Cultural Shock

In class, we had played a card game in groups of five and Sal sneakily changed the rules of the game for each table and didn't allow us to talk, only use gestures and grunts, which caused much confusion among the tables as to why select people in the groups did not play with the same set of rules as everyone else sitting at the table. He began to explain to us how this applies to real life situations when people are not used to the culture of others. So when it hits them when they go to an unfamiliar country, they get what is called culture shock. It is because of culture shock that people in Manhattan were so appalled when a Danish mother left her child outside of a restaurant. If more people had been culturally aware, I think people kwould have been more understanding when this woman had left your child in a stoller outside the restaurant. They would have understood that in her culture, it is appropriate to do so and then more people would have been forgiving to the fact. The only culture shock experience that i can rememebr is wehn i went to visit Ireland last December. Given I used to live there and I have family back there not everything about the culture was that surprising since I also experience most of it everyday at hoe from my father. This time, since I was a little bit older, I was able to go out on my own more with my cousins who are around my age. I was out to dinner with my cousin Aoife when we saw a little boy (he looked about the age of 14) holding a beer and eating dinner with his parents! Not only did i find this funny at the time, but completely bizarre! Back at home of course people underage drink in college all the time, but 14 year old boys don't seem to and especially not in a public place. My cousin explained to me how a lot of Europe was like this: they had laws for drinking ages, but they weren't enforced often. It was not a big deal to anyone else that the adolescent boy was having a beer with dinner. I guess you could say that was a bit of a "culture shock" to me since I was raised in a culture were they was not only not acceptable, but illegal until a certain age, and even then, was to be used with caution passed a certain point.

A Bronx Tale

In the movie, A Bronx Tale, the social construction of the Italian neightborhood where "C" lives is extremely noticeable. They have unwritten rules such as everyone is "family" who is Italian and that if you are Italian then you go after Italian girls and no other, especially African Americans. They have a certain level of respect for one another, and above all they have respect for Sonny; or more like respect out of fear of him. Everyone acts different when he is around because thats how it was in that neighborhood. If Sonny asked you to do something, you did it, and disobeying him could have serious consequences. These rules and ways of behavior came about first off from being a tight-knit Italian community. You protected your nationality and you didn't let anyone take that away from you. They also came about from not wanting to mingle with other nationalities out of fear. Then the reason why everyone acted even more differently around Sonny was out of respect and fear resulting from actions staken by him and words spoken by him and other people around him.

Abondon Ship

In class this week we simulated a catastrophic event in an activity. We simulated the event of a cruise ship's survivors after hitting a mine left over from WWII. There wasn't enough room on the boat for everyone so people have to be kicked off. This simulation showed our core values as Americans and how they may differ in other cultures. After the simulation we discussed and decided that our values rest heavily upon usefulness and youth. We can to this conclusion after seeing years of data from Sal's previous classes and found that the similar people were kicked off every time. Usually the old people were the first to go seeing as they had already lived their life as those younger had not. This illistrated the idea that we value youth. We as Amercians look at youth as valuable and essential; where as other countries such as China value the elderly because of their wisdom. We discussed that other countries with different values may have chosen different people based upon the values of their culture. This simulation really opened my eyes to see that the world around us really does shape who we are and our values; and not just ourselves as individuals, but also culturally as a nation.