Intercultural Beliefs & Personalities by RAFS

Hola hola!

Since Aminah has shared her video project, it's my turn to share with you guys my video!

It's not much, just a simple video about intercultural beliefs and values that we hold among ourselves in the society :) 

You can watch it here: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ec-Q4MBlEZs

Don't forget to hit the 'Like' button! :D

(so sexay harrrehhhhhh)

Till then, adios! 

VIDEOOOOO

Heyyooooooo!!!

What's up y'all~~~~

Long time no see right? alright, let's get straight to the point. 

Okay, this post might be the last post for this blog.. awww

But no worries, InsyaAllah, if we have time, we will update once in a while. it's quite busy as a student ya know. Yayyy!!!

So yeah, me, Aminah and my groupmates have made a video related to beauty and it is the last task for our course, Intercultural Communication. The title of the video is Bauty is You. #beautyisyou

Hope you can spend time to watch it. It is less than 5 minuntes. Afiqah and her groupmates also have their own video, and since we are not from the same group. she will post it later. =)

Till then uolls! 

This is the link for laptops or PCs:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=KntuHb36m28

And this is the link for for mobile devices:
https://m.facebook.com/story.php?story_fbid=1283653231648200&id=100000106058999&refid=12&ref=m_notif&notif_t=group_r2j_approved&__tn__=%2As

spread it!

#beautyisyou


Adios amigos!

Nonverbal Communication?

Assalamualaikum everyone!

CÓMO ESTÁS?

Today, we are going to share with you guys about nonverbal communication in Aboodi’s culture. For Malaysian, of course we have our own gestures or cues that mean something right? So do Aboodi. In fact, every culture has their own nonverbal communication. To make it easier, let’s simplify it and make a smaller scope. We are going to talk about gestures or body movement in Aboodi’s culture.

According to Dictionary.com, nonverbal communication is “Communication without the use of spoken language. Nonverbal communication includes gestures, facial expressions, and body positions (known collectively as “body language”), as well as unspoken understandings and presuppositions, and cultural and environmental conditions that may affect any encounter between people”.

So, we asked Aboodi the other day and basically he shared four gestures in his culture with us. First of all, in his culture, when they are talking to each other, they tend to point around a lot at people, which will eventually lead to misunderstandings by the person whom being pointed at. Aboodi said that it is not an act of disrespectful, but it is just that when they talk, their hands will move around too, and to control their hands, they point them at the person they are talking to.

Besides the hands, there is also ‘the look’. The look here means when they get ‘that look’ from their parents when they have guests visiting their house. It means go and serve them something like tea, coffee or any food that you have. We don’t know about you guys, but for our families (Afina), we also get ‘that look’ from our parents. Haha. But it’s not only for serving the food, but also introduce yourself politely, and greet the guests. It’s Malay’s tradition to welcome their guests warmly. So that is why we always get ‘that look’ from our parents when we just sitting around and do nothing. We will get labelled as ‘lazy’ especially if it is girls.

Aboodi also has shared with us a video to make us easier to explain about the next gestures. Thanks Aboodi! ^_^

In the video, the first gesture means ‘please wait for a while’. Based on Afina’s observation, we also have this gesture for some people. But most of us usually will use the gesture below to say ‘please wait’. Right? No? ookaayyyyy….

Anyway, the second and the third move mean ‘hurry up’ or ‘faster’.   Again, based on Afina’s observation, Malaysian usually wave their hands toward their body repeatedly until the other party comes closer. Just like the picture below.

Lastly, in Aboodi’s culture, when someone wants to ask you something, you will nod your head. It means ‘what is it’ or ‘what do you want’ or ‘yeah?’

So that’s all from us. We hope you enjoy reading this entry! 

-DANKE!-

References

The American Heritage® New Dictionary of Cultural Literacy, Third Edition.

Copyright ©2005 by Houghton Mifflin Company. Published by Houghton Mifflin Company.

 http://lifeandtimesofawriter.blogspot.my/2011_04_01_archive.html

Omm, nomm nomm!

Annyeong! 

Who else is excited when it comes to food?

