Gestures

In my management class right now, we have been discussing international business and things you need to be aware of when traveling from country to country. A lot of it has to do with proxemics (study of personal space) and also the use of hand gestures and such that may be appropriate here, but are looked at differently as you travel. This ties in with things I have read in chapter 11 about personal space and even the study of peoples' facial expressions. Just because one thing may be expected here as one thing, it varies among countries. My example I found that relates to this is in the article attached below.
After giving a speech in Australia in 1992, George Bush threw up a "peace" sign with his fingers, which in the United States symbolizes peace obviously. Not knowing he did something wrong, he just proceeded on. But to Australians, this sign is similar to "the finger" here. Bush was not trying to offend anyone when doing so, but that is how it came off. Sometimes though, gestures help people explain things. When traveling especially, you have to be careful with what you do because something that wouldn't offend you or your culture could come off in an opposite light elsewhere.
Another thing we have discussed in Management is proper etiquette while traveling abroad. In our psychology book, they discuss common distances that we see in the United States, but these probably differ among cultures. I find it very interesting that there are differences of personal space preferences and gender. Personally, I have experienced this while in Mexico. There, people are always very friendly and get really up close and personal. It sometimes made me uncomfortable, but after a few visits I got used to it and learned to expect it.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/V_sign