Pause and reflect

The last couple of weeks I worked on the development goals I set for myself. The three goals were mentioned in the previous blog ‘Get to know the culture’. These goals were 1) find my own creativity, 2) learn and understand the Chinese culture, and 3) appreciate and respect other traditions. In this blog the three drafted goals are evaluated after a period of nine weeks.

Creativity

As I am continuously looking for new ways to be creative, I see myself more as a creative person now compared with nine weeks ago. During my work I see new opportunities due to this creative mind-set by finding new ideas, solutions or methods. Also during my voluntary work I find new ideas to prepare swimming lessons and new methods of teaching. For these purposes my analytical skills are being used. Other competences used are empathy, perseverance, dare and show initiative. These skills are all used to be creative during work.

Think outside the box

Chinese culture

The last nine weeks I studied the Chinese culture, history and even language. For myself the Chinese culture and habits are clear, at least so far that I would be able to go to China and adapt to their cultural differences. After all the lessons about the Chinese culture I was thinking a lot; comparing China to the Netherlands, comparing their habits to mine, and comparing the history of both countries. During these thinking sessions the Chinese culture and associated norms and values due to precedent events were getting clearer and clearer, as well as the do’s and don’ts while having a business relationship with Chinese.  

Other cultures’ traditions

To adapt or integrate to other cultures, I find it necessary to know about the history, norms, values, differences and similar subjects. Me learning the Chinese culture is a very good example how to accept, adapt and slightly integrate while in China in a couple of weeks. As I have always been interested in other cultures, this goal is not too hard to deal with. Mentioned in the previous blog: I see myself as a person who is very open and exited to meet, see and experience someone else’s traditions and culture. Meanwhile, a view on the growth process – from denial to integration –will show that I have improved this development goal, as I started off at the acceptance phase, while I am now at the adaption phase. I expect to be between the adaption and integration phase while travelling through China. 

Chinese tradition: Chinese New Year

Get to know the culture

Am I creative? Do I know people’s creativity? What are other culture’s habits and traditions? What do other cultures find important? Questions like these came up when I thought of the development goals I drafted. Thinking of such questions helped me understand my goals and help achieve them.

Development goals

As the goals that I set myself are 1) find my own creativity, 2) learn and understand the Chinese culture, and 3) appreciate and respect other traditions, I want to achieve these development goals. I am constantly aware of ‘finding’ my own creativity, as everybody has his own creativity somehow. Mine will be, being creative with (business) solutions, leadership and presenting styles, which is totally different what I expected from being creative; creative in drawing. This thinking process made me aware of the fact that everybody has got their own way of being creative, which help me understand other people way better. In the picture below, thirty ways to stay creative are shown. Number 13, 17 and 29 apply to this part being creative. 

30 ways to stay creative

The second and third development goals have to do with (Chinese) cultures and traditions. It is hard to set proper targets as cultures and traditions have to with a lot of aspects, and in different levels and stages. At the moment I am learning Mandarin and aspects of the Chinese culture. For me this is a good start of the second and third goal, as this is the base of the culture. When I will be in China next month, I will be able to communicate a little bit in Chinese and understand their habits, doings and culture. For now, I think this is enough to visit various cities, like Beijing and Shanghai. Most of the development goal ‘learn and understand the Chinese culture’ will be experienced in China itself, while ‘appreciate and respect other traditions’ is a way more ‘deeper’ goal; it starts with yourself, you have to be open to other traditions. I see this goal more as a personal development goal, as you need to show respect to other culture’s  traditions. I see myself as a person who is very open and exited to meet, see and experience someone else’s traditions and culture. So this goal is about the growth process; from denial to integration. In the figure below this growth process is displayed, where the red arrow shows where I was in the beginning of this course, and the green arrow shows where I want to be at the end of this course. It shows the process from denial to integration, which is about cultural differences. 

Figure 1 Growth proces; from denial to integration

Realize limitations

The realization of what I can do is limited, as I cannot experience every aspect of a culture or tradition. An example to make this clearer is the visit to the MuZIEum in Nijmegen, where I was ‘blind’ for over an hour.  Hereby I experienced to be careful in what you do and what you want to do; this applies also in real life, for example experiencing the Chinese culture; I have to be careful in what I want to do, as China is way different compared with the West. 

Discover it by travelling the world

In the first two weeks of the minor ‘Doing Business with China’ my classmates and I were having two weeks of introduction, with various subjects, for example an art workshop, Chinese religions and ethics & technology. Some of the workshops and seminars were very interesting to me, other did not meet my expectations. 

Workshops

The first weeks we had multiple workshops to get to know each other, myself and the Chinese culture more. The workshops were we learned about each other and yourself was 1) art workshop, 2) field trip to the MuZIEum in Nijmegen, 3) ethics & integrity and 4) identity and global citizenship. During the art workshop we had to draw a portrait of how we see ourselves. After that drawing, we had to mix the paintings and start changing little aspects of how you experienced that person during the first days. After this we had to connect the paintings and make it one big poster. In figure 1 the final result of the four paintings made together is shown. During and after this workshop I considered myself more creative than before. Hereby I do not mean creative when it comes to drawing, but thinking of solutions in difficult situations. 

Figure 1 Art workshop's result

The fourth day of our introduction, we went to the MuZIEum in Nijmegen. During this field trip, we experienced how it is to be blind or partially sighted. We entered a world which the other senses suddenly play a far more important role than used to. After experiencing the darkness for over an hour, I felt really satisfied with seeing again. It was terrifying to feel how it is to be blind and experience the world without seeing anything. What I have learned from this field trip, is to stay calm, whatever happens, and get used to the situation. I linked this trip to the trip to China, as we might experience a culture shock there; you do not know where you are and you do not know anyone.

The workshops ‘Global citizens & global history’, ‘Ethics & Integrity’, ‘Ethics & technology’ and ‘Identity and global citizenship’ were about the history and identity of citizens, ethics in combination with integrity and in combination with technology. All these workshops were about the history of mankind and I figured out that it was very good for myself as well, certainly the ethic ones, as these are about making the right decisions for yourself and the planet.   

Seminars

Next to the workshops, a few seminars were given about Chinese religions and Chinese art. To me, the seminar about Chinese religions was very interesting, because I did not know a lot about this subject. The guest lecture was given by a very knowledgeable professor, specialized in Chinese religions and history. In the beginning of the lecture he used a Buddhist singing bowl to meditate and interrupt the session in a good way. In figure 2 a picture is shown of this happening. 

Figure 2 Use of a Buddhist singing bowl before the lecture started

Besides the Chinese religions seminar, a seminar about Chinese art was given. This seminar was about the history of Art in China, compared with the West. I did not found it really interesting, as the subject did not met our minor content. 

Presentation

After the two introduction weeks we were asked to do a little presentation about these two weeks, to wit, it needed to contain development goals or achievements we wanted to set for ourselves. During this presentation, I showed a small clip of CNN’s Culinary Journeys. To me, this trailer shows how travelling and meeting other cultures can effect somebody; my statement was ‘Discover it by travelling the world’. Below this clip is shown. 

The development goals I set for myself were 1) find my own creativity, according the art workshop, 2) learn and understand the Chinese culture, and 3) appreciate and respect other traditions. By setting the first goal, I need to find my own creativity, for example, in finding (business) solutions. The second and third goals are a little bit harder, because these are broad sentences, but as I am learning Mandarin and the Chinese culture, I think it is important to get to know the culture and find out what the do’s and don’ts are while having a business relationship with Chinese. In the figure below, a picture is shown during my presentation. 

Figure 3 Presentation after the first two introduction weeks