Intercultural Business Communication: Intercultural experience

On Friday 18 November, Melody Vander Steene invited me to have dinner at her house together with Sarah Opsomer, Sandrien Van Poucke and Melody’s parents. For our course ‘Intercultural Business Communication’ we were asked to make a blog on which we had to describe an intercultural experience.

Therefore Melody organised an evening dinner where we could get to know her parents who were born in Chile. Chile, officially the Republic of Chile, is a country in South America occupying a long, narrow strip between the Andes mountains to the east and the Pacific Ocean to the west. It borders Peru to the north, Bolivia to the northeast, Argentina to the east, and the Drake Passage in the far south. Melody’s grandparents had lived there for about 25 years and therefore it was the perfect opportunity for me and my friends to learn a little bit more about the culture of Chile. You will notice this one is in many aspects somewhat different from our western culture in Belgium.

That Friday evening, I arrived together with Sarah and Sandrien at Melody’s house at about 7.00 p.m. We were excited to see her parents and to have dinner with them. We felt very welcomed from the beginning. Her parents were very friendly and they immediately offered us something to drink.

The cocktail we got to drink was delicious and very common in Chile. It was made from lemon and the white of eggs. At first, when we heard what was in it, we didn’t expect it would actually taste that good but it did. We even asked Melody to give us the recipe of that particular cocktail.

At about 8.30 p.m., Melody suggested to take a seat at the table because dinner was ready. Melody did already tell us that the different dishes they had prepared for us were a bit different from what we were used to eat so she was very curious to hear what we would think and say about the traditional Chilean food.

The first dish they had cooked for us was called ‘empanados’, it’s a sort of pie filled with minced meat, eggs and olives. Normally, I don’t really like that kind of food. Quiches are not really my favorite, but it tasted better than I had expected. I really like olives and there were a lot in it so that’s maybe the reason why it didn’t taste that bad.

While we were having dinner, Melody’s parents told us a little bit more about the Chile’s customs like for example the life pattern which is different from ours. People in Chile get up and start to work later during the day than we are. The shops also open and close on a later hour and they are closed at noon. This allows the Chilean people to take a siesta which is very important for the people there.

The second dish that was served to us was called Pastel de choclo, this is a sort of oven dish made from corn, puree, eggs and minced meat. The oven dish actually tasted really good and I even asked for a little bit more.

The third dish was chicken with tomato sauce, peas and rice. I really liked that third dish because I’m a real fan of chicken. It’s one of my favorite sorts of meat.

After the third dish, we waited a little bit to have dessert and this was again another opportunity to ask some more questions about the Chilean’s customs.

Melody’s parents told us that women in Chile normally don’t have a professional career. For them, it’s much more important to take care of the children and to do the housekeeping. They also have kids at a younger age compared to our culture which is also one the reasons why it’s obvious that having a career as a woman is very difficult in Chile.

Another aspect is marriage. Marriage is not compulsory but people getting married happens also at an earlier stage in life than in our culture. People getting divorced is less common but it happens.

At about 9.00 p.m. it was time for dessert. The name of the dessert was ‘torta chilena’ which is a sort of pie with peaces and syrup. I’m a real fan of desserts but I prefer desserts with chocolate, ice-cream or apples but I have to say that this dessert didn’t taste bad at all.

After dessert, we sat down for a little bit and at 10.30 p.m. we all went home. I really enjoyed the dinner with my friends and Melody’s parents. I learned a lot about the Chilean culture and it was a very instructive experience.