My first draft for the web revision

Spatial Orientation

Spatial Orientation is one of six cultural dimensions defined by two business analysts, Kluckhohn and Strodtbeck.  By introducing six cultural dimensions, they explain why and how people show typical behavior depending on where they are from. Here are six culture dimensions they defined:

·         Human-Nature Orientation

·         Man-Nature Orientation

·         Relational Orientation

·         Activity Orientation

·         Time Orientation

·         Spatial Orientation

Among the six dimensions, spatial orientation is very useful aspect that business people should know about others when they plan to go another country and start business. Spatial orientation can largely be divided by two concepts, private oriented and public oriented.  To talk more about spatial orientation, I would like to focus on a country, South Korea; I will provide a specific example.

Basic Info about the Country

Geography: South Korea is such a small country located on the south portion of the Korean peninsula.

Population and Economy: Although the country is small, but it has about 48millions of population; the country is ranked as the 13^th biggest economy.

People: Its ethnic is homogeneous which means there is only one ethnic even though there are several types of religions. Also, Korean people use Korean for their official language, and English is widely considered as the second language.

South Korea’s Spatial Orientation

In general, many Asian countries tend to have more public oriented variation than private. A large number of Koreans are also much familiar with public orientation because of their own cultural values and features. In other words, Koreans are not fully allowed to keep their own space at home and even work because sharing a place is often considered as creating a close relationship. In fact, building a sincere human relationship is one of the most valuable goals in Korea.

General Case

A number of Korean companies set up their tables and things relatively open to other, so one can see what his/her colleagues are doing at work. This is not just to watch someone’s behavior or work, but to build a strong relationship among co-workers. However, I understand that this tendency sounds strange or uncomfortable to people who are from private oriented society such as America and even to me from time to time. I have observed that most people at American companies have their own table surrounded by cubicles or something else. By doing so, they could have their own space to do work.

My Case

I came up with a really good example for this topic. When my parents bought me a computer for the first time, they placed it in the living room even though I had my own room. This was not because they did not want me to play games all the time, but to get closer by creating a strong relationship between us. Placing things in the living room which was a public place for me applied not only to me, but also to my younger sister for the same purpose. The essential role of this public oriented behavior seems to work well as least for my family. Also, I have observed the way of my father organized his office in a very Korean style, so his employees are easily allowed to contact each other.

Final Evaluation

Wherever you visit, you will see many differences between countries, especially for cultural aspects. Even for spatial orientation, there are a couple of types that a country and its people are looking for. I do not want to say that one is better than another. I totally understand that some people might feel more comfortable with their private office or cubicles at work. However, my childhood observations and experience seriously affected me to establish my public oriented variation.

Final Draft for the Web Revision

"Cultural Dimensions"

What are Cultural Dimensions?

Two business analysts, Kluckhohn and Strodtbeck, defined six cultural dimensions.  By introducing six cultural dimensions, they explain why and how people show typical behavior depending on where they are from. Here are six culture dimensions:

·         Human-Nature Orientation

·         Man-Nature Orientation

·         Relational Orientation

·         Activity Orientation

·         Time Orientation

·        Spatial Orientation

What is Spatial Orientation?

Spatial orientation is always good to know when people start their business in another country. Spatial orientation can largely be divided into private oriented and public oriented. People from a private oriented culture are very sensitive to keep privacy by establishing their own space. On the other hand, public oriented people are accustomed to creating a close relationship with others by sharing one's space. 

South Korea's Spatial Orientation at Work

In general, most Asian countries, including South Korea, are less individualistic and place higher value on getting together; therefore, they are likely to share their space with others, which means Korea is public oriented. Thus, it is easily observed that Koreans set up their desk without any cubicles at work. Also, a private office is only available for few top managers in Korea. However, this tendency may sound strange or uncomfortable to people who are from private oriented society such as America because most people at American companies have their own table surrounded by cubicles or something else. By doing so, they could have their own space to do work.

South Korea's Spatial Orientation at Home

Having a computer in the living room is a typcal appearance in Korean households. Most Korean parents placed a computer in the living room even though they have more than one room. This is not just because they do not want their children to play a game all the time, but because they tend to spend plenty of time in the living room with other family members. Placing things such as a computer in the living room  points out that Koreans are definitely public oriented.


Final Evaluation

Wherever you visit, you will see many differences between countries. Even for spatial orientation, there is a typical preference for each country and its nations (either private oriented or public oriented). It does not mean that one is better than the other. However, South Koreans are obviously public oriented, and it is working well.

The fifth week and fighting with joundice....