Food is everybody's bae, don't you agree? :D

So, we'll be sharing with you guys about Aboodi's favorite food in this entry.

 We've explained in the previous entry that Aboodi likes rice with meat, and after doing some googling on his local food from Saudi Arabia, we can see why he likes this kind of cuisine,

Aboodi says that he likes Mandi with meat because it tastes great and delicious. 

Mandi dish

But he also says that he favors his mother's cooks. He told us that his mother always made Somalian dishes even though they have been living in Saudi Arabia for a long duration of time. He did not tell us in specific what dish that his family always had but based on my findings, these are some of the Somalian food that actually looks similar with Aboodi's favorite that is rice with meat.

AND 

I asked him, if he had to choose between Somalian and Saudi Arabian food, he would choose:

Kapsa Rice

(Looks tempting don't you agree?!!!!)

If you're a fan of Malay weddings cuisines, you could clearly see that our Nasi Minyak is quite similar to Saudi Arabian food.

Nasi Minyak

The only difference is our Nasi Minyak has acar (mixed vegetables with vinegar).

Acar

Finally, if any one of you is thinking of visiting Saudi Arabia, Aboodi says that maybe you should try Saudi Coffee with dates. I bet you're wondering what it looks like. Well, here it is:

Saudi Coffee

Uhm, we guess this is it. I hope this entry has given you new information about Saudi Arabian food that some of you might have little input on it. James Beard once said:

Food is our common ground, a universal experience.

Till then, Au Revoir!

-KAMSA HAMNIDA-

Aboodi and Stereotype?

DÀJIĀ HǍO! (HELLO EVERYONE!)

Okaayyy..... So now you know a bit about Aboodi, let’s talk about his view on stereotype. This is one of the task that we need to ask Aboodi beside his personal profile.

Basically, we (Afina) had asked Aboodi two questions regarding this issue.

1.     His stereotype towards Malaysian

2.     Malaysians’ stereotype towards him

For the first question, Aboodi said that before he came into Malaysia, he thought that Malaysians have small eyes because they are part of Asia (typical stereotype towards Asian, haha).

However, Aboodi’s father had given positive images about the beauty of Malaysia and Malaysians to Aboodi because Aboodi’s father had visited Malaysia several times for business matters. We thank you, Mr Mohamud Tani. Hehe.

Once Aboodi had arrived in Malaysia, he was so excited and thrilled to visit interesting places in Malaysia! Now, he had visited Langkawi Island, Sunway Lagoon, French Village and Japanese Village in Bukit Tinggi, Port Dickson and many more! Honestly, some of these places we have never visited before. Lucky Aboodi... *sigh...

French Village

Japanese Village

Anyway, back to the topic, Aboodi said that he really wanted to go to Malaysia’s tropical island next time like Redang Island, Perhentian Island, Kapas Island, Pangkor Island, Tioman Island and many more as Malaysia is best known for its many exotic islands that feature beautiful beaches, tropical rainforest and stunning crystal clear water and colorful coral reefs.

We want to go there too!! T^T

As for question two, Aboodi only answered the question with two short answers. He said the words ‘Sheikh’ and ‘Ustaz’. This is because people always thought that he is an expert in religious matters as he is really fluent in the Arabic language (Arabic is his first language) and mainly because he has a beard. People and their stereotypes... Haha.

So that is all for now, InsyaAllah we will write more about Aboodi and his culture next time. We also might go out and have lunch with Aboodi the next time we meet, and of course we will introduce to him about Malaysian culture and FOOD. Yeah, FOOD. Wohoooo~~ Till then, Sayonara!

Zàijiàn! (Goodbye!)

-GRACIAS-

Meeting our new friend!

Hola!

We meet again :-)

In this entry, we’re going to introduce you to our international friend. We met him through Aminah’s friend and we had a nice time getting to know our new friend the other day.

Alright, here it is!!!

*drumroll*

...

...

...

...

...

TADAAAAAAA!

