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Showing posts from December, 2016

Critical Incident - KISS HUG OR SHAKE HANDS

Kiss, hug or shake hands?   Although I didn't host anybody, during this week, when the Italian, Bulgarian and Swedish students where in Catalonia, I noticed some differences in our cultures. The first days I had to greet and introduce myself to other students. But I didn't know if I had to kiss them on the cheeks, hug or just shake hands. In Catalonia we usually kiss each other on the cheeks but in other countries too? I thought that if I shake hands it will be more polite because kisses would be strange and inappropriate for someone. In the end I asked my Catalan friends what they did to greet them, and then I realized they had the same problem and I was not the only one. Learning Point: If you’re not sure what to do when you meet someone new from another country, ask them what they do to greet people. It’s easy and better to talk and avoid misunderstandings. Greeting new people I was at my school waiting to the teacher to arrive. In the meantime, a Bu

Critical Incident - GETTING READY IN THE MORNING

CRITICAL INCIDENT Getting ready in the morning All along this week, while I was hosting my Bulgarian partner, I didn’t have any problem, but one thing that surprised me was that she needed a lot of time to get ready in the morning. At first I thought she was slow, but then I saw that she put lotions on her face and she combed and straight her hair and I realized she just wanted to look good. Anyway, I thought that it wasn’t necessary to primp myself because we were just going to school. Besides, we had to leave home fifteen minutes before eight and we were late almost every day. The first day we were late I thought that she would see that she spent so much time getting ready, but the next day she did the same and I had to wait for her again. It didn’t bother me at all but I was surprised because I’m not used to it. At the end of the week I found it normal and I learned to be patient in the morning. The learning point is that some cultures give more importance to the physical a