5. Experiencing Cultural Differences Answer the following questions based on your personal experiences. If you have not had a relevant personal experience, imagine how you would feel.

a. North American society places a heavy emphasis on eliminating body odours. If you are a product of that North American culture, how do you feel about a culture where body odours are seen as natural, and no attempt is made to cover them? If you are from a society where body odours are considered more natural, how do you feel about mainstream North America’s focus on covering body odours with scented soaps, deodorants, and perfumes?

b. Have you ever travelled to a city, region, or country where you thought the people were rude? Can you objectively explain any differences you found there—that is, without making judgments (such as “the people are rude”) about the region and its people but by describing specific actions (such as

“no one stopped to say hi”). After completing this exercise, do you still feel the same way about the region?

c. Have you ever travelled to a place where people have a different conception of punctuality than you have? Did the people show up later than you for meetings, or did you feel as if you were regularly being judged as late? If you think of punctuality as a cultural expectation, what does that do to your perception of those experiences?

6. Researching Cultural Differences Go to a library and identify six resources that would be helpful in researching cultural differences. Make sure that three of those resources are general—that is, they have information relevant to all cultures—and that the other three resources provide information on one or more cultures of particular interest to you.

Go online and identify six websites that would be helpful, again including three that are general and three that are related to specific cultures.

Class members may want to share and compile the lists to create a master list of useful resources for everyone.