What I learned in China

This spring I took an educational tour of China. This tour was meant to teach me about the country of China in general, along with the culture that the people live in. The most important thing I learned when on this tour was just how crowded China really is. I also learned how the people and the government deal with the overcrowding. China does not have much space for its more than one billion people, but somehow it seems like a peaceful place. Having such a high population gives china a very large workforce. With the government funding the building, many people can be put to work on one project. This allows the Chinese to finish a project in months when the same project would take years in the united states. First, I will discuss space.

            Space is at a premium in china. There are many people and not much room. Because of this, the cities have built up. Shanghai was all skyscrapers as far as I could see, and most of them were apartments. If not in an apartment, the Chinese live in hutongs.

            A hutong is a set of four buildings with a shared courtyard. Typically there is one family in each building, but some of the more wealthy families can have one to themselves. Around the hutongs are many shops and stores where things can be purchased for use in daily life. The stores in china are very different than those in the united states because of the limited space.

            Shops in china are very departmentalized. Think of the local Wal-Mart, each department is in a different part of the store. In china, each store is a separate department. At one store you may find meat and poultry, in another you might buy house wares. Each shop is usually owned by a family, and many of them live very close to, if not in, the shop that they own. This makes the shopping experience in china a unique one.

            When shopping in china, the first thing you do is look at the store’s display to see what kind of things they sell, chopsticks for example. When you see something you may want, you simple point. After that, the salesperson will show you a calculator with the price typed in. If you do not accept their offer, then you type your offer into the calculator. This is all done very close together. The salespeople will be standing toe to toe with you and they will get in your way to attempt to get you to purchase something. In the united states, this aggressive sales technique would result in some very harsh words, or worse. The sales people will always bother you, as they are very aggressive and they will get in your space.

            When I was shopping for the first time I was trying to be very polite to the salesmen, but I learned being polite was difficult because the sales people would not leave you alone. So what I started doing was not look at the salesmen, and just completely ignored them. I felt bad at first ignoring them but that is the only way a person could just look, or simply grab what they needed. The way people travel in China takes a while to get around.

            With lots of people in China it is hard to get from one place to the next. When we were on the tour bus it took a high amount of time in only not in that many miles. The same thing with walking, but with walking a person has more of an advantage. I found it interesting that in China if you push someone to get through they do not really mind. If a person was in the United States and push someone to get through. The person would get really mad. That just goes to show how different the culture is in China compared to the culture in the United States.

            The people in china seemed to be very passive. They were mostly quiet and reserved, their culture values continuity more than self-centeredness. In the united states a person may get angry with a salesperson being so aggressive and will make his anger known to all those around him with loud angry words. In china the people will quietly accept what is happening and make every effort to keep a good relationship with those they see.

            When our group went to one of the Universities in China. We were able to talk among the students. And the person that I was talking to said a word to me that I do not remember how to say. This word meant that I was very quiet. Which is a very good thing in Chinese culture for a women to be. I thought that was really cool. I was able to somewhat be a good part of their culture when I was there. In the United States if you are quite people usually think something is wrong with that person.

            Part of the reason for this is their strict government. The Chinese government does not take lightly to people who are aggressive in their opinions and actions. China has very strict weapon laws, and harsh punishments for those who do not obey. This governmental control allows the country to achieve goals impossible to other countries.

            With all of those people and a government that rules as strict as China’s, they are very good at getting things done. Specifically, building. Construction is very important in china, everywhere we went we saw new buildings going up, and old ones being repaired. With so many people working on one project, it gets completed much faster than in the United States.

            China’s population is very massive. But in Chinese culture it works out for them. Even though I might not fully understand how. I would have to say the United States is very spoiled. Which I do not mind at all. I really enjoy my space and privacy.

