Lunar New Year, Culture, and OT

Happy Lunar New Year of the Snake! I celebrated with my family by eating nian gao (rice cakes) and other delicious food. Hmm, let's hope the hiss of this year's snake turns out to be worse than its bite. I'm just glad that the year of the Dragon is over because I got burned pretty badly, and it took a long time for my wounds to heal. Nevertheless, I'm expecting big things to happen soon!! :)

Speaking of the Lunar New Year... I want to talk a little about culture. Last year, I remember talking about Chinese Astrology during Cultural Diversity, my very first OT elective. We had to bring one specific item that represented our culture to class for "show-and-tell," I couldn't decide what to bring, so I ended up bringing three items: 1) chopsticks, 2) a red envelope, and 3) the little book on Chinese Astrology.

A classmate brought his red envelope and spoke about it, so the Chinese Astrology book came in handy. I explained that astrology was important in my culture because they would use this to interpret their lives. They would use the person's date of birth to determine auspicious times to marry, give birth, or make other major life decisions. Also, I spoke about Yin (dark) and Yang (light), the five elements, and the 12 Chinese Zodiac animal signs and how each had its set of attributes.

I was born in the year of the Rat, the first animal of the Chinese Zodiac. The Rat is a Yang animal, and its main element is water. Some positive attributes which apply to me are: intelligent, passionate, and practical. However, my negative attributes are: quick-tempered, nit-picky, and overly-ambitious at times.

Anyway, Cultural Diversity was one of my favorite electives. I enjoyed learning more about my other classmates' cultures, and that brought us closer together. In the OT world, it's so important to respect our colleagues and patients' cultural differences. Once we manage to get past the language barriers and understand various cultural boundaries (what is considered to be un/acceptable),  we are taking one step closer to establishing positive working relationships.

I believe that we would be happier if we learned how to truly embrace our differences and celebrate the incredibly diverse world we live in.