Perception of beauty and identity

Hey-oo! We have something a little different for ya today. YouTube videos! In case you're wondering, no, we haven't become Youtubers ( not yet, at least ;)). These videos are based on our research papers carried out during this semester, and we were told by our lecturer, Dr Fiza, to present the findings in the form of our videos. Since me and Nana belonged in different groups, we have TWO videos for y'all to enjoy! Let's start with Nana's video first!

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=KntuHb36m28  

Nana and her teammates made a research entitled Cross-cultural Perception of Beauty. I've watched it myself, and it is such a heartwarming video. I'd tell you more, but it'd be better if you see it for yourself. Nana hopes you guys will like it :) 

 https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=OpFUfLAdo0Y&feature=youtu.be 

Here is my video. Me and my teammates decided to re-enact our findings by making a short film. It's three minutes long, but the message is there. Do watch it, and tell us what you think. I can tell you this though, it's not heartwarming (though I suppose you can tell, with the creepy mask :P) 


That's all for now. Till next time, lovelies~~

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Delightful Delicacies

Hello lovelies~~

Here we are again with another post, with more news from Alexia and Mehdi! We've heard some interesting things from them ever since they decided to visit Johor during their free weekend. SO without further ado, heeeeere we go!

Here is Alexia and Mehdi, settled into their classmate's home in Simpang Renggam, Johor. You can see Alexia is wearing a black and red 'baju kurung', a traditional dress worn by Malaysians XD They planned to explore as much as they could, and let me tell you, they were NOT disappointed! Their classmate brought them to a pineapple field in Simpang Renggam, and they were quite amazed by the view.

Isnt it beautiful? They certainly thought so.


Oh, and we haven't even told you about the food they ate! Whislt their stay in Johor they tried a variety of food. So we'll list here the food they tried and enjoyed. First up is: Otak-otak!

Best way to describe this dish? Spiced ground fish wrapped in banana leaf. It is a delicacy in Indonesia, Singapore, and of course, Malaysia. Otak translates to 'brains' in English. You're probably thinking what I though when I first heard of it; why name a dish BRAINS? Well, apparently its squishy-soft texture is how the dish earned its name. Alexia and Mehdi found that little fact interesting.

Next up: Urap!

Steamed vegetables with grated coconut. This dish is originally from Indonesia, but its also eaten here in Malaysia too. Among the vegetables used are spinach, cabbage, and long beans. It seems that Alexia and Mehdi managed to try this particular dish before we did. We need to travel around Malaysia more often, and try these dishes!

Finally we have, Nasi Jagung! (Corn Rice)

Apparently this dish is tricky to make. Nonetheless, it is well worth it, as Alexia and Mehdi said although they haven't tasted anything like it, they did enjoy it. You heard that right, the foods just mentioned have each earned a stamp of approval from Alexia and Mehdi! Woot Woot~~

Well, that's all from us. We hope that our international friends will have more to share with us in future, so that we can share em' with you guys ;)

- Nana and Shiffa

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Cultural Differences :)

*waving (tired of saying hello...)

Well, we hope you guys aren't tired reading ;P, because we still have a lot to share!

In this post, we will be sharing about the cultural differences that Mehdi and Alexia experienced while staying in Malaysia. This time, the issues we discussed were more casual and relaxed than the previous posts :) 

The roads

Back in Belgium, Mehdi drives. When he rented a car here in Malaysia and started driving around, he said that the roads in Malaysia were quite a mess ;P

Naturally, Mehdi has already spotted a fault with most Malaysian drivers, as he says that they don't always follow the rules, for examples, merging without signalling, or sounding the horn. This led us to believe that the roads in Belgium could be a lot more civil. Indeed, the behavior of these Malaysian drivers could enforce the stereotype of 'Asians can't drive' which is really a shame.

Climate

When Mehdi and Alexia were asked about the weather, they both agreed that it was much hotter in Malaysia than in their home countries. It was a cooler climate back in Europe, they admitted. But they did say it was a nice change :)

Exchanging experience and opinions with Mehdi and Alexia really helps us in understanding their culture and how to react on a certain situations. In short, we would like to highlight that in every intercultural communication, nothing is more important but tolerance and understanding, in order to build a relationship and achieve a successful communication :)

-Shiffa and Nana

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Religion #CulturalDifferences

Hello awesome readers!
How's your day? Hopefully all went well :)

So today, InshaaAllah we will continue sharing awesome things we discussed with our international friends, Mehdi and Alexia. Now we realised that the word 'culture' is actually very wide, general and many things can be discussed under the topic. Our first thought that 'Culture is bored' is definitely wrong! *smacked on the head

This time, the main topic of our discussion is about religion. Just like we mentioned in previous post, Mehdi and Alexia are both Christians. It means that they believe in religion and God, and they are not among the atheists.

