Kermesse Notre Dame 2019

The 2019 kermesse was possibly my first kermesse if my memory serves me right. The place was filled with strangers, parents and loud music. The first thing I did was check out where I was supposed to take a shift observing, but the format changed and I didn't have to go do so anymore. 

I then decided to leave the conference room to look around. All I saw was a football game being staged at the field, a streng meter, an inflatable water slide and the loud basketball court used as diner and dance stage for a lovely group, which I thoroughly enjoyed. 

If seen from the sociological lenses, we can see functionalism and conflict theory. Functionalism is far more obvious, with having the providers for entertainment, participants and servers as one group to please the visiting group of adults, children and youngsters. The conflict theory could be applied to some of the vendors near the entrance, bringing their stock to sell to the people and the conflict being people not wanting to buy due to lack of need or costs. 

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kermess balurde 2019

 
Kermesse ND 2019

In my opinion this kermesse was very boring and there was nothing to do. There were only games for little kids and they didnt think about teens or parents. They didnt seld beers or sodas  and people were looking for that.

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Kermesse 2019

What I think of the Kermesse

In the kermesse, our game was VR and PlayStation 4. The majority of the games in the kermesse was for children. I think the kermesse wasn't as fun as last year's because the games were mainly for children. There were soccer games going on between schools and also volleyball games. The volleyball games were very exciting but we still won. The students of different schools were hanging out with the people of their school. There were also many people that were waiting in line to get food, the ones who get there first can get their food sooner. People had to pay money to play games or for food and drinks. There were food and drinks so people in the kermesse could get some if they were hungry or thirsty. There was conflict theory going on since people that get first to the lines can get their food or drinks faster, get to play the games first, etc. Also, volleyball games and soccer games because of people that are better at the sport can get more points and get the ball more.

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Culture shock

 Culture Shock 

What is culture shock?

Is when someone has a feeling of disorientation experienced by someone when they are suddenly subjected to an unfamiliar culture,  way of life or set of attitudes.

My experience of a culture shock in Costa Rica 

When I was 5 years old I traveled with with my family to Costa Rica and I was surprised by two things apart from the kindness of the people and how they care for the nature and environment of their country.

My first experience with cultural shock in Costa Rica began when we ran into traffic with my family,  it took an hour and half from the airport to my grandparent's  house. It was a boring and desperate experience.

My second experience with cultural shock in Costa Rica began when with my family we went to the supermarket and at the time of paying I realized that I could not pay with the same money from Nicaragua and the Costa Rica money had a higher value in its nomination.

Material culture:

▪︎   Money in Costa Rica has higher value in its nomination.

Non-material culture:

▪︎   The kindness of the citizens

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cultural shock

The first time that I get in shock, cultural shock it was on April, 2017. The trip of the culture shock is from china. The first interesting thing that I looked was the religion, people belief Buddha. This religion was very opened, this people accept every type of people. People make philosophy of the history and evolution of humanism, this religion take care for the human behavior. The Buddha's religion is the major world religion. So, people go to the temples that I putted in the sample photo, inside the room, that is called temple, the people who come in duck their heads and put their hands on their shoulders, then go to a recliner bench and kneel, where they do some kind of yoga and put both hands on the floor.
While they do the exercises that are similar to those of yoga, they remain meditating, purifying their soul and recognizing their mistakes and looking for how to be better and better. So when I saw that, for me it was something super weird but at the same time interesting. What most caught my attention is the time they devote to their religious meditation. 

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Culture Shock

Culture Shock

What is Culture Shock? 

It's the process someone goes through when they go to a place that is different from their place of origin.

Examples

One culture shock that I notice when I went to the U.S is how the streets are more organized and how people there drove. The U.S streets avenues, boulevards, courts, and parkways are often numbered, the city planning and layout are more organized. When I was there I noticed the cars going at a fast speed and they had a rail for the ones that drive fasters, this makes it more organized. I also notice that there are bigger buildings and that the streets were cleaner, people usually don't through trash in the streets.

I also notice that people are nicer, friendly and more polite. I notice they say "please" and "thank you" a lot. Every time I went into a store or a restaurant the employees will smile at you and greet you with enthusiasm this makes you feel that you are in a nicer environment. (a non-material element for this example is the values they have)People also don't judge the way you dress, you are more freely do dress however you want.

Material and Nonmaterial Culture Elements

Material culture refers to the physical objects, resources, and spaces that people use to define their culture. Non-material culture refers to the nonphysical ideas that people have about their culture, including beliefs, values, rules, norms, morals, language, organizations, and institutions. 