Here's a bit of his biography,

Name:  Abdalla Hamud Mohamud Tani

Nickname: Aboodi Tani (only to his friends and family)

Age: 21

Date of Birth: July 5^th 1995

Nationality: Somalian but lives in Saudi Arabia

Year: 2^nd year 1^st semester

Course: Currently studying in Human Science course, but thinking of switch to ICT because of job opportunity he’s gotten in Saudi Arabia.

Hobby: Playing football & Playstation, he also likes playing football games on the Playstation

Talent: Cooking lasagna, macaroni cheese, pasta, rice, fried eggs and tuna.

Native speaker of Arabic language, followed by English, Somali and Japanese. He’s looking forward to come to Japan as he always likes their language and manga!

Aboodi has been living in Malaysia for 2 years and Malaysia is the first foreign country he has ever been to.

He's so friendly and chatty, nice looking and kind.

Here's a picture of us hanging out the other day :D

-MAHADSANID-

(Thank you in Somali)

^_^

*Special Entry*

TERVEISIÄ! (Greetings in Finnish)

Hey our lovely readers! Okay, straight to the point. Here’s the thing. We, Afina will make special entries for you! Yayyyy *clap hands

However, we are still not sure though when will we update them. Just wait, yeah? =)

So for this week, our special entry is….. *drums roll

PORTRAIT AND POEM!!

Yup, we are going to show you our drawings and poems about ourselves. Just promise us, you will NOT laugh!  We are not very artistic girls. So just bear with us okay? Hehe.  Ready??? Here we goooo…

Aminah's portrait

Aminah’s Poem

I am not short, and I am not tall,

Tun Aminah is what I’m called.

My voice is bad, but I love to sing,

I have a cat, and I have fair skin.

I like to eat and I like to sleep,

That’s what my family said every time we meet.

This is me, this is who I want to be,

This is me, come and let’s be friend with me.

Alright, you've seen Aminah's potrait of herself, Now, me (Afiqah) gonna reveal mine....... Huhuhu

OH MI GOD, As you can see, I don't have talent in drawing! *silently cries in the 

corner* 

Dr. Afiza told us to make a potrait of ourselves and this is how I portray myself -_-

I've tried to make it look a bit more abstract but nothing worked out.

Aminah's is way better than mine, obviously.................

Huahuahuahua.

Let's move on to the poem part >_<

I AM.........

I am Afiqah binti Ahmad,

Most of my friends know me as Pqunk,

Don't get mistaken me as fussy, complicated or even mad, 

I'm just a person whom sometimes a crack. (HAHA)

I am the eldest in my family,

Thus, my family’s matters are my responsibility,

It was never simple and easy,

But I’m sure I can get through this eventually

Sorry you have to see and read this. We've tried but it's up to your judgement how 'good' we are in writing poems. Duh -_-  haha. 

Stereotypes?!

S̄WạS̄DĪ!

Annyeong, dear readers!

So this week, we’re going to unravel a bit of stereotype!

A stereotype can be defined as a widely held but set an oversimplified image or idea about a particular type of person or objective. Stereotyping takes place because we see common patterns in certain categories of people. For example, one might say that all Frenchmen are proud. These kinds of ideas are not actually based on that person’s experience or knowledge but rather from the beliefs that already exist in the society.

  

 Now, do you even remember the last time you had this kind of attitude towards someone? For example, in our society, when someone commits bad things and he happens to be a Kelantanese, our community is quick to judge that people from Kelantan are mostly rude and rough. 

Nahhhh, regardless of where we’re coming from, human beings are inclined to do mistakes. We’re not perfect, deal with it.

So, hmm.. … From my experience, (Afiqah) I’ve never been in a worst situation where people discriminate me for what I’m wearing and who I am naturally. But, during my secondary school years, things were tough and rebellious. 

I went to a religious school from the age of 13 to 15, and it was never my decision to go there (but now I’m beyond grateful for this, thanks mom!) I was never the kind of person who would follow the rules and I wouldn’t blame my friends for this because my heart was not there initially. If the school wants me to wear long-and-covered-my-butt hijab, I’ll do it the other way around. 

Gosh, I hope my kids don’t follow my foolish steps. Umm, this happened 7 years ago, and people might have changed :D

Eeeeekkkkk, back to my story.  

