105 Journal #4

[Anela Halilovic]

In my opinion most of the presentations that my classmates held were successful. All of them covered a specific aspect of a culture. We definitely learned a lot about the Korean culture. I have never really studied Asian cultures and I found it very interesting to learn some of the customs and traditions or daily life routines: from very fundamental behavioral rules, such as filial piety, over holiday celebration, to cosmetics. The students managed to bring the Korean culture closer to me and give me a better understanding of the values of that society. It was interesting to see that Koreans still have a lot of respect to the elders and that there is still a hierarchy. Fun fact was really that staying young is a big deal for them. Even men use a lot of cosmetics. Furthermore, Korean dramas seem to be very popular. I used to watch Spanish and Turkish drama, which might be similar to them based on the scenes they include. That presentation has definitely awaken my interest to watch Korean dramas too. I also enjoyed the Ataturk presentation. I already knew some of the things that were mentioned, but I did not know that every office in Turkey had to have Ataturk’s portrait. That really tells a lot about the culture. It is also important as a foreigner visiting the country to be aware of the importance this man has for the entire society. Moreover, I did not know that the McDonald’s in Israel processes their food in a special way and that Israelis cannot eat diary and meat together.  In general, all students gave their best to present an aspect of a culture.