Cultural Training 1/29/2010

Introduction by Jane
For our first cultural training, we prepared in multiple ways.

• First, each of us were asked to read the items listed below. These texts begin to explore what it means to "do work" in international contexts and provided us with introductions to Norway written from a variety of different perspectives.
  
• Second, each student also had additional research and/or blogging responsibilities. For example, as part of the interview process to determine the 2010 ICEX team, candidates had been asked to offer explanations for the different reactions in Norway and the United States to the awarding of the 2009 Nobel Peace Prize to President Obama. To better understand the reasons behind the selection of Obama by the Norwegian committee, one of the research assignments for this first cultural training focused on the history of the Nobel Peace Prize and European perspectives on the United States both before and after the election of Obama in 2008.
  
• Third, our first cultural training was a Norwegian "pot-luck" = More research + Cooking!
  

Readings

1. Gary Downey et al (2006), "The Globally Competent Engineer: Working Effectively with People Who Define Problems Differently. Journal of Engineering Education 95(April)2:107-122. (pp. 1-4).
   
2. Terri Morrison & Wayne Conaway (2006). "Norway." From Kiss, Bow, or Shake Hands: The Best-selling Guide to Doing Business in 60 Countries, 2nd edition.
3. Norway Exports (2007). "Efficient, Family-Friendly, and Postcard Perfect" + "Finding the Right Balance" in Career in Norway: Live, Work, Enjoy (pp. 10-15).
4. Norwegian Center for International Cooperation in Higher Education (no date; retrieved Dec 2009). A Brief Guide to Living in Norway.
5. Norwegian Ministry of Foreign Affairs (2009). Mini-facts about Norway.
6. Statistics Norway (2009). This is Norway: What the Figures Say.

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Blog Post by Alex
Chris and his wife hosted our first Cultural Training session and dinner Friday night at their house. Some of the delicious food included: salmon, lasagna, fried rice, curried lamb and Potje De Garbanzo Con Acelga (Chickpea Soup with Spinach). For desert we had almond cake, black pepper cookies and fresh berries.

Between the amazing dinner and desert we discussed a few aspects of Norwegian culture that could be relevant to our trip there. Frank started us off with some information about the Sami people of northern Scandinavia. There are about 60,000 Sami within Norway and they have a complex history as a people but their flag was only recently inaugurated.

From there we moved to a discussion of the Nobel Peace Prize lead by Jessie. All of the other Nobel prizes are awarded in Sweden, Alfred Nobel's home country. While no one knows for sure why Alfred Nobel decided to have the Nobel Peace Prize awarded in Norway the most popular theory states that he thought that Norway was a lot less militaristic than Sweden was at the time. After that we discussed the awarding of the 2009 Nobel Peace Prize to Barack Obama "for his extraordinary efforts to strengthen international diplomacy and cooperation between peoples" (2009 Nobel Peace Prize).

That subject led to a discussion of Nuclear weapons vs Nuclear energy and the pros and cons of different types of nuclear power plants. We had to cut this discussion short to make sure we didn't skip anything on the agenda.

We then learned from Greg that the differences between the two main forms of Norwegian (Bokmål and Nynorsk) developed in different geographical locations within Norway. Bokmål was used mainly in the cities with Danish background while Nynorsk was used mainly in the western rural areas of Norway. He also told us that each geographical region has its own Bunad or traditional costume. This reminded me of the different traditional costumes that permeate the various regions of Greece. Each one is unique and goes along with a unique dance in the case of Greece and dialect in Norway.

After Greg finished, Kevin gave us an abridged version of Norway's history. And then he started a discussion on how Norwegians differentiate themselves from the other Scandinavian countries. Toughness, self-sufficiency, independence, egalitarianism, and humanitarianism are some dominant images of the Norwegian culture that we agreed on after our discussion.

Chris spent some time throughout the night telling us about his trip to the Arctic earlier this month and described his cultural experiences up there for us. It sounds like we're going to have an awesome time and we're all really looking forward to it.