Culture Shock

A couple of weeks ago, after a friend of mine and I were trying really hard to find time between school and work we finally set a date for me to come over to her parents house. She told me how much her mother likes to have people over and cook Persian food for her guests. I had never had Persian food in my life. I was scared to be honest, because I would have felt really embarrassed if I didn’t like the food for some reason. On the other hand, I couldn’t wait to come to someone else’s house and see what they do when the have guests over. Every culture has a different way of treating guests and I wanted to experience this one.

The food was served, and on my table set I had a fork and a spoon. The food included chicken (delicious chicken I must add) and rice with raisins and lentils and plain yogurt with other herbs. Without waiting too much time I started to eat, with the fork. My friend had her sister and her daughter over as well. They were visiting from Iran. The daughter a nine year old was sitting on the table as well and I noticed that she whispered something in Farsi. I couldn’t understand a word yet with her eyes she was telling me that she was talking about me.

Suddenly, my friend started to laugh and I asked her what was so funny. She said, “Oh nothing is just that she was asking why you are eating your rice with the fork. She is wondering if you don’t know how to use spoons.” Well, the thing is that spoons and forks are for Iranians (I’m not sure if this is true for all Persian culture, that is why I’m saying Iranians) what forks and knives are for us westerns.

I like finding little facts like this one. I’m sure that if I ever run into another group of Persian people and I have the opportunity to eat with them, they will appreciate me remembering that little fact.

Jailed Teacher

Not too long ago I heard about the protests in Sudan where very upset people asked for the execution of Gillian Gibbons. A teacher who allowed her students to call their class teddy bear “Muhammad.” She was convicted of insulting Islam.

She was sentenced to deportation and 15 days in jail, of which she only spent nine. After lawmakers from England, who are also Muslim members of the House of Lords cooperated in the process of asking the president of Sudan to release Gibbons.

The teacher was finally released and taken back home, to England where the media overwhelmed her with all the attention. I had to look more into this news story for another class and I had the opportunity to see some of the press statements that she gave on an interview. She said that she was treated well in jail and that everyone was very kind to her.

I’m glad she had the courtesy of saying exactly how she felt, pointing out that she was treated kindly. When people don’t know about other cultures they say things (that are usually to denigrate that culture) based on the few facts they have heard (if they have heard anything at all). I’m glad to see that the Sudanese government was somewhat lenient towards this educator, because she didn’t mean to offend anyone.

 ::Edit:: This post is to praise the teacher’s attitude towards the Sudanese governmen. I believe that in no way, shape or form have I stated through this post that Islam is evil. I just wanted to give props to people like this teacher that did not use her position, and the media attention to denigrate those who jailed her. ::end edit::

After Graduating

One more semester has come to and end. I started thinking about what is going to happen after I graduate. I still have two more semester to be out of college. The thought scares me a little.

Instructors take a task that is not required of them, but they do it anyway. Is the task of giving us tips for the future. So we can go out there and succeed. I asked some of my classmates what their fears are now that (some of them) are graduating. Others still have one or two more semesters, but they are already thinking about that day that doesn’t only mean we won’t have any more homework but we enter that thing called: the real world.

Listen to some of the answers these students said: Graduating.mp3

Remember that keeping a positive attitude and like one of the students said “keep on smiling” because that is a door opener to that real world we are getting into.

Materialism

Our society has accustomed us to think that we need the unnecessary. As I listened to the Telling Stories With Sound course at the News University website, I found this article (it is a radio piece) on how in India the influence of TV channels like MTV are having an impact on their generation of teens. Yes, the Western world is not alone on this one. It must be our own (uncontrollable) selfishness and the desire of just being “cool” that makes us block the need of others. We have so much yet, that doesn’t seem enough. Now, I see another issue. With so many “organizations” that ask for money or goods to help people in very poor conditions how do you know for sure that if you donate they are in fact helping those who need it? My instructor sent me this very interesting video. After watching it, I felt ashamed for the times I’ve complained about my life.

Bomb Blast in India

As I looked for international news for one of my classes; In the CNN website I run into another bomb blast, this time in India. The authorities in that country still don’t have much clue of who is behind this attack. Some suspect is has to do with religious issues, and it is the second attack in one week. For what I read, officials in India blame Islamic militants for attacks that have happened for the last two years. The relations between Hindus and Muslims in this country has been rather peaceful since India’s and Pakistan’s independence from Britain in 1947.

War Documentary

I have started to follow the documentary by journalist Kevin Sites on the website Hot Zone. The first two chapters of the documentary are up on the site already. I encourage you to watch at least the first chapter. He says something about blogs that I thought was interesting. Go to this link if you are interested.

Let Them Speak

Even though little is known about what goes around the world there are people out there who work hard on speaking for those who cannot be heard. Kudos to them, for all that hard work and willingness to think about the interests of others. Today however, I read a sad article on the CNN website. It is about a journalist and another human rights worker who were detained for documenting information about human rights in the country The Gambia.

