Final Presentation

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9YXbwDFUdWU

Conversation Partner Social

Conversation Partner Reflection - #6

As the semester is coming to a close, each week I talk with Cindy, she is getting more and more excited about returning to China.  How could she not be thrilled?  I would be extremely homesick after being away from my family for five months in a country that I had never visited nor was completely fluent in the main language.  She is so brave to have ventured so far away from home to receive a university education.

In January, she arrived at the DFW international airport, unable to communicate with an airline employee.  Now, Cindy will talk to me for over two hours.  In our most recent conversation, she shared with me one of the perks of being in the United States.  Shockingly, she shared how cheap items are in this country.  In fact, her parents have made a list of items that they want her to bring back to China, including: an iPhone 6 Plus, shampoo, clothes, and more.  It surprised me that a lot of items are cheaper in the US than in China.  We hear so much through the media about how cheap labor is in Asia; I assumed that the price of goods in Asian countries would be low since it is where many were produced. 

On top of midterms, packing up her room, and getting ready to fly home in a couple of weeks, Cindy has to go to different stores around town to get stuff to bring back for her family…without a car!  I feel like it would be quite difficult to live in a city but be unable to get around with transportation.  However, she happily runs errands for her family since they have so graciously made it possible for her to study internationally.

Talking to Cindy about returning to China, I learned that she is most excited to be reunited with her parents, her fluffy dog, and her beloved, authentic Chinese food.  But before she can head home, she has to figure out how to pack all of her things – and everything she has acquired in the last five months – into two suitcases!

As I prepare to study abroad in Spain for six weeks this summer, I am trying to approach my imminent departure with as much courage and joy as Cindy has shown me this semester.  No matter the difficulties she has faced being in a foreign country, she remains unshaken and grateful for the opportunity to receive her education in another country.  Every time I see Cindy, she has a huge smile across her face no matter what is going on in her life.  I can tell that she is truly enjoying the life she lives.  I hope that her optimism and cheerfulness will carry with me to Spain as her optimism and cheerfulness has carried with her from China to the United States.

Conversation Partner Reflection - #5

The day before Cindy and I met, my dad called me and wanted me to ask Cindy about a Chinese wine he had received from a client.  He texted me a picture, and I told him I would ask Cindy about it.

Cindy and I met, and I proceeded to show her a picture of the bottle, the accompanying glasses and the box.  She indicated to me that it was not wine but rather one of the strongest liquors in China.  She told me that it is to be drunk by men at a meal and that the glasses are small for a reason…

This quick discussion prompted me to ask about the drinking customs in her culture.  I wrongly assumed that their rules and customs would be similar to ours.  I thought that the drinking age would be 21 considering their rules on pregnancy.  Cindy shared with me that their drinking age was similar to the rest of the world and was set at 18.

She said that there is a lot of peer pressure around drinking.  I found that peer pressure was one of the biggest similarities between our drinking customs.  She said that within her friend group she was encouraged to drink even if she didn’t want to.  I found her situation to be similar to college parties – where it can seem unacceptable to be sober.

She talked about the differences between genders when it comes to drinking.  I learned that it is more acceptable for men to drink than for women in most social situations.  It surprised me when she said that she would never drink in front over her parents.  She told me that only her dad would drink when company was over, her mother would never drink.  The concept of having a beer or a glass of wine in front over her parents seemed unfathomable, unlike many families in the States.

While I originally thought that our drinking customs would be fairly similar, I realized that their drinking customs were bound to be different if their eating habits and their treatment of elders differs from ours.  Reflecting on our past conversations, it makes sense that drinking is typically done in communal settings since their eating habits are communal as well.  Since the Chinese seem to have a more formal respect towards their elders, I see that it may be culturally inappropriate to consume alcohol in their presence.

While I expected Cindy to have some sort of experience similar to our tailgates, in relation to alcohol consumption, reflecting on the Chinese cultural practices and traditions has helped me understand why their drinking customs differ so widely from ours.

Conversation Partner Reflection - #4

Cindy came over to my apartment one evening, and I cooked dinner for her.  As you may recall, I was debating about what to cook for her.  I wanted to make something “authentically American;” however, I ran out of time and ended up throwing together a quick pot of soup.  Thankfully, Cindy is not a picky eater and ended up loving the meal.

Since our meeting revolved around food, it was only natural for our conversation to revolve around food as well.  We each talked about our customs revolving around having dinner with one’s family.  In my family, for big meals, everyone typically is in the kitchen, and each person is in charge of one dish.  When it comes time for dinner, we all grab our plates from the table, get our food buffet-style in the kitchen, and return to the dining room to eat.  This is the tradition that I grew up with because no one wanted to use the serving platters and have to wash twice as many dishes.

On the other hand, Cindy said that typically her mother and grandmother cook for big family meals.  When it comes time to eat, all of the dishes are put into the middle of the table, everyone takes their seat, and everyone begins to grab what food they want from the options on the table.  I originally understood this description as passing each dish around the table, each person taking what he/she wants.  However, Cindy meant that each person takes his/her utensils and grabs food from the center of the table. 

Maybe there is an order of who gets to put food on their plate first, but this seems chaotic to me.  However, I could tell that when I told Cindy about my traditions, she seemed confused as to why we walked around the house with our plates in our hands. 

I consider myself a fairly culturally aware person, yet it continues to amaze me how different our traditions are from one another in ways that I couldn’t have imagined.  From something so simple as eating, a human act that is required to survive, I can see how our values can differ.  Since my entire family helps cook the meal, it is unnecessary for us to present it in the middle of the table.  However, for her family, sharing out of a large dish enhances the sense of community amongst those at the table.