Tolerance

Tolerance is about being open-minded, adapt ourselves to a new culture and how to work with it. Everyday, we meet people with different values, beliefs, behaviors. At first, it can be difficult to challenge it, it is what we call "culture shock". The development of the integration of a new culture takes time, each person go through several stages. Once we have accepted the new culture, we can adapt to it and feel integrated. However, before integrating the culture, it is important to understand that we use our own culture as the main point. In fact, it stayed in ourselves and it helps to include the news things. Our background is also a really important factor that we should use with the culture shock. Nevertheless, it is not negligible to be aware to the stereotypes we  have of our background and work with it for a better acculturation.

1. What tools can we use to stay tolerant and be empathic and open-minded?
First of all, I think it is really important to understand and know the others before acting or making an opinion. Everyone has a background and we must consider it. We can't be agree with each person we meet, but we should accept everyone's point of view and be interested in what persons have to transmit.

Then, I think it is considerable to prepare yourself before going abroad. To look for informations about the country you're going to visit, about the culture, etc, is a good way to prepare yourself. By this fact, a part of yourself is already more adapted and it can help you to integrate well.
An other good thing is to keep a diary in which you can write your feelings about the new culture, your opinions, some informations, some notes, etc. It helps yourself during your stay but it can also help for a future trip.

When you are abroad, things change, you learn a lot of new things, you share moments with people. It can be really tiring at first and sometimes you feel disoriented. This is why it is good to take also moments for yourself, to think, to rest and to find a good balance between the new and the known. Many ways exist to carry it out, it depends on what each person does to make it, you can only know it by yourself. For example, I like making sport or go to nature and I know it helps me to feel good in a new place and be accustomed to it.

2. What can of questions can you ask in order to reach understanding of a known - unknown situation?
First, it would be really interesting to ask questions about the unknown subject. For example, if you are abroad, it is relevant and useful to know more about the country, the culture, the habits. The best way is to ask questions to the natives, but it could be good to meet people of different ages because they don't know the same things and each person lives life with her generation, so many points of views may emerge.

Secondly, if I'm in a unknown situation, before acting I would start by asking myself why the things are like that. When we face an uncomfortable situation, we react quickly to get out of it, but sometimes we react without thinking at all. A good way to improve it, is to think before acting, observe what happens and ask yourself questions about it, it will help to understand better the problem.

Then, an other good way to manage a situation, is to use what you already know. Each person has a background, some experiences and sometimes we forget to employ it. This is why I would ask myself what I know about the subject, if I have already had some similar contexts, etc.

Finally, the best thing to do is to share what you know and what people have to tell you. Communication is really important. I would start with asking questions to people and then compare with my knowledge. However, you must be careful and consider the others. Some people don't like to share their opinion. You should observe the person whom talk with before and during the conversation, notice how she reacts and find the limits of the discussion.

Core concepts:

Tolerance: We could define tolerance as the acceptance of diversity of opinion, social, ethnic, cultural and religious. It is the ability to listen and accept others, valuing the different ways of understanding and position in life, provided they do not violate the fundamental human rights. http://arisel.hubpages.com/hub/What-is-tolerance

Communication: Communication is an act of transmitting. This is a process by which informations are exchanged between individuals through a common system of symbols, signs or behavior. communication definition

Respect: Respect means to be kind to others, accept them as they are and with their differences and treat them as we would like them to treat us. Respect people means also not making them uncomfortable or pressure them into.