THE CULTURE STORY

Befriend Anyone, Anywhere

Explore

Meet Your World Neighbors

Cultural Glimpses

Stories of people and places from around the world

Read Stories

The Bookshelf

Books, articles, and more to build your understanding

Browse Resources

Enter the Narrative

Culture

The world is filled with diversity. Diversity of plants. Diversity of colors. Most importantly diversity of persons. Each person is unique in a delightful way. Each person has a story. Each culture has a story. Each story is worth knowing.

Read Stories

Connection

Stories help people connect. They help highlight the uniqueness and value of cultures different from our own. Stories open the window to see the richness of peoples experiences. Cultural stories open people eyes to people different from themselves.

Read Stories

Communication

Communication is hindered because of an unwillingness or inability to understand differences. The Culture Story is on a mission to break down those barriers. Communication across cultures can be difficult, but it is possible.

Read Stories

The Culture Stories

Tea with Ziwa – An Interview

Tea with Ziwa – An Interview

By Francesca King Lancaster, Pennsylvania, USA Ziwa Halim places a plate of cookies and a tray with tea glasses on the coffee table.  Her 1-month-old baby Adam sleeps nearby, 4-year-old Yusef tumbles around on the couches, and second-grader Huda settles into a seat to...

read more
Baba Olla – A Ukrainian Story

Baba Olla – A Ukrainian Story

Olla managed to feed her goats. Fix a bit of tea for herself. Lay on the sagging couch in the little entry room. Reach for a bottle of vodka. Day into night into day into night. Her large house stood too empty, too silent, too dark. Or was that a better description of the cavity in her chest?

read more
Uzbek Joy

Uzbek Joy

Dodging muddy pot holes. Talking about what is growing in front of people’s houses: alfalfa, tomatoes, flowers, leafed-out quince trees. We’re head for a joy, which literally means a “place.” We greet people we know and people we don’t know. Doctor Aka stops and gives...

read more

Stay Up-to-Date

Sign up to our monthly email of a culture story and a cultural insight on how to befriend anyone, anywhere!

<!-- Begin MailChimp Signup Form --><!-- [et_pb_line_break_holder] --><link href="//cdn-images.mailchimp.com/embedcode/classic-10_7.css" rel="stylesheet" type="text/css"><!-- [et_pb_line_break_holder] --><style type="text/css"><!-- [et_pb_line_break_holder] --> #mc_embed_signup{background:rgba(255,255,255,0.75); box-shadow: 5px 10px 12px rgba(0, 0, 0, 0.3);clear:left; font:14px Helvetica,Arial,sans-serif; }<!-- [et_pb_line_break_holder] --> /* Add your own MailChimp form style overrides in your site stylesheet or in this style block.<!-- [et_pb_line_break_holder] --> We recommend moving this block and the preceding CSS link to the HEAD of your HTML file. */<!-- [et_pb_line_break_holder] --></style><!-- [et_pb_line_break_holder] --><div id="mc_embed_signup"><!-- [et_pb_line_break_holder] --><form action="//theculturestory.us16.list-manage.com/subscribe/post?u=c2004ae7a168cc865cdd9406d&id=f2ecf35718" method="post" id="mc-embedded-subscribe-form" name="mc-embedded-subscribe-form" class="validate" target="_blank" novalidate><!-- [et_pb_line_break_holder] --> <div id="mc_embed_signup_scroll"><!-- [et_pb_line_break_holder] --> <h2>Sign Up</h2><!-- [et_pb_line_break_holder] --><div class="indicates-required"><span class="asterisk">*</span> indicates required</div><!-- [et_pb_line_break_holder] --><div class="mc-field-group"><!-- [et_pb_line_break_holder] --> <label for="mce-EMAIL">Email Address <span class="asterisk">*</span><!-- [et_pb_line_break_holder] --></label><!-- [et_pb_line_break_holder] --> <input type="email" value="" name="EMAIL" class="required email" id="mce-EMAIL"><!-- [et_pb_line_break_holder] --></div><!-- [et_pb_line_break_holder] --><div class="mc-field-group"><!-- [et_pb_line_break_holder] --> <label for="mce-FNAME">First Name </label><!-- [et_pb_line_break_holder] --> <input type="text" value="" name="FNAME" class="" id="mce-FNAME"><!-- [et_pb_line_break_holder] --></div><!-- [et_pb_line_break_holder] --><div class="mc-field-group"><!-- [et_pb_line_break_holder] --> <label for="mce-LNAME">Last Name </label><!-- [et_pb_line_break_holder] --> <input type="text" value="" name="LNAME" class="" id="mce-LNAME"><!-- [et_pb_line_break_holder] --></div><!-- [et_pb_line_break_holder] --> <div id="mce-responses" class="clear"><!-- [et_pb_line_break_holder] --> <div class="response" id="mce-error-response" style="display:none"></div><!-- [et_pb_line_break_holder] --> <div class="response" id="mce-success-response" style="display:none"></div><!-- [et_pb_line_break_holder] --> </div> <!-- real people should not fill this in and expect good things - do not remove this or risk form bot signups--><!-- [et_pb_line_break_holder] --> <div style="position: absolute; left: -5000px;" aria-hidden="true"><input type="text" name="b_c2004ae7a168cc865cdd9406d_f2ecf35718" tabindex="-1" value=""></div><!-- [et_pb_line_break_holder] --> <div class="clear"><input type="submit" value="Sign Up" name="subscribe" id="mc-embedded-subscribe" class="button"></div><!-- [et_pb_line_break_holder] --> </div><!-- [et_pb_line_break_holder] --></form><!-- [et_pb_line_break_holder] --></div><!-- [et_pb_line_break_holder] --><!-- [et_pb_line_break_holder] --><!--End mc_embed_signup-->