What is culture? 

Hi guys, welcome to my blog, when we talk about culture, i'm sure everyone has their own opinion about what culture is to them. From my point of view, i think culture is about the  the way we as a community expressing our own language, food, communication style, beliefs, attitudes, values, and perceptions, among others in one community/region, culture are passed down from generation to generation, from our grandma to our mom, to us and then our kid and then our grand kids and so on.

According to Donini-Lenhoff & Hedrick (2000), Culture has been defined as an integrated pattern of learned beliefs and behaviors that can be shared among groups. It includes thoughts, styles of communicating, ways of interacting, views on roles and relationships, values, practices, and customs.furthermore, culture can also be seen as the identity common to a society or a group of people within that society

The United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization (Unesco) (2002) described culture as follows: "... culture should be regarded as the set of distinctive spiritual, material, intellectual and emotional features of society or a social group, in addition to art and literature, lifestyles, ways of living together, value systems, traditions and beliefs". According to this way of thinking, culture encompasses all the ways of life, arts, beliefs and codes of manners, dress, language,
 religion, rituals, norms of behavior such as law and morality, and systems of belief as well as the art.

What makes cultures different?

Culture is shaped by multiple influences, including race, ethnicity, nationality, language, and gender, but it also extends to socioeconomic status, physical and mental ability, sexual orientation, and
occupation, among other factors. These influences can shape our values, form our belief systems, and motivate our behaviors (Hedrick, 2000).

Different cultures have different ways of thinking and  rationalization of problems, for example in my village, small village in Cirebon, , some people belief that when they sick its because of their sins, or because of devil and any other supernatural entities and not because of their own health deteriorating from bad hygiene, smoking, infection etc. 

Different cultures also shows us different ways of passing things to others and  ways of greeting each other for example in most European countries, mostly people shake hands, kissing cheeks,  or hugs to greet each other while in Japan , people slightly bend over and  head down to greet each other.

Every every country has their own unique ways of  dressing, the way we dress with the way other people dress from different countries is also different.  A short skirt and tank top may often consider as  rude and naughty for women in some countries, while some other countries is considered ok and nothing wrong. Wearing a veil and black dress  from head to toe may be seen as a weird  in some countries , however in some middle east countries, that's how women dress.

 In addition, every country  are also have their own way of walking, sitting in chairs, standing,  touching each other, placement of hands, holding hands are (who can; who can’t), walking past people (what do you do?), Walking through the door (who’s first?), ways of eating and table manner (what’s polite; what’s not?), sneezing, belching, spitting (what’s ok, what’s not?). the ways of people making relationships between man and women can be vary each culture, body gesture such as eye contacts and voice intonations can be regard as rudeness. for example in some middle east countries, making eye contact directly from stranger man to women in the street can be considered as a sin, while in different countries eye contact while having conversation means you're paying respect/attention to that person.

However, I cannot judge other people's behavior and beliefs according to the standards of our own cultures, because the behavior and beliefs of people within each culture can vary considerably. also, I cannot make assumptions  that any culture is the best culture, because every culture has their own value and the is no way of people judging one culture to another.

Outline my culture and how it may differ from other cultures.

About Me 

I was born in Cirebon. Cirebon is a city on the north coast of Java, in Jawa Barat province.used to known for its famous batik and traditional dance tari topeng, however now days Cirebon produce many products such as furniture, textile, arts and crafts for local or national or even international market. Cirebon, the first big harbor east of Jakarta. It's the only of the 16th century Jawanese city kingdoms, complete with Royal palaces and Royal families. Cirebon has complex mix of Javanese, Malay, Sundanese, Chinese and Arabic cultural elements. our language is Javanese language areas, we referring ourselves as "wong Jawa" ("Javanese people"), and our language as "basa Jawa" ("Javanese")

As a coastal city, our main production of the city is fishery including shrimps. Its products include terasi (shrimp paste), shrimp crackers and salted fish. Cirebon is known for local foods, such as nasi lengko (rice mixed with bean sprouts, fried tofu and fermented soybean cake), nasi jamblang (rice of various side dishes), empal gentong ( goat/beef curry ), tahu gejrot (fried tofu with red sugar topping), tahu tek-tek (fried tofu topped with peanut sauce and mixed with vegetables) and ayam panggang (barbecue chicken). Other native food is "Docang" (rice cake with sour vegetable soup)

What makes Cirebon different is its diversity and compassion for others. There are many traditional languages, religious, cultures and ethnicity in Cirebon. Religious practices are mostly Muslim, christian, Buddha, Hinduism - though a major part of the residents appear to be devoted to the Islam and christian practices. Even though there are several religious, but we are stay together in peace and caring each others. The city is comprised of a multi ethnic society - where traditions vary from cultural, linguistic and social differences. Religious has many influences in the way we eat and the way we dress. there is also cultural norms in which we should obey. Norms contain rules about the way we live with others, how we care, love and compassion to others, that should be followed. an example of this is in our city, alcohol can only be sold at pub/nightclub, not in a market or ordinary shop. in addition, we used to wear "kebaya" as our traditional dress traditionally many in early years decades ago, but noways in Cirebon  people mostly wear religious clothes.

Describe cultural awareness?

Cultural awareness recognizes that we are all shaped by our cultural background, which influences how we interpret the world around us, perceive ourselves and relate to other people.
when you think about your own culture have you considered other cultures, that's when you start to develop cultural awareness. Cultural Awareness foster understanding and appreciation for the wide variety of cultures represented in your territory, your community, and the world. Understanding cultural awareness means  recognize similarities while maintaining and respecting our differential and uniqueness without judging other cultures.