            I am very glad that I was given the opportunity to go on an educational tour with Williston State college and community. Going to China has opened my eyes to many new things. I never realized how different another culture really was until I went to China. What we should have done was taken the China classes the first semester of college that way we were more prepared. Having the classes this semester did work out and did help out a bit. I really enjoyed taking intercultural communication class I learned a lot about different cultures, it was a very fun class even though I did not do so well on my assignments for class.

           

           

           

             

Freedom Writers

I was afraid that this move was going to be an oldy and it was going to be very boring. But to my surprise it was a very good movie, and it was not an oldy. Also the movie was late because of me not Vincent even though it was under his name.

The movie starts out with a new young teacher and she teaches freshmen and sophomore English. The class that she has is very difficult at first the kids are always getting into fights, they have there own little groups.

The kids in the Freshmen and sophomore classes in the movie were brought up their entire lives being told that know one except their own culture could understand them, but as they read about the horror stories of others they realized that they were not alone. They learn caring for others can be hard, and probably learned a lot more then we may not understand.

 There is a scene where Eva goes into a convent store and one of the guys in the car which she was with try to shoot a guy and missed and shot the guy behind him. Eva runs out and jumps in the car and drives away. The guys that shot the guy said it was the guy in front of him. Getting that guy into trouble and Eva was the only one who really saw what actually happened. So it was up to Eva to tell the judge what happened.

Then the next day in class there was a kid who had drew a picture of one of the guys in the classroom with a big nose. The teacher gets a hold of it asking them if this was funny. Then she gets into talking about the Holocaust. The students did not know what it was. So she decided the next class time she would teach them. So she goes and talks to the vice Principal about using some books and she would not let her. She said that they were not smart enough to read these books, and plus they would tare them up. So the teacher could not get any help from the school. So she decides to  take matters into her own hands. She got another job so she was able to get books for the students. And takes her kids on Field trips so they can learn more. Her students eventually start using respect and are determined to learn more.

She asks her students to write in diary's. They could write whatever they wanted. If they didn't want her to read it then they could just flash the page to her to let her know it was done. And if they wanted her to read it they could put it in a cabinet where she locks so no one else can read them. To the teachers surprise all the students left there dairy's in the cabinet.

When it came time for Eva to testify she tells the truth. Which I think is very brave of her. I was so proud of her.

When it came close to the end of the year the students did not want a new teacher for the Junior year and senor year. So the teach asked if she could teach them the next years and of coarse the vice principal said no. So then she went to the school board and they said she could.

This movie was a very touching movie it shows how someone Else's culture can affect there lives in a big way and also other peoples lives. I hope that there are many teachers out there trying to make a difference just like the one in the movie.

I have made my goal for this class. I have learned a lot from other cultures. The first speaker we had in class was Anastasiya from the Ukraine came and talked with us about her experiences in both Ukrainian and American cultures. We learned Ukrainian is most influenced by there religion, which is mainly Catholic. They are focused on there eduction. They do not get to pick there classes like we do. There classes are picked for them. Those are the things I remember about Ukraine but there is a lot more to that culture.

 The second speaker was Mary Thurlkill she covered on Islam. They pray five times a day and the prayers were to purify themselves not just mentally but also physically. They can pray any where, most will us a rug, or anything that marks sacred place. There is much more in this culture as well. Then we did a family tree for class where we had to go find out where we came from and stuff we did not now about our ansiters. That was fun I learned that my family came from Germany, France, and England. And also my great grandmother was adopted.

We had two guess speaker in one class period. One from Canada, and one from South Africa. I found them both interesting. I learned South Africa was forced to feel ashamed of there culture by the Caucasians. The culture is still alive despite apartheid. The culture is still alive because people now are deliberately reliving their culture, they no longer feel ashamed. One of the problems they faced in South Africa was they have eleven officaical languages. The missionaries from the united States would help them learn because there schools would not. I learned  Canada has a prime minister instead of a president. Winters in Canada are allot colder than they are here in North Dakota. There are 33 million people in Canada. 

