Discovering national character through a story

(told by Brittany Bailey)

Growing up in a small town in South Dakota the only time I was exposed to different cultures than my own was when we would have foreign exchange students. I remember one in particular that I still think about often today. We called him Yoshi. I still remember his full name but would have no idea how to spell it. Yoshi was from Japan. It was great to get to know him a bit while he was at our school but I didn’t ever get to know about where he came from, I was just interested in getting to know him as a person. When I came to college I became very interested in may be one day going overseas to do mission work. There are two countries that I am drawn to after meeting a couple of people. One was a girl from China. She and my friend would meet to help her practice her English and I would sometimes go along. She was such a shy, timid girl that it makes me wonder if that was because the US was new to her or if she would be like that back in China. The other person that I met was from Congo. I had to do a project in an English class on a non-native speaker of English so I chose the guy. He was friendly and outgoing and seemed to know everyone on campus. It was a wonderful opportunity to learn a lot about his culture because we had to meet several times throughout the semester just to talk. After meeting these two people, I am interested in going to their countries some day.

(told by Wendy Rutledge)

In College I became friends with Marcella, a girl from Brazil. She was staying with a family I knew and studying for a year here in America. We quickly became friends, and I found it interesting to learn about her culture and country. Her English was good, and she taught me a little Portuguese, but other than the occasional language barrier, I never thought much about us coming from such different backgrounds. Over Christmas break my Junior year, I visited her in Sao Paulo Brazil for three weeks. This was my first experience being totally immersed in a different culture. I found it amazing to see how family oriented this culture was. Families there made time to sit down for dinner each evening together to talk about the day’s events. I also noticed this culture was very “touchy feely”, and people didn’t appear concerned or apologetic when they invaded your personal space or bumped into you. To them, it was natural to be in close proximity with others. This culture also appeared to me to have a very strong division between the rich and the poor. In spite of these differences, all of the people I met while in Brazil were very welcoming and interested in learning more about me and about America. I really enjoyed this experience, and the chance to really get to know another culture.

 

(told by Leslie Hinrichs)

Growing up, I felt like I lived sort of sheltered from experiencing different cultures because I grew up in a small Nebraska town where everyone was of the same origin. But, I did have a strong German heritage, but it felt like we just celebrated like all other Americans as far as holidays such as Christmas. While I worked at a horse farm in Kentucky, I thought I had a very unique experience. While I was in the United States, it was the sort of feeling like I was in another country. Everyone else that worked on the farm was a worker from Mexico. I really got to know my coworkers well, and I developed a strong respect for them. I was amazed at how they travelled thousands of miles away from their family, country, and lives they know to find work. Most of the money they made, though it seems small to us, was very important to them, and got sent back to their family in Mexico. Whenever they had a chance, they would try to make trips back to Mexico or try to get a way for their family to move to Kentucky with them. They were boisterous. The fun filled the crowd who was always laughing. While most of them knew English well, they chose to speak Spanish in their groups, and were always having a good time. I really tried to reach out to my co-workers and become their friends and learn about them. They laughed when I tried to pronounce the days of the week in Spanish. One thing I do remember was easy to talk about even though we had a language barrier was their religion and it was very important to them. I am really grateful I had the chance to get to know the people there and I learned a lot about a new culture and heritage.

 

(told by Ann Buttner)

As you could guess from my profile, I acquaint ethnicity and/or family traditions with my mother’s Irish family. I have a collection of memories that provided me with some early education on the experiences of my Irish relatives. I feel that I certainly became aware at an early age of the prejudice against the Irish from what my grandparents used to tell me about when they first came to the U. S. I clearly remember my grandfather telling me how difficult if was to get a job in the U. S. because it was believed by many people that “the Irish couldn’t be trusted.” I still remember his looking so sad when he would tell me how discouraging it was to see signs in the windows that read “Irish need not apply.” My grandparents would also tell me that they {the Irish} were viewed by other people as being “loud and drunk all the time” and that this was why it was difficult to find a decent place to live when they first came to the U. S. The Irish really bothered my grandfather who eventually worked as a chauffeur for a very wealthy widow in Philadelphia. My mother would tell me that her father always tried to do the right thing and went out of his way to be thought of well by his employer. My grandfather, in fact, was so well thought of by his employer that she left him a large sum of money in her will that allowed him to pay for all of his children’s college educations. As an uneducated - but loyal and hardworking Irishman, I remember his being quite proud of that. I also remember as a child being astounded to hear that the Irish were “loud and drunk all the time” since I had been at a lot of family gatherings and only saw my family’s relatives as being fun, amusing, and enjoying music there. As a child, I remember seeing people drink beer at these parties but I don’t remember anyone acting drunk, at least what I understood as drunk back then. (Isn’t if funny how you can learn prejudice simply by believing what other people just assume?)

Assignments

 

Ex. 1. Make sure you know the meaning of these expressions. Make up the sentences with them:

a) foreign exchange students; to come from; to be interested in smth.; a shy, timid girl; non-native speaker; to be friendly and outgoing;

b) background; to be totally immersed in a different country; family oriented; touchy feely; to be concerned or apologetic; to invade one’s personal space; to bump into smb.; to be in close proximity with; to be welcoming;

c) to experience different cultures; to be of … origin; heritage; to develop a strong respect for; boisterous; to be fun-filled;

d) to acquaint ethnicity; family traditions; prejudice; to bother smb.; to assume.