My First Glimpse of Latin Culture.
Venezuela, one of Latin American countries, is a beautiful, tropical country, located in the northern coast of South America on the Caribbean Sea.
Living in a foreign country as a guest, one has a natural tendency to explore her beauty, culture, history, landscape, and so on. Per Palmtree MM's suggestion, I write down the cultural part based on my observations and experiences during my staying here in the last 21 days.
Individualism or Group Oriented
Like our Chinese culture, Venezuelan one is also characterized as "group oriented". People value the group over the individual (American culture is dictated with the freedom of individuals to develop themselves to their fullest potential). One of our staff members, a Hai Gui of her 30s (She got a degree from a U.S. College in Ohio), still lives with her parents. She said, it is very normal for a grown up to live with parents. Her relatives and friends are very close, and always help each other. If one of them were a high-ranking official, most of others would benefit from his/her promotion.
Low/high Context Communication
The general terms "high context" and "low context" (popularized by Edward Hall) are used to describe broad-brush cultural differences between societies. High context refers to societies or groups where people have close connections over a long period of time. Many aspects of cultural behavior are not made explicit because most members know what to do and what to think from years of interaction with each other.
Chinese belongs to the category of high context since we communicate often implicitly. I still remember that I paid a visit to my hometown, Hangzhou, two years ago. My father spent 2 hours talking about neighbors, relatives, my childhood and grand mom. Finally, I understood that he had been trying to suggest me to leave some money for my 90 year old grand mom though I already left enough money to my parents. Sigh, I left home at 17, and I have been in mobile. I guess that I have been progressively adapted to the "so called" low context of communication style.
Yesterday, my driver (he spent years in U.S, and speaks English very well) spent half hour talking about de-appreciation of their money and the value of holding U.S dollar. I suddenly got his hint that he wanted to exchange money to me (Note, the official rate is 1Us$ = 2.15 BS while the exchange rate in the black market can be around 1Us$ = 5. Bs or more, which is similar to our situations in the 80s).
About Time
It is well known that they are NOT on time. Life is easy here. People love parties. They claim they are party animals. So, remember that you will not attend party on time and should not expect people arrive for your party on time.
If you are told that a party starts at 9:00 pm, then it is not rare that the last person may show up at 11:00 PM, and the party lasts to 3 or 4 AM. Man, you need to be young, strong, and energetic to survive from such parties.A siesta is a new word I learned recently. It was originated from Spain. It is a short nap taken in the lunch break. In the U.S., we usually have one hr of lunch break whereas people here have one and half hour of lunch break. They do take nap. What a life style!About Privacy/Distance
People are very enthusiastic and friendly here. People greet with shake hands or hugs. It is common to shake hands among men, and to hug between man and woman, woman and woman. Normally, face touches face in a hug, during which, women, I noticed, tend to pronounce a "zhi" sound.
They will share you with all sort of private things such as boy/girl friend, Mom, Dad, sisters, brothers, aunts, uncles, and so forth. My driver even told me his parents' salaries (His Dad is an MD while his Mom is a dentist). So do not be surprised when they may ask all your family's things.
Beauty and Cosmetics Surgery
Everyone has psychological needs – to be accepted unconditionally, appreciated, recognized, respected, desired, for example [Source: Eyeyey’s posting]. Venezuelan girls want more. The pursue for beauty seems one of their ultimate goals. I was so surprised of their beautiful body shape during my arrival day. Many of them are mixtures among Spanish, Italians, German, among others. They have big smiles, shining eyes. Paul, one of my hiking friends, has a hobby to appreciate beautiful girls passing by. He likes make comments about their cute and sexy bodies….I often counter that they are fake after I learned that more than 50% of girls have had implants and other cosmetics surgeries. But these are widely accepted.
Parties
People dress up well to attend parties, where dancing for hours is a norm. If you have a beauty hunting mind, you have to be a master of dancing, such as Salsa etc. Here is a picture of the site holding party and dance on hotel’s private beach.
Who Pays
Different from in the U.S. where you might be labeled as a chauvinistic pig, men pays for the meals when outing with ladies. But, I don’t know where they go (to her or his place) after the dinner. I have no experience or observations yet. So, this is a work on progress article I will keep modify upon obtaining new observations.
