Folks,The place i work serves multi-cultural communities including the Americans. I am trying to host a cultural presentation at my workplace once every month and to get started i have taken initiative myself with this piece of information about Nepalese culture. Next month would be a Somali culture, then Arabic, Burmese and so on. Some of the portion of this draft for the presentation is obtained from the internet and from my own experience. This has solely to do with new immigrants (Typically from Villages) coming to US to reside permanently.  I would appreciate if we can add more to this list. Its solely for educational purpose for my coworkers. ·         color:#333333">Affection between men and women, even married, is not expressed. Public kissing, hugging, and hand- holding are offensive in this culture.  But it is acceptable for two men/ two women to walk hand in hand. ·         color:#333333">Pink is not a feminine color in this culture. It’s very normal for Man to wear Pink clothes.  Males even grow their nails; polish them and wear jewelries like the females do. Gold is the favorite metal. ·         color:#333333">Ear/ Nose piercing is very common. All females belonging to the so called higher castes like “Brahmin, Kshetriys” are required to pierce their ears and nose; where as females belonging to the so called lower castes “Gurung, monger, Rai (Mongolian-looking)” are prohibited from piercing their nose. They can still have ear piercing. Ear piercing in Males is very common. ·         color:#333333">Baksheesh (Tips) is an extra payment for a service performed and is usually given to porters or laborers at the end of the job. It can be in the form of used clothes, food, money or anything else and there is no set rate. ·         color:#333333">People tend to bargain/ negotiate a lot in this culture. The use of “Thank You” And “Sorry” is rarely in practice. People in this culture are typically reserved. ·         color:#333333">Typically, kids shower/ bath only once a week. It probably is due to the fact that they do not have infrastructures for warming the water up. Adults with religious beliefs shower every morning no matter even if the water is freezing. ·         color:#333333">Men should not go bare- chest. Women should avoid bare shoulders and should not wear shorts. Ties and suits are not necessary except for special occasions and a lot of people cannot afford it. ·         color:#333333">People love white skin. It’s the sign of prosperity, health and wealth for most of them. ·         color:#333333">Cows are sacred and beef is prohibited in the culture. Pigs are considered untouchable animals and more than 80% (approx.) of the people don’t consume ham. ·         color:#333333">It’s very common for two adult males or two adult females to share a bed together due to lack of space. Sexual orientation is not a subject of worry in this culture & people tend to hide it. ·         color:#333333">Never step over anyone! Always move your feet to let people avoid stepping over you. Feet are considered “dirty” and should not be used to poke another person, animals or even non living materials like books. People are not comfortable is someone tries to touch their feet. ·         color:#333333">Use of Paper towers or tissue paper is not in practice. People use their left hand, soap and water to clean themselves up after they have a bowel movement. So, left hand is also considered “dirty” and it’s not in practice to eat food using your left hand. ·         color:#333333">Arranged Marriage is widely practiced. It’s very common for females to get married with a male who they met just once. Dating is not in practice.·         color:#333333">Sex before marriage is considered as a “Sin” and having a boyfriend or girlfriend is also unethical. Unplanned Pregnancy can result in Suicides of the pregnant mom as abortion is considered unethical too. ·         color:#333333">Gifts are rarely given (only in weddings) and seldom opened in front of the person who has given it. ·         color:#333333">It’s expected for sons to stay in his parent’s house for the rest of his life even after his marriage and even after having kids. It’s unethical for sons to move out of their parent’s house especially if there is no one to take care of the old parents. ·         color:#333333">Generally, Sons are more valued than daughters in the family. Dowry is in practice. ·         color:#333333">If a man rapes a woman or gets her pregnant, the society requires the man to marry the same girl or be jailed. Again, this is in practice because a girl is considered “impure” if she has sex with a male before marriage and it’s very unlikely that the girl can be married to a different man later on. ·         color:#333333">Rumor in this culture spreads faster than a wild fire, per se. ·         color:#333333">Heads are sacred and should be treated with respect. Males who have religious belief have a pigtail and wear “Janai” – (white string) across the chest at all moments. ·         color:#333333"> Invitations often arrive at the last moment. ·         color:#333333">Sharing food from a common container is not in practice. You should not expect another person to take a bite from the same Cake that you just nibbled. ·         color:#333333">Organ donation is not in practice. They believe in re-incarnation and think organ donation may cause them to born disable in their next life. ·         color:#333333">Rice, Lentils and vegetables are cooked twice a day in every household. It’s the only vegetable that’s altered in each meal. They are never tired of eating the same food over and over. Meat is expensive. Spicy and Hot food is common. Desserts are not in practice. ·         color:#333333">Right Hand is used instead of silverwares for eating. ·         color:#333333">Except it some tribes, it’s illegal to consume alcohol. Tobacco and smoking is practiced commonly. It’s not ethical for a person to smoke/ chew tobacco in front of his parents. ·         color:#333333">People visit random doctors whenever they are sick. There is no system of Insurance or PCP. ·         color:#333333">It’s believed that medications should only be taken for a period of time. Life-long medication is considered unusual in this culture. Herbs and Witch Doctors are very common to treat a diseased person. Superstitions are widely practiced. color:#333333"> color:#333333"> Last edited: 22-Oct-10 12:27 PM