ES2007S: Fostering Intercultural Communication

Two years back, I went on a Student Exchange Programme (SEP) to Linköping, Sweden, and had the opportunity to meet many local, exchange, and even Master's students, from around the globe. One thing always brought us together outside school - FOOD!

A couple of us had the honor of having dinner with our friend's buddy, a Swede, and his flat mates. The Singaporeans brought along curry, while the Swedes prepared moose stew.

Swedish-Singaporean dinner gathering!

We, the Singaporean students who were on exchange at the same university, were also pretty close to the Taiwanese, Korean and Japanese students there.  

We had a couple of country themed dinner sessions together, whereby students from that particular country will prepare dishes unique to their country. The Taiwanese prepared dishes such as braised meat, glutinous rice balls and bubble milk tea. The Koreans made popular Korean dishes such as dukbokki (rice cakes), kimbap (korean sushi) and ramyeon (ramen). Last but not least, the Japanese students prepared miso soup for the Japanese dinner, and even taught us how to make sushi! In turn, we returned their kindness by cooking food that we felt that were representative of Singapore, such as Hainanese chicken rice and bak kut teh.

Taiwan dinner, prepared by the Taiwanese!

Learning how to make Sushi from a Japanese!

Other than just enjoying all the good food during the dinner sessions, we also managed to learn a lot about each others' culture.

Here are some of the cultures/traditions that I've learnt from these dinner sessions:

1. Stew is a common fare during winter for the Swedes, and what I find the most interesting is that some families actually hunt for their own meat! Although the Älg (moose) that I had from the stew was bought from the supermarket, but C, the Swede chef of the stew, told us that his family has already hunted for their game. (It was around October/November that we had the cultural exchange dinner with C and his flatmates.)                                                                                 More about moose hunting: http://www.nordicway.com/search/Sweden/Sweden_Moose%20Hunting.htm
2. Glutinous rice balls (also known as tang yuan) represent family union (probably because it sounds like family union in chinese: tuan yuan). It is usually served during the Chinese Winter Soltice Festival and other occasions of family reunion. In fact, eating glutinous rice balls is not a tradition that is unique to Taiwan, and is practiced by most chinese in Asia.
3. During birthdays, the chinese mothers will cook "long life noodles" (also known as mian xian) for the birthday child as it signifies longevity. On the other hand, in Korea, Korean mothers make seaweed soup during birthdays! The reason behind this tradition can be found here: http://blog.korea.net/?p=2320

Korean- Singaporean- Taiwanese gathering! Food brings people together! (:

Having interacted with people from so many countries and culture, I am thankful that globalization has equipped with most of us with a common language, English, which has allowed us to communicate with one another. However, we should also be mindful that not everyone has the same English standards, and that active listening and effective communication should still be practiced in order for our messages to get over correctly. This is especially important as conveying the message wrongly may cause the recipient to be offended.

To end off, I'd encourage those who are still in year 1 - 3 to apply for exchange! In my opinion, it is one of the highlights in my university life. Year 4s, keep calm and travel on. (: