When I was about 7 years old my family and I had gone to New York for my Uncles wedding. The man he was marrying was Jewish and after the ceremony they held a party in celebration of the marriage.
On special occasions Jewish families allow their children to have a small glass of wine. When the mother asked me if I wanted a glass of wine I quickly looked at my mom in a scared look because I didn't know what to do or say. My mom said no because she didn't think it was ok for a 7 year old to have any type of alcohol. The mother didn't understand why it was such a big deal but she was fine with my moms decision because of the differences in beliefs.
This incident reminds me some of the chapters in the book when one culture thinks something is ok to do, while another culture thinks negatively about it. It is interesting though to look at where these cultures come from because you can see the differences between the cultures and look at what kind of problems their culture faces. For example, in the United States the legal drinking age is 21. But in Europe the legal drinking age is much younger. As you look at these two differences, it makes you wonder, if the United States changed the legal drinking age back to 18 would there be as much under age drinking happening? Europe does not deal with these issues because it is not as much of an issue there. In the U.S. would there still be as many accidents involving under age drinkers?
Maybe we can learn from other countries by looking at their percentages of under age drinking and compare them to the U.S. If we notice a difference maybe we could change some laws and see if it does create a difference.
Thursday, April 30, 2009
Tuesday, April 28, 2009
The Liter Water Bottle Man...
Every Monday I work nights at my job and of course being it is a movie theatre we get our regulars that come in on specific days. Well every Monday night I get this guy who is from Mexico and speaks little English.
I remember the first time ever helping him, I was at the box office selling tickets and he had said a movie and I didn't understand what he had said. I felt horrible and I always try to stay away from people who don't speak English very well only because I don't want to offend them because I don't understand what they are saying. Well when I asked him if he said he wanted this one movie he looked at me and laughed and said no, and then he repeated himself. As usual I felt like an idiot because I just made a fool of myself.
The next time I helped him was behind the concession stand and all he wanted was a Liter Water. I once again didn't understand what he said and asked him kindly to repeat. Then I finally understood what he wanted.
Now that he comes in so often I automatically get his water for him without him even having to ask. He is a nice guy and will try to start up a small conversation with me. I now am use to his accent and can understand him very easily.
I give kudos to other cultures who attempt to speak another language that is so difficult. They have much patience when it comes to Americans not understanding them and they in the end have to repeat themselves over and over again until we understand them. I'm not sure if I would have that kind of patience.
I remember the first time ever helping him, I was at the box office selling tickets and he had said a movie and I didn't understand what he had said. I felt horrible and I always try to stay away from people who don't speak English very well only because I don't want to offend them because I don't understand what they are saying. Well when I asked him if he said he wanted this one movie he looked at me and laughed and said no, and then he repeated himself. As usual I felt like an idiot because I just made a fool of myself.
The next time I helped him was behind the concession stand and all he wanted was a Liter Water. I once again didn't understand what he said and asked him kindly to repeat. Then I finally understood what he wanted.
Now that he comes in so often I automatically get his water for him without him even having to ask. He is a nice guy and will try to start up a small conversation with me. I now am use to his accent and can understand him very easily.
I give kudos to other cultures who attempt to speak another language that is so difficult. They have much patience when it comes to Americans not understanding them and they in the end have to repeat themselves over and over again until we understand them. I'm not sure if I would have that kind of patience.
Umm... this is my personal bubble...
When I had gone down to Florida a month ago to meet my fiances family, it was really nerve racking because I didn't know what kind of people they were or if they were going to like me. I am the type of person that gets really nervous and sometimes because of that, I make the situation worse than it would have been if I would have just relaxed.
When I got down to Florida I met his aunts, uncles, cousins, and of course, the grandparents. Everybody was giving me hugs and welcoming me. Yes, I will soon be a part of this family, but being it was the first time I met them it would have been nice for them just to give me a little space. I will eventually warm up to the fact that they are a very huggy family. I guess I just wasn't used to all the hugs that I got. Down in the south people seem to be very loving and sweet. I noticed a huge difference from up here.
There is also a difference between the Midwest and the east coast; especially New York City. When I had gone there for the first time it was very chaotic and busy. I wasn't used to seeing so many people walking to work or seeing so much traffic. People in NYC are in a way rude and not caring if they run into you. They don't say excuse me or anything, it is as though you are just a ghost.
It is interesting though to see such a difference in culture just within our own country with Americans, then we add into the mix other cultures that live here and they influence the different parts of the country they reside in.
When I got down to Florida I met his aunts, uncles, cousins, and of course, the grandparents. Everybody was giving me hugs and welcoming me. Yes, I will soon be a part of this family, but being it was the first time I met them it would have been nice for them just to give me a little space. I will eventually warm up to the fact that they are a very huggy family. I guess I just wasn't used to all the hugs that I got. Down in the south people seem to be very loving and sweet. I noticed a huge difference from up here.
There is also a difference between the Midwest and the east coast; especially New York City. When I had gone there for the first time it was very chaotic and busy. I wasn't used to seeing so many people walking to work or seeing so much traffic. People in NYC are in a way rude and not caring if they run into you. They don't say excuse me or anything, it is as though you are just a ghost.
It is interesting though to see such a difference in culture just within our own country with Americans, then we add into the mix other cultures that live here and they influence the different parts of the country they reside in.
Brazilian life
My sister travels a lot and I get to hear about her great experiences in other cultures. Sometimes they are not great experiences and at other times, she comes in contact with some of the nicest people.
When she went to Cambuquira, Brazil she met Ortiz. As he was walking my sister and her friends around the place they were going to investigate, he was making sure that they were all comfortable and that they didn't need anything. My sister said he was a very happy man and was always smiling and giddy. He was very welcoming and wanted to be involved with their trip there. He would make sure my sister and her group had many things to do while they were their and didn't want them to be bored. He would organize outtings for every day that they were there.
I think its really nice for different cultures to be so welcoming towards Americans. Some countries have issues with the U.S. because of the war that is going on now along with many other reasons.
I just hope that when people come to the United States that they experience just what my sister did when she went to Brazil. I hope Americans treat them with much respect and welcome them and show them how great of a country we are.
When she went to Cambuquira, Brazil she met Ortiz. As he was walking my sister and her friends around the place they were going to investigate, he was making sure that they were all comfortable and that they didn't need anything. My sister said he was a very happy man and was always smiling and giddy. He was very welcoming and wanted to be involved with their trip there. He would make sure my sister and her group had many things to do while they were their and didn't want them to be bored. He would organize outtings for every day that they were there.
I think its really nice for different cultures to be so welcoming towards Americans. Some countries have issues with the U.S. because of the war that is going on now along with many other reasons.
I just hope that when people come to the United States that they experience just what my sister did when she went to Brazil. I hope Americans treat them with much respect and welcome them and show them how great of a country we are.
It was all fate...
As I sit and think about the last chapter we had read in our class, it really makes me stop and think about the differences that different cultures face and how people react to these situations.
I never really thought about the issues that arise for couples who are in interculture relationships. Not only do they face the negativity from society, but they may also face the negativity from one anthers culture.
I sit and think of my issues that I come into contact with my fiance and after reading and thinking about the problems other people come into contact with, I see that I am one of the lucky ones that doesn't have to face societies negativity.
Intercultural couples facing society: I know with older generations, they feel as though when it comes to dating, you should date people "of your own kind". They show much negativity when it comes to couples who choose to date outside their race and culture.
My thoughts on this whole situation is: we can't change the fate in which whom we fall in love with. It randomly happens and most of the time we don't expect it to happen.
Not only do intercultural relationships include people from different cultures, but it also includes people of different ages, sex, religion, class, nationality, race, and physical ability (Martain and Nakayama, pg. 237).