For my entire life so far, joundice is my second worst enemy after colic. The only reason colic is worse than joundice is because we have nothing to do with it; however, there are medical treatments we can do with joundice. In fact, I have heard about joundice at least once, but I did not really know what joundice was before Erin had it. Thus, let me talk about it.

According to my daughter's pediatrician, Dr. Villamarin, she said joundice is not a disease, but it can cause severe diseases if a necessary treatment is not provided. In general, joundice is the yellowish staining of the skin and sclerae (the whites of the eyes); many things can cause joundice. For adults, joundice could be a signal that warns their health condition. However, for an infant, having a joundice could be either nothing or a minor problem.

Erin had the level of 13.4 for joundice when she was 10 days old. Her level was a little higher than average level, but fortunately it was nothing to worry about. Dr. Villamarin said Erin might get joundice from breastfeeing. Do not get me wrong!!! There is no doubt that breastfeeding is absolutely good and strongly recommended for a baby. I already mentioned how hard breastfeeding was to start for my wife. In general, many infants do not drink enough breast milk for the first time, so they are much more likely to have joundice for a while right after they are born, and so did Erin.

To remove Erin's joundice, our doctor strongly recommended us to put her in the sunshine two or three times a day for 10 to 15 minutes. If her joundice got worse, Erin would get phototherapy which is a treatment with special light for high levels of joundice, but she was not that bad. After putting her in the sunshine for a couple of week, we can hear from Dr. Villamarin that Erin did not have joundice anymore, and finally all of us could smile.

Lastly, I would like to conclude this page by listing several representative treatments:

• Light therapy (phototherapy)
• Intravenous immunoglobulin
• Exchange blood transfusion

The fourth week and getting a shot....

Just about a couple of weeks ago, three of us went to our family doctor for Erin's 2-month checkup. As usual, a nurse weighted my daughter and did all the paperwork. After a while, our doctor came in and started talking about my daughter. She let us know that Erin gained over 5 pounds, so she was now over 11 pounds (about 5 kilograms). That's why I felt she was heavy whenever I washed her.

She showed us a chart to make sure that Erin was absolutely growing in good shape. My wife was so proud of feeding my daughter, and started talking about how hard she was for breastfeeding. I have heard of it more than 100 times so far, so I tried to ignore it.

While both of us were arguing, our big project for the day finally started. In fact, we went to our doctor to get a vaccination shot for Erin, not for fighting about the breastfeeding issue. Of course, Erin was laughing because she never knew what would happen to her in 5 minutes.

Few minutes later, our nurse, who weighted my daughter, came in again with two scary shots and a bottle called an oral shot. There are technically so many kinds of vaccination shots for an infant, so I do not remember all their names because we are still far away from getting them (NONE OF MY BUSINESS YET!!!).

After getting a couple of shots, our doctor began to talk about several side effects of vacciantion shots. Also, she asked us not to be upset although my daughter would be sick for a while at night. When we were on the way back home, we bought an infant Tylenol called Acetaminophen. Fortunately, she looked just normal and cried only for few hours which was endurable for both of us (we already got used to her crying). Even, I did not use the Tylenol I bought. It was the waste of money (I cannot return it because I already opened it), but I really appreciate that she is OK.

The third week and washing my daughter....

Washing a baby will be a tough job for every parents, and still it is for both of my wife and me. My daughter, Erin, was such a small baby. She was less than 7 pounds when she was born. Thus, I and my wife were afraid of washing the lovely small creature by the time we came back home. Of course, I have observed once that my nurse washed my baby at the hospital, and it looked easy, but I was totally wrong.

I vividly remember how I washed my daughter for the first time. Before washing her, my wife played a video from Youtude to show me how others do that job. I watched  the video a couple of times, and finally I started putting her into a bathtub. Unlike our expectation, she was calm and even seemed to enjoy that moment (I was too much proud of it). Thus, I was almost able to complete the work without having any trouble.

However, a crazy thing happened to me at the end of the process. That is, she pooped in a bathtub, then she started crying. I was really upset at that moment, but my wife just started laughing at me. In fact, I agreed that moment was funny as you can expect, so I also laughed a lot. From the first bath for my daughter, I always try to be careful with my baby whenever I wash her because nobody knows when she poops to me again. Be careful with your baby in the future!!!

Here are several things from my own experience to be considered for washing an infant:

• Not too hot water, but comfortably warm (between 90~100 F) if you feel water is not hot for you, babies feel the same.
• Hold a baby's neck firmly not to allow a baby to move
• Block a baby's both side ears
• Give a baby something such as  a soft cloth to hold with his/her hands (sometimes, it doesn't work)  
• Don't be upset whatever happens to you, even pooping!!!! 

