add under 3: Most teens get so drunk during weekends they don't remember any of it the following week

BBQ
Biscuits
Mashed Tatters and gravy
Fried Chicken
Sweet Tea

This brought me to wanting share with you all about the art of chinese tea drinking...I'm not sure how traditional this is but people who appreciates tea drinking often do this. There are some people who set it up their home to enjoy beautiful tea and the cups are really tiny. I'll try my best to show you what I'm talking about over here as I don't know too much details.

1. Chinese Tea Set



Different tools are used for different kind of tea leaves.

2. Chinese Tea Leaves



3. Chinese Tea Preparation



You can watch the clip here: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=roKMDuo_HZw

Such a not bad idea at all

Just that I was born in China,
but I've been adopted by Canadian Parents
then I live in Canada in the province of Quebec.

Finally, usually I speak French or Quebec-or!

We say, "Sorry!" A lot.

The only real Canadian food is pancakes.

We are famous for our Newfie comedians!

We have two official languages - French and English. All provinces in English Canada require at least a year of French instruction. We also have a third language, which the Newfies speak, almost impossible to understand! (I am an unofficial Newfie!)

Canadians who spend part of the winter where it is warmer in the south are called snowbirds.

We prize our rights and freedoms, but not at the expense of someone not getting health care, for example, or allowing gun use to be unmonitored and unrestricted!

Canada is best known to be a mosaic of immigrants. We celebrate the diversity of cultures. Canadian culture is a beautiful tapestry, woven from many countries and our indigenous peoples!

- French fries (which are actually Belgian fries) I love them!!
- We adapt to any other culture or language (we have to speak French, German and English, they can't speak our language)
- When we meet friends we shake hands if it's a guy or we just say hi and we give one kiss on the cheek when it's a girl (sometimes we just shake hands too), so we never really hug like Americans do
- I'd say waffles and beers but that's such a cliche for Belgium and I don't like waffles bc of all the sugar and beers I don't like either
- We have over 100 nationalities in our country and we are as dense populated as India (ca. 950/sq mi); compare with the US: 90/sq mi. So if the US was as dense populated as Belgium, there would be living ten times more people in the US (3,2 billion). That's how dense populated Belgium is.

To: JustViv............. Thanks for the information about how tea is prepared and enjoyed.

HOWEVER...........

Here in Bama (Alabama, USA), it is far more simple............and way sweeter I suspect.......





PLUS LOTS OF THIS





GIVES THIS WONDERFUL NECTAR

We have these here in Malaysia too and can be ordered anywhere you go. The Chinese tea that I showed earlier, you can get them in people's house who practice it (These days, I don't even know 1 person who still practice this) or from a tea house (These days, I don't even know where I can find them).

Often times, twinings earl gray or a japanese green tea sachet is what I go for. As I don't like sugar since young, I never put them into the tea.

Well, Angela beat me to it, but I'll add one thing: Canadian pizza. To my (rather limited) knowledge on the subject, we are the only nation with our 'own' pizza.

And in reference to the 'tea' theme, I have only one thing to say: lapsang souchong is my favourite!

Now, you've reminded me of telling you guys about Manglish, the Malaysian English (the Singaporeans will tell you it's Singlish and they came up with it first!)...

I was typing the way Malaysian speaks English but it's not as funny as when you hear it for yourself. Here, you might want to hear how it goes...

1. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=GDanVi6byKo
A Toastmaster presenting Manglish.

2. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=lphCC1E4WXM
Introduction to Manglish and the way the English is spoken here is pretty common for people whom are Chinese-educated; there are words they can't pronounced and so on.

3. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Jff4gtJtsX0
Another introduction to Manglish and this shows the difference between a British English and Manglish.

I think I better stop here

This is what I love on my toast in the morning

Yeah, seal blubber never really caught on as a pizza topping here in the US

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