North Korea

What’s the first thing that comes to your mind when someone mentions North Korea? Starvation? Malnourishment? Evilness? Or maybe even people who are so brainwashed that they’re almost robot-like? For me, it’s isolation or maybe the movie TheInterview. With all the negative information sometimes it’s hard to imagine that North Koreans have a culture.

It’s obvious that North Koreans have extremely limited freedom. So, how does that impact their culture?

In Western society, technology plays a major role in almost everything. In North Korea technology is a luxury. There are 4 main TV channels:

• Central TV Channel is for politically important news.

• Mansudae Channel for foreign country news (which probably doesn’t show much).

• Sports Channel is for sports.

• Cable line Channel, well, it’s basic cable TV.

Also, there is internet, not highly advanced but it is there. Additionally, it’s really hard to get ahold of. You have to go through several steps. First, you would have to buy a computer on your $25-$30 a month budget. Then once you get the computer, you have to get a license. Like how Americans need a license to get a car? Yeah, you need one of those to get a computer. And on top of all those troubles, you have to get permission from the government. So, internet at home?? Probably a no. Soooo, cell phones?? Yes, they are there but once again, they are highly controlled by the government and can’t make any calls outside of the country.

Education seems as if it’s high up on the list. The education is free from the ages of 5-7. Everyone studies very hard so they don’t have to pay tuition at the university. Technically, North Koreans speak the same language as South Korea, Korean. It’s very important for men to be educated because to marry you must be educated or in the army. “When can I eat your cold noodles?” That’s what you say if you want to join a wedding party.

Meat soup and white rice used to symbolize a sense of wealth. Visitors are often well feed but it is becoming obvious to the outside world that many North Koreans are suffering from starvation due to the lack of food that the country is able to provide. Also, North Koreans are not accumstomed to having spicy foods or many seasonings. Another important point, candy or sweets are not provided *cries*. All the food is regulated, just like everything else.

Though North Korea claims they are a classless society, there is a CLEAR divide between the politically important and the politically unimportant. Your rank in the country strongly depends on your family’s involvement with the leader or military involvement.

Overall, the government controls and regulates everything. The culture is based off of traditional Korean culture. What makes it so unique is because it is so isolated. Many times when the world hears from North Korea it’s a war threat. Though, many people try to get out of North Korea and explore new things, it’s next to impossible.

 Fun Fact, Pyongyang, the capital of North Korea has the largest stadium in the world. It is able to hold 150,000 people. The third largest stadium in the world belongs to The Pennsylvania State University with being able to hold 107,282 people.

Thank you for reading! J

¡Cultura española!

I’m not exactly an expert on Spanish culture but I do think I have had a lot of experience with it. I took Spanish in the 2^nd, 3^rd, 4^th, 8^th, and 9^th grades only to NOT be fluent in it in any way. Of course I can count to 39 (weird place to stop), get through the basic “Hola, cómo estás, cómo te llamas, y adios”, but nothing more than that.

 Fortunately, during my senior year of high school I was honored to meet one of my best friends, Lydia!!! When I met her she had only been in the US for about 4 months.  Of course that first thing I noticed was her accent and had to ask “omg, where are you from?!” I was so amazed to learn she was from Cartagena, Spain and that she was so cool. Going to Lydia’s house was where I was exposed to and learned most about Spanish culture. Her mom only speaks Spanish so I would try my hardest to keep up at breakfast time but my little bit of Spanish was NOT cutting it. Just a hint Spaniard’s tend to speak loudly, they aren’t arguing or mad, lol.

It’s also important to note that Spanish and South/Central Americans are TWO different groups of people. I cannot count the amount of times that Lydia has gotten mad because someone said she was from Mexico or even that people think Spain is next Mexico (yes, it’s not uncommon that we hear that. Also, fun fact: a girl from our high school thought Jamaica was next to Africa.)