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cultural shock

Derix rocha
Mr. Nestor alvarez

cultural shock about the experience of my dad in china

My dad was surprised to see the fruit stands alone and the person who grabbed a fruit paid without being the owner present making money in the basket that is placed next to the business, in the afternoon the owners came to take their money.

The way to punish a thief in the city like Beiging, Shanghai, and Hong Kong, is by cutting off his hand or with very high money fines. The rigidity leads to the formation of large groups of criminals such as the mafia that operates in other countries, theft must be imprisoned for a form of conscience and not for resentment.

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Culture Shock

Culture Shock

What is culture shock?

Culture shock is the feeling of uncertainty, confusion, or anxiety that people experience when visiting, doing business in, or living in a society that is different from their own. Culture shock can arise from an individual's unfamiliarity with local customs, language, and acceptable behavior.

My Experiences with Culture Shock

I don't have much experiences with culture shock due to me not being the most travelling person around. I have been in one region for most of my life so small groups are what really astonish me.

 

One experience was with the group of my own race, the koreans. The situatino was one in which there were people that were previosuly known and had just returned from the cool modern South Korea. Mostly it was the girls that had changed extremely. Some of them had some makeovers and trendier clothes brought to the church which is a little off putting with modern fashion. The more disturbing part could have been the korean trend of acting all cute which was not only seen with them sometimes, but a recent encounter of a travelling korean artist being all "cute" and making every word a bit cuter was kind of off puting and weird to me. 

Another experience with culture shock would be the less resourceful people I met during church missions. I met some unfrotunate adults that had medical conditions that changed their whole lives and other people that have hardened bodies due to the endless physical labor they need to fulfill in order to put food on the table. From this experience I have realized how lucky I am to be born with a silver spoon, only needing to worry about education and having devices to help me along the way. 

One last culture shock was the use of shoes in most households. As a korean, taking off shoes before going through a house is the norm for everyone, for the filth gathered is to stay outside and not bring into private spaces where cleanliness is appreciated.

Non-Material

Ideas and type of mindset a culture has. One being the korean trend of being cutesy and the nicaraguan mindset of manlier men and a burlesque comedic sense. 

Material

The objects of daily use unique to the culture. Physical objexts that could include special accesories, clothing, etc.

Ethnocentric View

Taking my latin korean mindset to view this cultural characteristics to grade them according to me is ethnocentrism.

1. The trend of cutesy behavior is just way too weird, especially when the boys are kind of doing it. Me growing in latin countries females are not the type to be much cutesy in their behavior, but a bit more tough.

2. The lower resource life is one that I have not lived in. The idea of working as a minor has never crossed my mind because of the lack of necessity. 

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Culture Shock

Culture Shock

What is culture shock? 

Is when someone has the feeling of disorientation due to the experience of an unfamiliar culture, way of life, or set attitudes. 

My experience of a culture shock in Peru:

I lived in Peru for more than 6 years, where people were nice, the culture and tradition were special and unique. But at the same time, there were some things that I couldn't understand and was kind of shocking since it wasn't normal for me. 

 

First, when I was living in Peru, something that shocked me was parents, hitting their children with a belt. Even though this action didn't occur in every Peruvian family, it was something normal for them; they didn't see that as something strange. Many of my friends from school were hit with the belt by their parents, saying it was a way to educate them and they could have a better attitude. Usually, they were scolded when they had low grades, bad behavior, weren't honest or didn't do something as their parents wanted.  

The second culture shock was when I saw many people on the bus throwing trashes. In Peru, one of the most common modes of transportation is the bus and I got shocked as I noticed that many of the passengers who were on a public bus opened the window and threw all the trashes on the ground as if it was a garbage can. No one didn't care about those actions and they just saw it like it was something ordinary. They threw different kinds of things, such as food including fruit seeds, fruit peels, empty snack bags, tissues, plastic bottles, juice cans, straws, etc. And they were even some people, spitting. Due to these actions of people, the main streets and roads are always with trashes and are dirty.

 

Non-material: 
Attitudes and ideas of the people:
- How they didn't care when others threw trashes on the ground.
- Some parents hitting their children and viewing this as if was something normal.

Material:
- The most common mode of transportation: public bus

Why this is a cultural shock?  Looking at it through ethnocentrism

Ethnocentrism is the evaluation of other cultures, judging it from the point of view of their own culture.