The second week and a horrible memory.... That is, colic.

Colic is such a word that I hate. I have never heard about the word and thought that it makes me crazy before being a father. Of course, our nurse talked about it before we came back home from the hospital, but I did not really pay attention to it because I thought my daughter would be healthy enough.

Our baby has been healthy since she was born, and now she does not get any pain for her stomach anymore, but colic had botheredmy baby for a while regardless of her health.

I and my wife were really upset when we observed our daughter's colic for the first time. According to my daughter's family doctor, colic is something that causes a baby cry for a couple of hours or more without any reason at night. Isn't it crazy? Normally, that does not cause any serious problem for a baby; however that does for their parents sometimes. Some lucky parents do not experience the horrible moment of colic
because not every infants get this.

Unfortunately, I and my wife were not lucky parents in terms of experienceing my daughter's colic. I do not remember the exact date of the night when my lovely daughter got colic, but I am sure that three of us were having a pretty good time at that night. All of a sudden, my daughter, Erin, started crying, and I thought she would stop very soon because babies cry whenever they want, but I was so naive. She seriously cried almost
straight three hours, and she finally stopped right before I decided to go to emergency. Since that time, Erin
had colic for about a week every night.

Of course, I and my wife became exhausted whenever she got colic; I do not want to remember the time never ever again, but it was a good experience for us because we are plannig to have our
second baby near in the future.

The first week and breastfeeding....

After two day staying at the hospital, three of us finally came back home.
Then, a war finally broke out!!!

There were many doctors and nurses who could help us out, but nobody at my house.
I and my wife were almost crying because we did not even know how to feed and how to change a diaper.
Thus, we tried to remind of what nurses did for Erin (my daughter).

Before my daughter was born, I have never worried about breastfeeding ifself.
I thought breast milk would naturally come out without any problems, but it did not.
To do breastfeeding, three of us had to put all of our efforts.
I kept doing breast massage for my wife, my wife tried to figure out a good position for our baby, and Erin had to suck.

People have to know this. when you do breastfeeding, most moms will not have their breast milk come out for the first 3 or 4 days. Instead of breast milk, moms will have only a little amount of colostrum which is absolutely nutrious for babies. I totally understand it is really hard to stand that period because colostrum comes out just a little, so babies will cry as much as they can. Also, a large number of moms give up breastfeeding for their baby during this period.

But, do not ever, never give up!!!
Of course, colostrum is just a little; it is not enough to make babies feel full for their hunger. However, this is more important to know that babies can live with only a little of colostum for the first 3 or 4 days.

Now, my wife has enough milk coming out (she seems to be happy now), and Erin is growing up fairly well, but it was a good experience to know, and we will definitely try to do breastfeeding for our second child (not soon!! maybe years later because I am so tired now).

See you guys later for the second week~~

Prologue....

To everybody,

My first blog page is just about how we met our daughter for the first time.
I am going to post fresh information about taking care of an infant every week because I think I am responsible for letting you know as a brand new father. I hope that you can learn something from what I and my wife did because it is not always too far for you guys from being a great mother or father.  

Three of us, including my princess, now came back home after we stayed in the hospital for two days.
In the hospital, very nice and kind nurses ( You know what? They are my heroes now!!) really helped me and my wife for everything to be a smart daddy and mommy. They taught us how to wash, how to change a diaper, and even how to feed my daughter. Some student might think nothing is easier than those, but I feel like they are the strongest enemies in my entire life.

So far, we have been parents for more than two weeks, and I think we are on the right track in raising a new born baby. I am very confident in reminding of what we did and were taught to do for our baby.

What is more, I am from South Korea which is totally different from your nation; Koreans also have their own ways of nursing their babies which could work better for you than those of America. Thus, from time to time, I will inform some of useful information after we try it to our baby. If you want, you can refer to them. WHY NOT??? 

I hope you guys enjoy my blog, and I will be back!!!

Giving a Birth: It is much more than having a beautiful baby

In the early morning of Feb 15, my wife's unendurable pain suddenly started to give a birth.
In fact, she was expecting for thirty eight weeks which means we still had about two more weeks to go.
Thus, we did not really expect she would give a birth on that day.

Only two of us were here in the states, but the rest of our families were tens of thousands miles away.
There was nobody to help or teach us what to do, but we had to make it ourselves.
She was crying and bleeding, and of course, I was upset and just tried to call my doctor, but no one asnwered.

So, what can you do? Right! I just took her to the hospital.
After about nine hour of suffering, we could finally meet our lovely baby.






Giving a birth is not the end, but it is just beginning!!!