My own definition of culture and developing culture in my work place

Culture is our way of life, a habit, things that we do everyday, our customs and traditions, beliefs that we put into practice, our language. Some culture we learned since we were born, we acquire through social interactions and develop over time.

Culture define us, it is as our identity. In the Philippines, people can identify our ethnicity on how we dress, how we speak or how we behave. In the lowland, when someone is wearing a jacket or rosy under the very hot weather people would ask, “Taga-Baguio ka ano?" (YOu're from Baguio right?) And in the highland when you see a woman wearing short pants in public you'll tell yourself, "Taga-Manila man daytoy." (This woman is from Manila.) Philippines is one of the country that is so rich with culture, though Filipinos have only one nationality it is known to be multicultural. Each province has distinct culture- speak different dialects, practice different traditions, has its own unique traditional clothing, its own cuisine, lifestyle and so much more.

Because of my job, I had the chance to meet people from different countries such as South Korea, Vietnam and Brazil. I'm so honored to learn about their cultures and traditions. What surprised me was that, the same race or not I discovered that we have similarities. Like Filipinos, Koreans have huge respect to their elders, Vietnamese are hardworking and regards education as the key to success and Brazilians are very religious. But what really interests me is the Korean culture. Koreans share one language, lots of healthy traditional food, have close family ties and simple lifestyle. 

While Filipinos speaks 2 major languages (Tagalog and English); they also have their own regional dialects so each of them can also speak 2 or 3 dialects aside from Tagalog and English. Tagalog is their national language. Most words were borrowed from Spanish language.    Koreans speak only one language which they call Hangul. Like Philippines which has a lot of borrowed words, many Hangul words were adopted from Chinese and Japanese language. Both languages from these 2 countries I guess are the influences of colonization. Sometimes I wonder does language have to do with the economy of one country. I noticed that most countries from the Third World speak various dialects compared to the First World countries.

Philippines and South Korea have rich palatable cuisine. Foods serve on their table are almost similar, rice is a must. They both have vegetable and meat or fish dish on each meal though Koreans have 2 or 3 side dishes and soup is necessary for them. Both countries have close family ties and high regard to elders. Three generations of the family can stay together in one house. They have polite names to call older sister and brother, aunt and uncle as well as older strangers. Filipinos use ate (older sister) and kuya (older brother) while Koreans use nuna/eonni and hyeong/oppa respectively. What really amazes me is that, most women married to the eldest son in South Korea have the responsibility of taking care of their parents-in-law. Correct me if I'm wrong but I haven't heard or read anything like this the Philippines yet. They have to visit them from time to time, bring food and clean their house. During holidays like Thanksgiving (Chuseok) and Lunar New Year (Sol-nal), it is the wives' duty to go to their parents-in-law’s house and help prepare food.

Filipinos are known to be social. They enjoy being around people, they are really good receiving their guests on their home and love to celebrate holidays. They are festive and extravagant by inviting so many guests and sometimes the whole community at celebrating important occasions like wedding or birthday; holidays likes Christmas and New Year. Koreans are simple and practical. They hate noise and making noise in public places. They have 2 important holidays, the Chuseok (Thanksgiving) and Sol-nal (Lunar New Year). Weddings are held in the wedding hall; usually they rent for that occasion. More often than not only immediate family is present, few selected guests and ceremony is brief and not religious. They also celebrate birthdays by eating out with the family. What is important for them is the first 100 days of the baby and the 6oth birthday. This is to celebrate the baby surviving the difficult period and so as reaching the old age still strong and healthy.

There is so much to tell about these 2 cultures. Different or not, each culture is distinct; with values and rules. Cultural competency is necessary, basic knowledge of someone’s culture would help us in establishing good relationship as we go on our everyday life. How about you, what fascinates about your culture? Whose culture are you interested in? What culture would you like to develop?

Developing culture in my work place

What do you do for a living? Are you enjoying your work? Do you like your workplace? How about your workmates? What do you think of your company's rules and regulations? Do you feel it's fair enough or do you think it's too much? Each company has its own culture, some are developed, some are made up of each member’s life experiences and some are influenced by the founder. This culture is also made up of values and practices shared by the members or employees. These values and practices should be learned and followed in order to achieve the company's goal, vision and mission. But not all values and practices can bring the company to success; it could possibly destroy or ruin it.

Before a certain company hires an employee, the company conducts a series of tests and interviews to the applicants. This is to properly select someone who can comply with the company's culture, someone who is competent enough to adapt to the beliefs, values and rules of the company. And most of the time, some applicants always tell or write what is pleasing on the ears and eyes of the interviewer in order to get that job. Although, some culture of that company isn't agreeable to what the applicant is used to at home or from previous work. Sad, but it’s true. Isn't it?

Whether you are working in Educational institution, Sales and Customer Service, Information Technology, Manufacturing, etc. I reckon that each workplace has its own unique culture. Maybe that's the reason why we sometimes compare our previous to present work. Lucky for those working outside their homes. I am full time housewife.In as much as I wanted to work outside, the presence of a trusted help at home was scarce. I was thankful on the emergence of online jobs these days. It's such a great help for people who stays home like me. To cut the story short, I am working as a full-time housewife and home-based online ESL teacher. I guess my workplaces are home and online.

So what culture is unique in my home? Well, I guess here it is. It is usual for us to open our presents on Christmas Eve and to have Christmas party before the Christmas Day but every year in my family, we open them at New Year's Eve. We've been doing this for 5 years already. Every December, my kids starts receiving presents from relatives, godparents, friends and Christmas parties which really make them joyful. I always see how excited they are as they open their presents. But then I noticed just after Christmas day, seems the spirit of joy stop so sudden. No more excitement, no more surprises. Therefore, to continue the thrill, I changed the tradition. Instead of Christmas Eve or Christmas day, we exchange our gifts on New Year's Eve. Few minutes after watching the fireworks display, we all gather in the living room, get the presents under the Christmas tree and open it together. The change was worth it, every after Christmas day I can still see the excitement on their eyes while waiting for the New Year's Eve, I can hear them talking eagerly and imagining what presents they're going to receive.

Have you seen a student and teacher having a bible study online? Or employees meeting online for that matter? Well, it is in my workplace. Wednesdays are quite different. On this day, it's not about correcting sentences or pronunciation; it's not about how to use a particular vocabulary. It's about our relationship with God and how we live our life through Him. We read one chapter on each book and talk about its relation in our daily life. We are already done with Psalm, Proverbs, and Ruth. Just read chapter 8 of Job last Wednesday. I am really grateful with this activity because despite of distance and cultural differences we managed to nourish our spiritual life by reading bible verses and sharing our life experiences. I’m not a religious person and I don't even go to the church often, so talking about God and reading the bible once in a while has helped me a lot understand the bible and changed my perspectives in life.

Nowadays when everything change so fast, most people get busy and in a hurry. It’s so sad to admit that simple things in our life we tend to forget or set aside. I’m really glad that although I race with time every day, God had a given me a workplace that’s always close to Him and my family.

What culture do you like in your workplace? Would you consider having a bible study there too?

References

(2014). Culture and communication. Encyclopedia.com.  Retrieved November 16, 2014, from http://www.encyclopedia.com/article-1G2-3402900067/culture-and-communication.html

(2000). Languages spoken in each country of the world. Infoplease. Retrieved November 17, 2014, from http://www.infoplease.com/ipa/A0855611.html

Heathfield, S.(2014). Culture: Your environment for people at work. About Money. Retrieved November 20, 2014, from http://humanresources.about.com/od/organizationalculture/a/culture.htm