When Mehdi and Alexia were asked about the difference between the religion practiced in Malaysia and their country, Mendi said that he found Malaysia places a great deal of emphasizing on religion. When he compares to his own country, they does not have a specific religion, but here in Malaysia we specialized that the main religion in Islam. He also mentioned that they are less mosques in Belgium than in Malaysia, where he found quite a lot. Nevertheless, he still sees Muslims from time to time in his country.

IIUM mosque ;P

Above all, as IIUM is also a community who practices Islam, Alexia and Mehdi have no problems with it and they respect other religions just like how they want to be respected. That's the tolerance that we need in a  multi-racial society, as well as in an international communication :)

Thank you Mehdi and Alexia for your great responses ;)

-Shiffa and Nana

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Prejudice? #Controversy

Hello handsome and beautiful!
What? Of course you are ;)
I  hope you guys are always in a good health and happy running your days.

So today, lets discuss about something more sensitive and controversial, spelled P-R-E-J-U-D-I-C-E. Prejudice.

A simple introduction, prejudice is a preconceived opinion which is not based on reasons of actual experience. Thus, sometimes it is undeniable that prejudice can occur in any communication, especially communication across cultural. It is because, when we are different, in terms of background, race, religion and culture, we tend to have these negative things in our mind. Do you?

Still remember our international friends, Mehdi and Alexia?
When we asked them about this issue, they shook their heads and say they have no prejudice towards anyone. (fangirling: we love you Mehdi and Alexia ^^. )
We did ask if they encountered anything while they are in Malaysia, and about the races they have met, they said that they met many Malays but not many Chinese or Indian. However, they hope to travel more in Malaysia and see more 'Malaysians'.

Then, when we asked Mehdi and Alexia if they ever been a target of prejudice or biasness, they were glad to say that nothing of the sort have ever happened to them. Alexia did mention however that when they arrive in IIUM, many of the students love to keep themselves. She said she wasn't sure if they're actually being prejudice to her, but then when she tried to talk to them, she noticed that their English actually was not very good. Thus, she thought maybe that's why they don't really talk to her. It's because language barrier existed between them.

After having a quite fruitful discussion with them, we are glad to conclude that from their opinion, prejudice is not something that centered as an issue between people from different cultural backgrounds. To them, prejudice is a small problem that can be encountered by having positive thoughts and judgement towards everyone. Hence, it is also one of the key of successful communication, isn't it?

Thank you to Mehdi and Alexia. We have gained a lot from the discussion.
In brief, prejudice is something you learned, not something you are born with. Surely, it is something that can be changed and encountered.

Prejudice blinds us.
See you on our next posts!

-Shiffa and Nana :)

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Meet Alexia and Mehdi!

Hello readers!

As our course (Intercultural Communication) requires us to converse with people from different cultures and try to understand them, we were assigned to find international person(s) to make friends with in order to gain as much information about their culture.

So right here right now, right on this moment (I guess I'm excited), we are glad to introduce to you our International friends, Mehdi and Alexia!

From left: Mehdi and Alexia

Now a bit of their background information.

Mehdi :)

23 years old

Belgium

Speaks French and English

Course: Automotive Engineering

Christian

Loves to travel

Alexia :)

23 years old

France

Speaks French, German and English

Course: Automotive Engineering

Christian

Loves to travel

Mehdi and Alexia are foreign exchange students from Belgium and France respectively. They arrived in IIUM together at the same time, which makes them become close with each other. They also share the same hobby, which is to travel, and they have visited many places here in Malaysia. Great isn't it? I guess there must be many interesting things that they are going to share with us soon.

Thank you Mehdi and Alexia for your willingness to help and share with us the knowledge about your culture :) (Oh I hope they will read this >.<)

Stay tuned for our next post.

InshaaAllah we will sharing a lot about their culture ;)

See you 

- Shiffa and Nana <3

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Of Portraits and Poems

We're feeling a bit artsy today. Here's a self portrait by Nana and a poem by yours truly.  

I am.

I am Groot
I am Iron Man

Nah, I'm just messing with ya.  

I am a girl, unwilling to call herself a lady
For I have much to learn in the art of femininity 

I am Spartacus 
I am Batman

I'm pretty much ordinary 

I am a student who has much to learn in life
I do have a tendency to get into strife 

I am Legend.
I am Wrath.   

I'll let you be the judge of that 

I am a good listener, I rarely speak
When surrounded by many, I admit I am meek

I am Fire 
I am Death   

At least my mum thinks im extraordinary   

I am not afraid to speak my mind
Though when I do it, I try to be kind  

Hint: Read it according to font type  

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