“In Spain, we don’t sing the national anthem as much as Americans. We don’t sing it at the beginning of HS sporting events. We don’t put our hand on our heart. Even some people believe that overly representing the flag, the way that’s normal to Americans, symbolizes our past dictatorship. It’s not as patriotic as the American flag is.” -Lydia

Food! I love food! We when I first heard that it’s common to get out of school to go have lunch with your family, I was quite jealous. Meals are almost always eaten with your family. It’s a time to get together and enjoy each other’s company. Lunch is usually around 2. Later there is a time for a snack, Merienda, after, of course, your wonderful nap. Then time for dinner around 9! Many popular dishes include:

 Paella

Fabada 

Lentejas

& there is always bread at every meal. It’s not uncommon for your mom to tell you to go down the street and get bread.

Like many cultures, family and friends are very important. Spanish culture is a really face-to-face and highly social culture. Yes, they all have phones but they know how to put them down when it’s time to go out and fun! Many people live in city-like areas so it is normal to walk everywhere and to meet new people along the way. But typically, you’d stick with a group of people and become close with them. Also, it seems that Spanish culture has tons of freedom (no curfew), not only in what they are allowed to do but also in how they think. For example, the legal drinking age in Spain is 18. Here it’s obviously 21. Alcohol isn’t made out to be such an exciting thing because the rules aren’t as strict and also they are more aware about the consequences than the typical American.

The most prominent sport? You guessed it, Fútbol!!!!!!!!!! It’s always entertaining to watch sports and to be accompanied by so many people who share a similar interest with you.

 

Like any culture, Spanish culture has it's little weird and unimaginable things about it, things you and I would never think of being important. For example, PERSIANAS (blinds)!!! Here is a quick, summarized list of neat aspects of Spanish culture. And lastly, a song to check out if you are interested. 

Thanks for reading! :)

What is Culture?

Is it even possible to list the amount of cultures in the world? What exactly is culture? I suppose it depends on who you speak to. To one person there could be 9 different cultures, but to the next person there could be over 9,000. Culture is a mixture of religion, what you eat, what you wear, how you wear it, what language you speak, what you think is right, what you think is wrong, your morals and traditions, etc. Being that my major is international politics, I'm quite sure running into different cultures will be common.

Culture can and does change over time. With so many new technological innovations and the amount of media that is shoved down our throats in Western society, its almost so easy to not know exactly what our culture is.

It is known that American is the land of ALL types of people no matter their beliefs, religion, or race. Though it has not always been the case that everyone gets the same treatment and opportunity, those are the beliefs that the country was built on.

In my comparative literature class we are currently reading No No Boy by John Okada. The book is about the inner struggles Japanese Americans had after WW2. Yesterday, it led to a discussion of how some cultures are more prideful and dominant than others. Quickly, the class divided into two different sides. One being students who are first generation Americans. The other, students who only know "America".

To so many people, its so easy to view American culture as greedy, over-dominant, aggressive, and racist. While others see it as as freedom, education, a "melting pot", and the land of opportunity.
The students in my class who are first generation Americans felt that being in America was stripping away their cultures and traditions that they learned from their home countries. While on the other hand, one student mentioned that she was adopted so it was nearly impossible for her to trace her roots. Therefore, she is extremely happy to have America as her homeland and for her culture to be classified as "American" as it is providing her with so much opportunity.

America is a mush of many different cultures, sometimes making it hard to classify what American culture really is. It's really amazing to see so many cultures come together and be one. The Olympics is really a good way to see the American people come together and be as one. Also, there are times when Americans come together that are much more tragic, for example, 9-11. Being the 14th anniversary since the tragic event, you'll be able to feel a connection through the American community today.

Within comparative literature class of maybe 45 students, 6 different cultures have emerged. Penn State alone has about 46,000 undergrad students. So, that's about 6,133 different cultures. Therefore, I'd definitely fall under the category that their are over 9,000 different types of cultures in the world. It would be extremely hard, probably even impossible to come in contact with all of the different types of cultures in the world.

For this reason, I will attempt to learn more and experience "major" cultures and share it with you through my blog. For the following posts, I will try to focus on one major culture per blog.


Thanks for reading!