A relationship is not only built on having similarities, but it is also built upon things that we learn from another. We need to balance one another out this might be with having some similarities, but also having some differences.
"Be the change you want to see in the world" - Mahatma Ghandi
I never really thought about the issues that arise for couples who are in interculture relationships. Not only do they face the negativity from society, but they may also face the negativity from one anthers culture.
I sit and think of my issues that I come into contact with my fiance and after reading and thinking about the problems other people come into contact with, I see that I am one of the lucky ones that doesn't have to face societies negativity.
Intercultural couples facing society: I know with older generations, they feel as though when it comes to dating, you should date people "of your own kind". They show much negativity when it comes to couples who choose to date outside their race and culture.
My thoughts on this whole situation is: we can't change the fate in which whom we fall in love with. It randomly happens and most of the time we don't expect it to happen.
Not only do intercultural relationships include people from different cultures, but it also includes people of different ages, sex, religion, class, nationality, race, and physical ability (Martain and Nakayama, pg. 237).
A relationship is not only built on having similarities, but it is also built upon things that we learn from another. We need to balance one another out this might be with having some similarities, but also having some differences.
"Be the change you want to see in the world" - Mahatma Ghandi
Excuse me, why are you so angry?
When I lived in Eden Prairie I had a really good friend named Ding. His family was from Asia and his parents and grandma spoke no English. I always remember when Ding and I would be playing his grandmother would come out and start yelling at him in their language. I would just be looking at her then Ding with a scared look because I didn't know what she was saying and I didn't know if he was in a lot of trouble. She would always spank Ding and his brother, and it always scared me. I always felt that they were getting into trouble because I was playing with them.
So throughout all the times him and I were friends, there were many times where she would come out yelling at him. And he would always say that he had to go inside. Now, I have come to learn that her "yelling" was actually just how their culture communicated with the younger kids. It was not because she was mad at him and he was not in trouble, it was just her being stern with him so he knew who was in charge. The spanking was seen as ok in their culture and they did not see it as child abuse, just a way to discipline.
In our society it is frowned upon to yell and spank our children. Spanking is seen as a form of child abuse. In a way I feel as though that is ridiculous, but in a way I can understand. Yes, if you are creating bruises on the child or any kind of mark, that can be considered child abuse, but if you tap the child or spank the child once in a while after they misbehave then that should be ok.
As I sit and watch "Nanny 911" the nannies believe that spanking just creates more problems and will make the child misbehave even more. They think that if you make them have time outs and get down onto the child's level to see what is wrong and why they were misbehaving, that it will solve the problems and make the child will then begin to respect you as the adult figure.
Each society has different views on how they must discipline their children and its important if you move to a different culture that you learn to understand their rules/laws so that way if you are use to doing one thing a certain way, that you change it so you wont get into trouble.
"Any child can tell you that the sole purpose of a middle name is so he can really tell when he's in trouble" --Dennis Fakes
So throughout all the times him and I were friends, there were many times where she would come out yelling at him. And he would always say that he had to go inside. Now, I have come to learn that her "yelling" was actually just how their culture communicated with the younger kids. It was not because she was mad at him and he was not in trouble, it was just her being stern with him so he knew who was in charge. The spanking was seen as ok in their culture and they did not see it as child abuse, just a way to discipline.
In our society it is frowned upon to yell and spank our children. Spanking is seen as a form of child abuse. In a way I feel as though that is ridiculous, but in a way I can understand. Yes, if you are creating bruises on the child or any kind of mark, that can be considered child abuse, but if you tap the child or spank the child once in a while after they misbehave then that should be ok.
As I sit and watch "Nanny 911" the nannies believe that spanking just creates more problems and will make the child misbehave even more. They think that if you make them have time outs and get down onto the child's level to see what is wrong and why they were misbehaving, that it will solve the problems and make the child will then begin to respect you as the adult figure.
Each society has different views on how they must discipline their children and its important if you move to a different culture that you learn to understand their rules/laws so that way if you are use to doing one thing a certain way, that you change it so you wont get into trouble.