My group of friends, what makes us so close to each other is because of our carefree attitude. We’re loud, confident and chirpy. Proud is not the right word to describe this but our friendship really meant so much to me. Some of the teachers in our school had that ‘look’ to us whenever we walked pass the canteen or the office.

 Everything that we do need to be inspected by the discipline panels from the shape of our school hijab to our body gestures. Honestly, I was super uncomfortable by this discrimination where people perceive us as ‘bad’ or ‘rude’ all the time.

BUT!!!!!

Things were slowly changing when I moved to another school. I went to an ordinary school, that is completely different to my previous school. In the religious school, I didn’t have Chinese and Indian friends around me. Nevertheless, my multicultural friends never look down on me or talk bad about me. We accept each other’s differences and live with it peacefully.

ALRIGHT, enough about Afiqah. Let’s talk about Aminah! Haha, sorry Afiqah, no offense. Okkaaayyy. We will start with two questions. What is my stereotype towards others and what people has stereotype towards me. First thing first, don’t judge me please? I have changed, seriously.

Okay, before I entered IIUM, I have this kind of stereotype where I always thought that people who live in cities such as Kuala Lumpur always people who tend to mingle ad socialize and they have a bad influence. But after I entered IIUM, I discovered that not all them are like that. In fact, there are some of them who are so pious and guarded. Yeah, I know. I am not an open minded person BEFORE. Huhu. IIUM has changed me. Fufufufu…

Right, moving on my experience on people’s stereotyping me. Same as Afiqah, I went to religious schools, but I have been since I was 5 years old until today, IIUM. So when people know that I have been learning religious subject for so long, people tend to think that I am a pious person and I know everything about religion. And guess what? I DON’T. Seriously guys, just because people go to religious school, it doesn’t mean that they know everything about that particular religion.

Oh yeahh, another thing. I want to share about me, stereotyping myself. Every time lecturers want somebody to volunteer in class to share some things, I always remained silent or say something so slow that only I can hear myself. This is because that I think that I should not speak aloud because my English is not good. So I should just shut up and let others talk as they are better than me. And yeah, it still happens till now. Shame on me. I really should do something about that.

The greatest lessons we’ve learned: Learn to accept each other's flaws and do not be quick to judge. We have so much of negativity already, we need to replace them with positivity.

So yeahh, that is it. Thank you for reading this, we appreciated every single one of you. =)

-SHUKRIYA-

-pictures credit to Deviant Art, Quiet Revolution, Invite to Islam tumblr, Vv Magazine, Hey!, and many more.

Getting to know Intercultural Communication......

Hi guys!

We meet again after our recent entry about the video of Prof. Riccardi, don’t we? ;)

In this given space, I’d like to share with you about what intercultural communication is all about and how it circulates in the society all over the world. 

Intercultural communication is not about communication that happened between cultures in several countries, but any groups of people that live up to their own beliefs and values. To make this communication between cultures works, we need to be more understanding, accepting and tolerating. Even when we are with our group of friends, the friendship will become less intimate and boring if we do not have the sense of understanding of their needs. The thought of being considerate to each other despite of our different social backgrounds reflects our inner persona.

 I’m sure all of us have encountered many situations whereas we have to choose ourselves first or the other party. It’s sure hard, but try to put ourselves in their shoes. Try to be more accepting than pushing them away.

Other than that, in wider context, we can look into intercultural interaction that happened in Malaysia.

  

MALAYSIA BOLEH!

Malay, Chinese and Indian have been living together in this land for half decade and there has never been any critical moment that can break this unity apart. However, challenges and trials would always rise in every day situation and we need to be smart in handling them. So, have you ever been in a situation where people called that you as “that Malay”, “that Chinese” or “that Indian”? The indication of saying up their race probably shows that Malaysian still failed to escape from racial stereotyping. Malaysians, we need to change this attitude! As I have said this before,

MALAYSIA BOLEH!

-Je vous remercie­-

(In case you need some motivation to study, here’s bundle of cute bunnies to accompany you!)