The first one of parents hitting their kids with a belt was a culture shock because in Korea and Nicaragua it isn't something normal. Most of the parents, usually when they get mad or want to scold their children, they just give punishment or say it with words, but they don't educate them physically. However, there some exceptions.


The second one of throwing trashes was also a culture shock because in the countries where I lived such as Korea and Costa Rica was totally different. Each country, maintained it really clean, trying to avoid pollutions and people following basic rules to have an organized country.

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Cultural Shock in Europe

Cultural Shock in Europe 

   

 The first time I went to Europe and I remember, it was a great trip but it was obvious many differences between the Latin American culture and the European culture. I lived here in Nicaragua and I was used to the culture from here, even though my dad is European and I have some European culture inside my culture I was still amazed on many different small details that make these two cultures differ.

Many small differences change a complete culture. One main difference is because of the temperature or the lifestyle many people smoke a lot during everyday life. A lot of people that I know in Europe actually smoke a lot everyday. Another difference is the drinking age, although it is 18 in almost all Europe it isn´t wrong if someday a teenagers drinks wine, it is actually very common because of the temperature or in celebrations.

Another thing that shook me is how people act everyday, in the street while driving people are more calm and organized while here in Latin America there is a road rage everyday. In restaurants, bars and public spaces you can notice the difference between Latin America and Europe, how people are gentle, respectful and organized.

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CultureShock

Culture Shock

When I was in Taiwan my biggest culture shock was how people there drove and also the overall traffic.

When I was there I saw many cars going at fast speeds even though the road was small. I also saw many road intercepts that connected up to five roads and it was chaotic. There wasn't any traffic lights or signs it was just a free-for-all. Whenever you saw the chance to go you went, and many dangerous situations sprouted through such events. 

Another shock was the use of motorcycles. In Taiwan, motorcycles were used just as much, if not more than cars. Just like the photo above, many time you would encounter yourself surrounded or besides a bunch of motorcycles

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Cultural Shock

My experience with cultural shock:

Costa Rica

What is a cultural shock?

Cultural shock is the feeling of disorientation we have after being exposed to an unfamiliar culture and can no longer take for granted the assumptions about life our culture taught us.

 My experience with another culture:

 I once traveled to Costa Rica, and I was surprised by the gentleness of people, how clean and environmentally friendly the country is, and that the money was of really high value but for buying the cheapest of things you used a lot of them.

My experience with cultural shock in Costa Rica started when we arrived at the border. Me and my family interrupted our journey so we could exchange dollars into colones. But when I got received the colones, I was amazed by the bunch on bills there where. I was pretty confused because in Nicaragua we have bills oof small amounts. I remember that when buying things, I took a lot of time counting and making sure I had not confused the amounts. 

Afterwards, me and my family went to the hotel. Glancing out the window I saw that there was a lot of space just filled with trees. The roads were also very clean and I saw trash very rarely and in small amounts. My trip was at a time where we where going through a political crisis in Nicaragua, and I was very moved of how gently people received us. They were concerned about the situation and asked a lot of questions, they also were very nice and friendly.





          Material Culture: 

• Money: Money has units of high value in Costa Rica

Non-material culture:

• The gentleness and friendliness of people
• The values people have: They place in high importance taking care of the environment

Why was this a cultural shock? Looking at it through ethnocentrism

Ethnocentrism is when we measure other cultures according to the standards of our own. Factors in the culture of Costa Rica seem strange to me, because I already had my own conceptions of how things should be done due to my culture.

This was a cultural shock to me because in Nicaragua we have bills of small values that go from 10 cordobas to 1,000 cordobas. But in Costa Rica, it was really confusing to deal with bills that reach as high as 50,000 colones. It made hard for me to distinguish what was expensive from what had a fair price.



In Nicaragua, people are also friendly, but people in Costa Rica go to the next level. They are warmer towards other people and are interested in learning about you and help you.



In Nicaragua, there is a lot of trash on the streets and people don't care about the environment and throw the trash wherever they want. That is why I was surprised by how much care people in Costa Rica have of the environment.

Nicaragua

Costa Rica

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Culture shock

When I went to Brazil, the first time I see many people with dresses, and  a lot of material things, they use a weird type of shoes and they were in the street like that, a many bonch of people where using it, and I was in a shock because is really stranger see that people like that and that is because in my country, here in Nicaragua we have our traditional dresses and that things, but we did not use it in our daily life, we only use it when we celebrate something or for school, I asked one Brazilian person, and he told me that is very common that the people weird that because they are very cultural.

Nicaraguan Culture 

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