"Any child can tell you that the sole purpose of a middle name is so he can really tell when he's in trouble" --Dennis Fakes
Tuesday, April 21, 2009
Cultural Beliefs
As I sent and watch the early episodes of my favorite television show; Grey's Anatomy, it was kind of perfect timing for a specific episode. Dr. Derek "McDreamy" Shephard had this neural medical issue that had come across dealing with this early 20 year old Hmong girl. She needed brain surgery and did not want any surgery until her soul was found. She believed that if her she did not have her soul before surgery, she would die.
Dr. Shephard was frustrated because he felt that it was a simple surgery and it would change her life for the better.
This whole situation reminded me of The Spirit Catches You and You Fall Down by Anne Fadiman. The only difference between my episode of Grey's and the book was that Dr. Shephard was willing to try and understand why the girl was unwilling to have the surgery right away. The Doctors in the book were unwilling to understand the Hmong culture and believed that they were just being stubborn when in reality they just had a different belief system then them.
When Dr. Shephard started to understand why his patient was wanting the help of a Shaman he did all he could do. He went outside to talk to her dad and the dad at first was upset at the fact because he thought that Dr. Shephard was going to try and talk him in to making his daughter have the surgery, but Dr. Shephard surprised the dad and said that if a Shaman is needed he would have a plane fly out to get the Shaman and bring him to Seattle Grace Hospital to do a ritual to help find her soul.
I thought it was kind of cool to see a small portion of what a Shaman actually does when he begins his ritual. Too bad the Lee family could not speak English like the family in the episode, the medical treatment might have gone in a completely different direction.
Dr. Shephard was frustrated because he felt that it was a simple surgery and it would change her life for the better.
This whole situation reminded me of The Spirit Catches You and You Fall Down by Anne Fadiman. The only difference between my episode of Grey's and the book was that Dr. Shephard was willing to try and understand why the girl was unwilling to have the surgery right away. The Doctors in the book were unwilling to understand the Hmong culture and believed that they were just being stubborn when in reality they just had a different belief system then them.
When Dr. Shephard started to understand why his patient was wanting the help of a Shaman he did all he could do. He went outside to talk to her dad and the dad at first was upset at the fact because he thought that Dr. Shephard was going to try and talk him in to making his daughter have the surgery, but Dr. Shephard surprised the dad and said that if a Shaman is needed he would have a plane fly out to get the Shaman and bring him to Seattle Grace Hospital to do a ritual to help find her soul.
I thought it was kind of cool to see a small portion of what a Shaman actually does when he begins his ritual. Too bad the Lee family could not speak English like the family in the episode, the medical treatment might have gone in a completely different direction.
Thursday, April 9, 2009
Popular Culture
Popular culture is heavily influenced by mass media. What ever we hear on the news or see on the news or in magazines or newspapers, we tend to believe it, even if the information is incorrect.
It is said that popular culture has four characteristics: "it is produced by culture industries, it is different from folk culture, it is everywhere, and it fills a social function" (Martin & Nakayama, 190).
Folk culture is a type of culture that is practiced but not for any profit.
In the beginning of chapter 7 in our book Experiencing Intercultural Communication it has a small story about this guy who wasn't very happy about the movie business creating a movie about September 11th called United 93. He felt as though it would hurt many people and that it was in a way saying that all the other planes that had crashed weren't as important because the people on those planes didn't try and stop the terrorists. He had wanted to see the movie just to see how accurately the producer and writers portrayed what had happened, but he didn't want to pay for seeing it because he didn't want to support it. I never really thought about it being a bad movie. I did however think that it would hurt people by bringing up this tragedy again and now I am really thinking twice about if it was a good idea or not for them to make a movie about this.