We had a guess speaker named Lauren Yellowbird.  He was born in white shield on ft berth old reservation. His tribe has lived in the North Dakota area for about 750 years. His Indian name is medicine horse, giving to him when he graduated high school. This is very important to there culture.

We had a guess speaker who goes by Ed. Ed is a transgender. I think I have learned more about this than anything else, because I never thought about it before. We learned how hard it is to go through this change, and how people react and how we should react to those people who are transgender.

The guessed speaker for this class was Matthew Peterson. He is one of the professors at Williston State College. He talked to us about disabilities. There are allot of things people should consider or not do.

I have to say I have made my goal with this class leaning wise. I have learned a lot. I have learned how to approach others who are different from me and not being offensive. I really enjoyed the class for the most part.

blogg...

For this day we watched a movie called the lost boys. It was about the lost boys left to Suedan to go to America to get an education and earn money to send back to there family. And that doesn't quit work out.  And the people did not do a good job telling them about getting a insurance for they vehcel. or let them now how to pay for there bills.

Discussions was fun like always especially when Vincent, Kara, and Matt go at it.

Snack

For my snack I chose holland rusks. They are toast like light airy and are as big as an english muffin. Ingredients
Wheat Flour, Glucose Syrup, Eggs, Sugar, Yeast, Salt, Vegetable Oil (Contains One or More of the Following: Palm Oil, Canola Oil, Coconut Oil and Castor Oil), Emulsifiers (Sodium Stearoyl-2-Lactylate, Soya Lecithin).
Warnings
Contains: wheat, egg, soy. May contain traces of sesame seeds.
(http://www.wegmans.com/webapp/wcs/stores/servlet/ProductDisplay?productId=390372&storeId=10052&langId=-1).

They come from the Netherlands, the Dutch.

week 11

The guessed speaker for this class was Matthew Peterson. He is one of the professors at Williston State College. He talked to us about disabilities. There are allot of things people should consider or not do. One thing is people should treat people with disabilities the same way they would treat any other person. There are disabilities that a person does not physically see. make sure you start with a normal conversion and expect one back in return, and adjust if you need too. There is allot of do nots that Matthew Peterson mentions,
1. Don't stare
2. Don't treat him or her like they are not there.
3. Don't make initial assumptions about some one's disabilities that are perceived lack there of.

I think that we all have our own disabilities. There are certain things I can do and somethings I cant do.  I really enjoyed having Peterson as a guess speaker. He is a great guy.

I liked the article "Being a teen in North American culture" Its talking a beauty and how It is different depending on the way you think beauty is or should be. And in this article it talks about the way we look at beauty in our culture.

Ummm...day 9?

For this week we watched  "Middle sexes, redefining He and She"  It was about sexuality in different cultures. I think the most intresting part of  movie was when they were talking about the ladyboys. When you look at them you would never guess that they were ladyboys. They looked like really pretty ladies. I found it intresting that men like the idea of  ladyboys.

 Also in the movie there was apart where there is a person that can go either way with there sex. I think that has to be so confusing. How stressful is that! It was amasing to see that they could have a close to normal life.

One thing that gets to me is people killing people because they are different, and because they are afread of what other people are going to  think about them. Also people with lost gender do not have much family support at all. Most of the time the will band them, not claim them. Also it is hard for most to find place to live or a good job. Sexuality is a big part of todays life.

Day something....after coming back from China

This day we had a guess speaker who goes by Ed. Ed is a transgender. The reasoning that I got out of what he said was he always felt like he didn't feel like he was in the right kind of body. He liked women, and always had dreams growing a maustach. And did not like what most girls did. He was so lost and confused and came down with the conclusion either commit suicide or change gender. He decided to change gender. which i personally thought was a good choice. His support  mainly came from his brothers. He's mother had a hard time at first but now is adjusting to it and asking him questions. He has a girlfriend she new him before he changed. She was very accepting about the change. he has been with her for 2 years now. It took awhile for her parents to adjust to it, but the way it sounds they are all getting along now. Ed had a hard time finding a job because paperwork wasn't done. He was homeless for 18 months, family wouldn't even help. In most of the country he could legally be fired for it. Housing, employers and even doctors can refuse service. There are still challenges. At the end of the day he has never been happier in his life. The  only moment of regret was the morning of the chest surgery, he looked at himself and decided to go for it. Lost all sensation in his nipples. I have to say this has been the most interesting guest speaker for me and very educational. It has opened my eyes a little more.