請閱讀更多我的博客文章>>>
Venezuela, one of Latin American countries, is a beautiful, tropical country, located in the northern coast of South America on the Caribbean Sea.
Living in a foreign country as a guest, one has a natural tendency to explore her beauty, culture, history, landscape, and so on. Per Palmtree MM's suggestion, I write down the cultural part based on my observations and experiences during my staying here in the last 21 days.
Individualism or Group Oriented
Like our Chinese culture, Venezuelan one is also characterized as "group oriented". People value the group over the individual (American culture is dictated with the freedom of individuals to develop themselves to their fullest potential). One of our staff members, a Hai Gui of her 30s (She got a degree from a U.S. College in Ohio), still lives with her parents. She said, it is very normal for a grown up to live with parents. Her relatives and friends are very close, and always help each other. If one of them were a high-ranking official, most of others would benefit from his/her promotion.
Low/high Context Communication
The general terms "high context" and "low context" (popularized by Edward Hall) are used to describe broad-brush cultural differences between societies. High context refers to societies or groups where people have close connections over a long period of time. Many aspects of cultural behavior are not made explicit because most members know what to do and what to think from years of interaction with each other.
Chinese belongs to the category of high context since we communicate often implicitly. I still remember that I paid a visit to my hometown, Hangzhou, two years ago. My father spent 2 hours talking about neighbors, relatives, my childhood and grand mom. Finally, I understood that he had been trying to suggest me to leave some money for my 90 year old grand mom though I already left enough money to my parents. Sigh, I left home at 17, and I have been in mobile. I guess that I have been progressively adapted to the "so called" low context of communication style.
Yesterday, my driver (he spent years in U.S, and speaks English very well) spent half hour talking about de-appreciation of their money and the value of holding U.S dollar. I suddenly got his hint that he wanted to exchange money to me (Note, the official rate is 1Us$ = 2.15 BS while the exchange rate in the black market can be around 1Us$ = 5. Bs or more, which is similar to our situations in the 80s).
About Time
It is well known that they are NOT on time. Life is easy here. People love parties. They claim they are party animals. So, remember that you will not attend party on time and should not expect people arrive for your party on time.
If you are told that a party starts at 9:00 pm, then it is not rare that the last person may show up at 11:00 PM, and the party lasts to 3 or 4 AM. Man, you need to be young, strong, and energetic to survive from such parties.A siesta is a new word I learned recently. It was originated from Spain. It is a short nap taken in the lunch break. In the U.S., we usually have one hr of lunch break whereas people here have one and half hour of lunch break. They do take nap. What a life style!About Privacy/Distance
People are very enthusiastic and friendly here. People greet with shake hands or hugs. It is common to shake hands among men, and to hug between man and woman, woman and woman. Normally, face touches face in a hug, during which, women, I noticed, tend to pronounce a "zhi" sound.
They will share you with all sort of private things such as boy/girl friend, Mom, Dad, sisters, brothers, aunts, uncles, and so forth. My driver even told me his parents' salaries (His Dad is an MD while his Mom is a dentist). So do not be surprised when they may ask all your family's things.
Beauty and Cosmetics Surgery
Everyone has psychological needs – to be accepted unconditionally, appreciated, recognized, respected, desired, for example [Source: Eyeyey’s posting]. Venezuelan girls want more. The pursue for beauty seems one of their ultimate goals. I was so surprised of their beautiful body shape during my arrival day. Many of them are mixtures among Spanish, Italians, German, among others. They have big smiles, shining eyes. Paul, one of my hiking friends, has a hobby to appreciate beautiful girls passing by. He likes make comments about their cute and sexy bodies….I often counter that they are fake after I learned that more than 50% of girls have had implants and other cosmetics surgeries. But these are widely accepted.
Parties
People dress up well to attend parties, where dancing for hours is a norm. If you have a beauty hunting mind, you have to be a master of dancing, such as Salsa etc. Here is a picture of the site holding party and dance on hotel’s private beach.
Who Pays
Different from in the U.S. where you might be labeled as a chauvinistic pig, men pays for the meals when outing with ladies. But, I don’t know where they go (to her or his place) after the dinner. I have no experience or observations yet. So, this is a work on progress article I will keep modify upon obtaining new observations.
請閱讀更多我的博客文章>>>
選擇“Disable on www.wenxuecity.com”
選擇“don't run on pages on this domain”