Another reason why I feel as though it was a bad idea is because the writers of the movie don't know exactly what had happened on the plane and that most of it was just going to be from what they assumed happened. Yes the people on United 93 tried to stop the terrorists and what they did was brave and saved many many lives, but really that's all we know about the situation. People who see the movie are going to truly think that everything that was in the movie really happened, but in reality, we don't know what happened. That's why there are lots of positive and negative aspects to what the media says and what we see in movies that are suppose to be based off a true story. Media feeds off of being biased.
It is said that popular culture has four characteristics: "it is produced by culture industries, it is different from folk culture, it is everywhere, and it fills a social function" (Martin & Nakayama, 190).
Folk culture is a type of culture that is practiced but not for any profit.
In the beginning of chapter 7 in our book Experiencing Intercultural Communication it has a small story about this guy who wasn't very happy about the movie business creating a movie about September 11th called United 93. He felt as though it would hurt many people and that it was in a way saying that all the other planes that had crashed weren't as important because the people on those planes didn't try and stop the terrorists. He had wanted to see the movie just to see how accurately the producer and writers portrayed what had happened, but he didn't want to pay for seeing it because he didn't want to support it. I never really thought about it being a bad movie. I did however think that it would hurt people by bringing up this tragedy again and now I am really thinking twice about if it was a good idea or not for them to make a movie about this.
Another reason why I feel as though it was a bad idea is because the writers of the movie don't know exactly what had happened on the plane and that most of it was just going to be from what they assumed happened. Yes the people on United 93 tried to stop the terrorists and what they did was brave and saved many many lives, but really that's all we know about the situation. People who see the movie are going to truly think that everything that was in the movie really happened, but in reality, we don't know what happened. That's why there are lots of positive and negative aspects to what the media says and what we see in movies that are suppose to be based off a true story. Media feeds off of being biased.
The Spirit Catches You and You Fall Down
After reading Anne Fadiman's The Spirit Catches You and You Fall Down it has made me realize the horror that this Hmong family went through. The book takes place in the 80's and it takes us through the Lee's experience with the American Medical field. Their youngest child Lia began to have seizures and in Hmong culture they call it The Spirit Catches You and You Fall Down, but to medical professionals they know it as epilepsy. Through out the book it takes you through all of the experiences of this Hmong family. It leads us through the language barriers that both the Lee's and doctors, nurses, child services, all experienced. Both cultures became very irritated with one another because they were not familiar with one anothers cultural beliefs.
Doctors had prescribed different kinds of medication for Lia and the Lee's had a very difficult time understand what the medication was for and how much and when they were suppose to give the medication. Also, when doctors tell the Hmong culture to do something or take something, they take it as just a suggestion not something necessary.
Doctors didn't ask the Hmong that had come through the Emergency room door in Merced, California how they treated themselves (Fadiman, 112).
I felt as though there was a lot of stereotyping of the Hmong culture in this book. The doctors were doing almost everything they could but still I felt as though they didn't want to get to know the Lees and to understand how they were trying to heal Lia. The doctors felt that it was a good idea to have Lia taken away from her parents because they thought that there was child endangerment going on. When really it was because the Lee's didn't understand what they were suppose to give Lia and when they were suppose to give her her medication.
A big issue in this book had to do with language barriers and how they affect different cultures.
Doctors had prescribed different kinds of medication for Lia and the Lee's had a very difficult time understand what the medication was for and how much and when they were suppose to give the medication. Also, when doctors tell the Hmong culture to do something or take something, they take it as just a suggestion not something necessary.
Doctors didn't ask the Hmong that had come through the Emergency room door in Merced, California how they treated themselves (Fadiman, 112).
I felt as though there was a lot of stereotyping of the Hmong culture in this book. The doctors were doing almost everything they could but still I felt as though they didn't want to get to know the Lees and to understand how they were trying to heal Lia. The doctors felt that it was a good idea to have Lia taken away from her parents because they thought that there was child endangerment going on. When really it was because the Lee's didn't understand what they were suppose to give Lia and when they were suppose to give her her medication.
A big issue in this book had to do with language barriers and how they affect different cultures.
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