 

 

They were accused of spying. I would think that people in other nations might think that the rest of the world does not listen to their cry; but when they do, this is what happens to those who risk their lives to extract information and make it known.

 

I watched a film sometime in June of this year titled A Mighty Heart. For those of you who haven’t seen it, you should. It is about the last days in the life of journalist Daniel Pearl. Who unlike the journalist in Gambia, was kidnapped and brutally killed by terrorists in Pakistan in 2002. Spying was one of the reasons these terrorists used to take his life. The movie came out of a memoir written by his widow Mariane Pearl.

 

Angelina Jolie & Mariane Pearl Talk with charlie Rose

 

I think that we, the ones who complain about injustice are, in a way, the same ones who let it happen. I think that by deciding to become journalists we signed up for one of the most interesting professions but we also signed up to not only see and report injustice but to also live it first hand.

 

 

 

Greetings

Greeting… hmmm what comes to your mind? Maybe shaking hands, hugging, waving, bowing, a certain word, a kiss, or two kisses….

Every culture has a different way of greeting one another. There is something so personal about greetings, they give a hint of who you are I think. I wasn’t aware of my way of greeting until I moved to this country.

I used to receive English as a second language classes at the University of Toledo in the cold state of Ohio. It was a very interesting experience. Most of my classmates were from Mediterranean or Asian countries. One day, I remember a guy from Venezuela joined the second term of the semester. As soon as he introduced himself to me the first thing that we did was kiss, on the cheek of course. I remember the eyes of everyone looking at us, in uproar maybe because they knew we didn’t know each other. I don’t know. I don’t think I will ever know, but that was nothing compared to what I did months after that.

I was new on this campus and as I got to know some people I became friends with a lovely couple. He was a pastor and she was a teacher. They reminded me to that famous “American Dream” family picture that most of know about. They used to interact with people from different countries because they wanted to help them adjust to this new culture.

One day, after a get together I was talking to Jena, the pastor’s wife. As the conversation winded down I started to say goodbye, not realizing that my head (by inertia I would like to say) started to move towards her to kiss her on the cheek as a goodbye. The woman didn’t scream but I could tell that she freaked out and backed off. As I saw her reaction I realized I was doing that at the wrong time with the wrong people. My face turned red, completely red and in that moment of embarrassment where you get a hundred thoughts in a second I thought about how unfortunate it is that blushing is a universal nonverbal clue of embarrassment. I could feel my face burning in a flame, and kept thinking why isn’t the kissing the universal thing?

Until that moment I didn’t realize how much I missed the closeness to people. Outsiders might see for example, kissing all the people you know when you arrive at a party kinda hectic. It is so hard to draw a line in different cultures. I’ve looked weird to people that I greet the wrong way. Or I seem rude if I don’t hug or kiss someone of my own culture…

I adjusted to this culture very well, to the point that most people don’t have a clue that I am actually not from here. But even small gestures like greetings take me back to a different place. A familiar place that at least I take with me everywhere I go, and defines who I am.

So wherever you go. Just greet how you know to do it and be proud of it. Even if it means you’ll get weird looks and in my case lots of blushing.

Invisible Children

With this blog post I want to go all the way to Uganda. About six months ago I watched a film about the “invisible children” of Uganda.The story was a sad one. Thousands of children have been abducted in Uganda by the Lord’s Resistance Army better known as the LRA. Children who live in rural areas of Uganda travel hundreds of miles to urban settings so they can spend the night.

They leave their parents behind, alone because their own parents won’t be able to protect them from being abducted. Sometimes hundreds of kids sleep in inhumane conditions in buildings located at urban areas because the rebels won’t go there to kidnap them.

If you are interested in helping out these children you can visit this website. Unfortunately, the voice of these children cannot be heard no matter how loud they scream. The following video is a clip from the documentary Invisible Children.

Invisible Children of Uganda

Some of the information on this blog was taken from an artible on the BBC website and you can read it here!

World at War

I’ve never used a gun before. I’ve seen them but never used one. I saw a bullet this weekend. This little tiny piece of metal, and it got me thinking about how something so tiny -in the wrong hands- can cause so much pain.

Very little is known about conflicts around the world. I am a firm believer that we should be more aware about what is going on, about the suffering of others. At the same time I wonder what good is that going to do.

A documentary by Kevin Sites is coming out. I have no doubt it will be very informative. So far, his coverage on conflict zones has been what I call the real face of war, without the mask. That is how it should be.

When my country was at war, journalists (local or international) were literally told to shut up. For years, no one said anything, the price? Thousands of people dead, for what? Some things were accomplished but not everything. All because of greed and thirst for power.

For what I read the documentary will be available on the website to watch it. I encourage you to take a look at it and get an idea of what those poor victims are facing. Also, if you have not seen the movie Blood Diamond you should.