by Miroslav Kamel, MLB Class of 2009
This may sound like an advertisement for a new edition of Ripley's "Believe it or not", but did you know that in Tanzania you can have more than one mother?! Did you know that Norwegian women take off their high heels when they pay someone a visit?! Did you know that only blind people can provide massage services for commercial purposes in South Korea?! Well, if you would have attended the Intercultural training that would not have been that surprising to you. The workshop, "Intercultural Competence", took place at Bucerius Law School with Prof. Barbara Stelling at the end of October. Through our experiences and discussion of different cultures and countries we overcame our stereotypes not only theoretically, but also practically. The cookies and coffee also made for a cozy atmosphere amongst colleagues.
This allowed us to discuss important questions of mutual understanding and solutions such as yin and yang cohesion in everyday life.
Now, we know that in Tanzania aside from your natural mother you can also have many other "social" mothers. We also know that the Constitutional Court in South Korea has passed a decision that only blind people can give massages (however, we still do not know why Norwegian women take off their shoes).
I suppose that if we were not tolerant and open-minded people, we would not have been there in the first place. But it was useful to think again about these issues and the challenges that may arise in intercultural interaction. We, after all, should not be all the same in one "melting pot". We should all be distinctive like in one "salad bowl".
