Cultural Interviews 

I really enjoyed this week’s blog assignment.  Deciding who to choose, and thinking who would definitely mail me back in time was interesting.  The result of the assignment made me realize that we all have rather different outlooks on culture and social diversity. I mailed three different friends, An African American man (Tony), a Caucasian South African woman (Lauren) and a Dutch male friend (Maarten). My first question to them was asking what their definition of culture was.  

Tony describes culture as the the racial group you were raised in and the people you relate to. He talks about his food from the South and how it cultural binds him to his fellow people. He says that culture bring and keeps people together.

Lauren describes culture as the your beliefs and traditions that you were raised with. She too talks about religion, food and language as being part of a persons culture.

Maarten describes culture as a group of people that share similar traditions, habits, rituals as well as expressions and emotions.

While Tony and Lauren described only surface culture, Maarten seemed to touch more on a deeper level and looked in the emotions that groups of people from the same culture may share. No one mentioned that we are all individuals and different even though being part of the same cultural group. I feel that it is so important to learn as much as I can about the different cultures so that I can better cater for all my learners.

When I read how they responded to the definition of diversity I can see that they come from very different backgrounds.  Tony talks about diversity being different cultures within the same group or area. Lauren describes South Africa where she lives as a place full of diversity.  A place so rich in diversity due to it's many cultures sharing the same nationality and sharing 11 official languages.  Maarten answers that diversity is anything that is not the same. People that have diverse languages, races and cultures.  Mixing all the cultures in a melting pot, similar to that in South Africa is what Maarten feels diversity is all about. 

When analyzing  their responses it clear to see that they come from very different backgrounds and experiences. It is a very important and useful exercise to stop and really reflect upon what we feel and how we would describe these definitions. By analyzing my own thoughts I can see that my knowledge has deepened already.  I aim to continue this growth moving forward in this course.

               My family - My story


when faced with this task I stopped and thought deeply about what is important to me and how I would rank these things.
I would take a photo album with photos of my family, a stone my middle son gave me and my wedding band.
It real tugged at my heart to think about if this was a real scenario.  For many people in the world this is a real experience.
When asked about my sentimental items that I chose to take along with me I would explain in this way.  The small photo album is a reminder of happier times and important for me to have my children see photos of their extended family. I live abroad and separated from all my family so this is something that is more real to me. I make sure to have a lot of photos visible and accessible to my boys so that memories can stay fresh and real for them.  Children will eventually forget things and events that happened when they were younger and hopefully by keep a photo album I can try to keep the memories alive. 
The little stone that I would take is something that my middle son, Jayden, has been doing as long as I can remember - he would collect little stones and put in them in my bag. Stones for luck and stones for love. They are special to me and I always have one with me.
My wedding band is very special to me.  Not only is it the band that my husband I used to exchange vows and make our promises but it was my late Grandmothers wedding band.  My Grandmother was and remains a huge part of my life. She was more of a mother to me and I carry her in my heart and think of her often.
When I arrive at the destination and I am told that I can only keep one thing of importance I am of course torn and disappointed.  However after what my family has been through and the fact that I have my boys and husband with safely with me I come to the conclusion that the memories and sentimental value of the belongings I can keep in my heart without having them.
With a heavy heart I hand in my wedding band and a small stone.  I know that I have my Grandmother in my heart and watching over me and this reassures me.  I have my little boy holding my hand and he has already shoved 3 foreign stones into my back pocket of my jeans.  I am relieved that I can hand onto the small photo album I have and see the faces and memories I hold so dear.
I am relieved that we are safe and that we are together.
In my personal journey I have lived in 7 different countries.  When living in rural Indonesia things that were important to me were all the different appliances to make food we missed from home, sausage, yogurt, dried fruit and minced meat.  I noticed that I didn't choose anything with religious connections and although I am a Christian and am God fearing I did not feel the need to choose an icon.  I think I realize more than ever that I can survive anything and do not need any material things as long as I have my husband and children with me, the dearest things in my life.  Being a mother is number 1 for me and I need to protect and guard my children.
When I left Indonesia we could not take all our belongings, we had to choose some, nothing to the extent of this exercise but also challenging.  From that experience I realized that one does not need nearly half of what one owns.