Cultural Awareness

Interesting facts from my nursing reading this week:

• the chinese do not have a word that equates to the English word meaning saddness. Often times when the Chinese attempt to describe that they are sad they will complain of cardiovascular problems. For aren't when you're sad, your heart hurts? Doctors and nurses will then run all the cardio tests only to find out that nothing is wrong; instead, the Chinese person is simply grieving.
• Growing up I often heard my mom say, "put a sweater on. Drafts can make you sick." Little did a know that my own culture was coming into play here. According to my textbooks, "German's often beleive that drafts can be a cause of illness." And here all along, I simply thought that everyone beleived this to be true!