Day 7

We watched a video It was about a guy absorbing people. There are the same symbols that mean different things in different areas. The OK symbolist ok in some places. Anti-clock wise for crazy and clock wise for intellect. The smiling comes fear. So basically everywhere is different in many different ways.

If they are moving to Japan I think that we should be prepared to speak there language. But if they are just visiting at least no some basics.

It depends on the person why  they are getting a tattoo. some people just have them because they think they are cool, and others because they may have lost someone or had a hard time. So I think if the person has a prayer or someones name or picture of someone the tattoo says something about the person.

I think a person needs to learn the language of whatever country they are in. If a person wants to learn a different language the option should be open.

Languages disappear because people were not taught them. The only way to preserve languages is only if people want to. If it don't affect them then they probably wont.

I think the U.S.A should have one official language just so we can all understand each other. And have a stable government.

Day 6

On this day we had a guess speaker named Lauren Yellowbird. He was born in white shield on ft berth old reservation. His tribe has lived in the North Dakota area for about 750 years. His Indian name is medicine horse, giving to him when he graduated high school. This is very impotant to there culture.

He works at Fort union post as a park ranger. And he gets to tell people about his culutrue but doestn get very much time as he would like. His background, he is a descendant of Son of the Star. arikara chief. a very distinguished man. He is one man Lauren admires in all of history. Bear's teeth is on his fathers side, lauren studied culture and anthropology. bear's teeth was a very powerful medicine man. These are two main figures that he is tied to. the medicine lodge had a lot of things there, they were very spiritual people. He also is Part hidatsa, some people don't like to claim a certain heritage.

One thing they are famous for is in the 1800's little big horn battle. arikara was the main fighting scouting force for custer. sometimes arikara catch flak for helping custer. other tribes will come up to arikara and call them traitors two things remember growing up, mother corn and bloody knife. bloody knife was a scout. they had a lot of back and forth with the sioux. their village was attacked over 600 times over 6 years.

The things that they are trying to keep alive in there culuture is language, music, ceramonies, ediquitte repect visions of leaders.

When I was younger I always thought indians were cool because the had cool names. And when I was little my "Indian name" was blue bird. I think they are more intuned with nature. I wish people new more about them. I kind of want to learn how they dance looks and sounds like fun. But there is alot in this cultue I do not understand and I would like to learn more about it.

Holiday

The holiday I chose is from China it is called Dragon boat festival. It is celebrated on the 5th of the 5th month of the Chinese lunar calander.  “Legend of the Dragon Boat Festival's Origin At the end of the Zhou Dynasty, the area we now know as China had fallen into a state of fragmentation and conflict. While the Zhou dynasty had ruled for several centuries, several other states, originally feudal domains, tried to carve out their own kingdoms. The state of Qin would eventually emerge the victor and unify all of China under one rule for the first time in history. Qu Yuan served as minister to the Zhou Emperor. A wise and articulate man, he was loved by the common people. He did much to fight against the rampant corruption that plagued the court-- thereby earning the envy and fear of other officials. Therefore, when he urged the emperor to avoid conflict with the Qin Kingdom, the officials pressured the Emperor to have him removed from service. In exile, he traveled, taught and wrote for several years. Hearing that the Zhou had been defeated by the Qin, he fell into despair and threw himself into the Milou River. His last poem reads:

Many a heavy sigh I have in my despair,
Grieving that I was born in such an unlucky time.
I yoked a team of jade dragons to a phoenix chariot,
And waited for the wind to come,
to sour up on my journey

As he was so loved by the people, fishermen rushed out in long boats, beating drums to scare the fish away, and throwing zong zi into the water to feed braver fish so that they would not eat Qu Yuan's body.” (http://www.c-c-c.org/chineseculture/festival/dragonboat/dragon.html).

