Culture

Picture of the Day

February 16, 2021 Leave a Comment

Every November in South Korea, there’s a day where everyone makes silence to help students concentrate for their most important exam of their lives. Planes are grounded, constructions are paused, banks close and even military training ceases. This day is called Suneung.

The infamous Suneung, an abbreviation for College Scholastic Ability Test (CSAT) in Korean, is an eight-hour marathon of back-to-back exams, which not only dictates whether the students will go to university, but can affect their job prospects, income, where they will live and even future relationships.

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Picture of the Day

December 14, 2020 Leave a Comment

halden prison norway

This is a Nordic prison, which focuses on rehabilitation rather than punishment

The 250 inmates here are locked in their cells for 12 hours a day. But those cells are private rooms, with wood furniture, a shower, a fridge and a flat-screen TV.

Norway spends $90,000 a year to house each prisoner — three times what is spent on inmates in the United States.

The recidivism rate is less than 30 percent, half of what it is in the U.S. And there are more than 2.2 million Americans in prison; Norway’s prison population is one-tenth that, on a per capita basis.

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Picture of the Day

November 27, 2020 Leave a Comment

New Zealand Prime Minister Jacinda Ardern greets Maori Party co-leader Rawiri Waititi before sworn in 53rd Parliament

The ‘Hongi’ is a traditional Maori greeting in New Zealand used by the Maori people. To hongi you press your nose and forehead together with the nose and forehead of the person you are greeting. Many people of Maori decent prefer to hongi, instead of shaking hands.

The origins of the hongi can be traced back in Maori folklore to the creation of mankind. The first woman created by the gods was Hineahuone, “earth formed woman” so called as she was shaped out of the earth. The god Tane embraced Hineahuone and breathed life into her nostrils.

When Māori greet one another by pressing noses, the tradition of sharing the breath of life is considered to have come directly from the gods. Through the exchange of this physical greeting, one is no longer considered manuhiri (“a visitor”) but rather tangata whenua, “one of the people of the land”.