The Unwritten Rules
All sections

Module 6

Everyday Life: Hospitality, Food, Gifts, and Faith

Hosting and visiting, the dinner table, gifts and favors, and the rhythm of the religious year.

Some of the warmest moments in any culture happen around a table, and so do some of the most awkward. How many times should you refuse a second helping? Who pays for dinner? Should you open a gift right away, or wait? And how do you fit in when the calendar, the week and even the clock follow someone else’s faith?

This is the practical, delicious and occasionally embarrassing side of culture. But underneath every custom in this module are the values you’ve been exploring all course: generosity, equality, face, reciprocity and respect.

In this module, you’ll explore:

  • the unwritten scripts of hosting and being a guest
  • customs at the table, from who sits where to who pays
  • gifts and favors, and how cultures “keep score”
  • religion, holidays and the rhythm of the year
6.1 Guests and HostsIncluded with purchase

Twelve dishes and a barbecue, how many times to offer, and what “make yourself at home” really means.

10m
6.2 At the TableIncluded with purchase

Buying rounds, bringing a plate, who sits where, who pays, and what to leave on your plate.

10m
6.3 Gifts, Favors, and Keeping ScoreIncluded with purchase

Gifts as a language of relationships, and cultures that settle up quickly or never quite do.

9m
6.4 Faith, Holidays, and the Rhythm of the YearIncluded with purchase

An iftar, a Sunday shift, fasting at 35,000 feet, and how faith shapes the week and the calendar.

11m
Scenario Challenge 6: Table MannersIncluded with purchase

Tea refused once, a gift to “open later,” a pizza meeting and the question of who pays.

11m

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