On the 5^th of the 5^th month Dragon boat festival. They have dragon boat races, and festival food and other activities. But the most popular that day of course is the dragon boat race. The boats are painted brightly and has fun designs on them, they look like a canoe. 

I wish we had a fun and cool holiday like this. Even though I probably won’t be the one of the people in the boats, I think it would be very fun to watch. Or even decorate the boats.

Day 5

The video "Journey to Hate Free" Is a very good video that I think everybody should watch. The video starts out talking about peoples deaths, and how they could be prevented. The first story was on A guy named Matthew killed by a hate crime. He was a well liked guy. The reasoning for his death that I got out of the video was he was a homosexual. I think people should just stay out of other peoples business and leave others alone. If they are not harming you why harm them whats the point?

There was a part in the video about a man named James. They found his body with know head. The body was to bad that they could not tell who it was. They had to identify him by his finger prints. What they did was they took him to a dark back road and beat him up than they tied hes ankles to a chain on to the back of a pick up truck, and dragged him for two miles and they were swerving. It looked like he was trying to protect himself my using his elbows. He died when was decapitate on the culvert, then they dumped his body in front of a black church.  Its another hate crime.  This guy was very talented in the musical area and he also was a grandfather. It is sad to see people so ful of hate.

The last story was on a Columbine shooting. There were two kids dressed in trench coachs going around shooting other kids. There are so many of these kinds of hate crimes it makes me sad. How can people be so hateful.

Towards the end of the vidoe it talkes about ways that could help prevent hate. The first places that we need to start are with parents. Now days both parents are working and have no time for children, but parnets need to make time. Second place that can help is schools, teach children that there are different people in this world with different beliefs and values. Another place could be reliogion, let your kids know it is okay for others to believe in something else.

We had some articles that we were supposed to read. And they are on hate crime, and sterotype. People are targeting the ones who are different than others in there own way. People who are disabled, or are homosexual, who are not like them. Maybe not normal in there eyes. I think hate is a learned trait. I think if someone is angry they need to find away to get rid of the anger by not hurting others in the process. What I do depending on the situation when I get angry, I will go for a walk and scream when there is no one around, or ill play video games. There are many ways that we can avoid these crimes if people would just stop and think or go get help before they act.

Day 4

The speakers were both very different. The first speaker on South Africa was loaded with information to share and was talking so fast try to get it all in. I tryed to keep up, she had some very interesting information. The second speaker on Canada was a more layed back type of person very easy to relate to and ask questions just because he was more in our age group.

South Africa was forced to feel ashamed of there culture by the Caucasians. They became slaves in there own land. They used biblical principles to enslave the people, South Africa has 41 million, now closer to 60 million. More than 50 percent of the population is black ghandi brought indentured servants to work on sugar beet plantations from India. The culture is still alive despite apartheid. The culture is still alive because people now are deliberately reliving their culture, they no longer feel ashamed. One of the problems they faced in South Africa was they have eleven officaical languages. The missionaries from the united States would help them learn because there schools would not. Another problem that the Africa faced were aids and thousand of there people died. The culture is very musically orientated. They used music to help them get through the hard times. To get married a man would bring ten cows to trade for his women to show that he was wealthy. The food that they would eat would be grits/cream of wheat, it would be dry and lumpy they would put gravy on it. South Africa to day has 21 university's open to everyone.

Canada is big on hockey everybody in Canada plays hockey. The winters are colder and snowier than ours is. There are 33million people in Canada. Drinking is not enforced in Canada like it is in the USA . A person can start drinking at age 18 or 19 depending on what part of Canada you are in. Hunting rules are different then that are in the United States. Hunting starts at age 12, need hunters safety. 12 year old cannot be in a bush without a person whoa PAL card. In Canada they do not have to worry about health care because there taxes will cover it. The police are not as strict as thet are here. Military is not even close to as good as the United States. College is a lot harder in Cananda because there are alot more students, and the professor treats you like a number.

Day 4

There were two very interesting speakers this day. One talking about South Africa, she was very fast when she talked but she had so much information she wanted to tell she tryed to make sure we got most of it. I hope I got a good enough grasp on it. They Other was On Canada he was more layed backed and we could relate to him more because he was in our age group.

South Africa the Caucasian invaders forced the Africans to feel ashamed of there culture. They made them slaves in there own land. They used biblical principles to enslave the people, south Africa has 41 million, now closer to 60 million. More than 50 percent of the population is black ghandi brought indentured servants to work on sugar beet plantations form India.The eventually came to an agreement that they would live together with mutual respect. There are many other problems in South Africa they had to face Aids and lose over a million of people. Also in South Africa there are eleven official languages. And if you wanted to get married a man would offer ten cows for you. And if you were married the women would have red dots on there four head. In South Africa today that have 21 colleges that anybody can go to.  In Africa they would eat grits/cream of wheat that was dry and clumpy they would and gravy on top of it.

Canada is a hockey country everbody in Canada plays hockey. Canada has a prime ministor instead of a president. Winters in Canada are alot colder than they are here in North Dakota. There are 33 million people in Canada. The drinking laws are not as strict as they are here in the US. In Canada you can legaly start drinking at age 17 or 18 depending on what part of Canada you are on. Also the police are not as strict as they are here in the US. Hunting is also different. Hunting starts at age twelve, need hunter safty, then can buy muzzle loader, rifle and archery tags, twelve year olds cannot be bush without a person who has a PAL card.The only tags to apply for is draw. You can shoot deer almost anytime a person wants to. In Canada they trust people they dont lock there houses when they are gone or even their car doors. They do not have to pay for healthcare because they pay it through taxes. There military is not near as good as The united states. And most of the jobs out there in Canada is farming.

Family tree part 2

Most of our values come from our religion. In our family, family is always first, and you always put others before yourself.

Family tree

Where do I come from? Well I only know partly where I come from. Considering I do not know my father.

I'm going to start with my grandmothers side. First of my Great grandma was adopted so the only information I have is from her adopted parents side. And They were form Germany. They came to the United States on a ship in 1850. There religion was Baptist and Methodist. They came to the United States too farm and make money.

On my grandfathers side They were from France and England. And there religion was Mormon. Grandma had mentioned that on grandpas side she believes that their were kings and queens, but she wasn't sure.

And that is all I could find out about my Family. Wish I new more.

Day 3

The speaker for the day talked about Muslim religion. I found it interesting that they pray five times a day and the prayers were to purify themselves not just mentally but also physically. They can pray any where, most will us a rug, or anything that marks sacred place.

I think the most interesting part of class is when we were talking about polygamy.
I like how the professor addressed to the class that latter day saints do not do polygamy any more. I was raised as a mormon and I usually do not let people know that just because people start questing me about polygamy. And most of the time I do not know how to respond just because I do not follow up on my religion. But I do like hearing what others think about my religion, it can be very interesting.

Having a speaker in class about another culture is a very good idea. I really enjoyed learning more about Ukraine. I found it interesting that they go by the older calender, and have Christmas in January. The Videos for the day were interesting. I wish that they were more up to date. So the class discussions are fun. I mean I never say anything, but its very interesting to listening to peoples views on things. And man do people get into it.

Goals

The first goal that i have for this class is to learn how other cultures are different from my own. My second goal is to learn enough about others cultures so I know how to approach someone and not offend them or feel acquired.

What I would like to get out of this class is how to socialize with other cultures without offending anybody.