Week 6: Intercultural Interactions

Me with my mother(left), uncle(right), and his family.
I also realized smiling in pictures isn't exactly universal.

When you interact with someone from a different culture, I honestly have never seen it as all that big of a deal. Some people do see it that way, and it is partly true, because simple cultural differences like greetings and sayings can be awkward at times, like for example, when I went to Sri Lanka to stay with my mother and her brother/his family over the summer, I greeted everyone with a hug, because personally I’ve always felt that’s how you greet those you care about, just the way I was raised. They however, clearly felt a bit awkward about it at first, given somewhat of a surprised body language, and that amily there doesn’t feel the need to kiss and hug one another in general, because they are family, they love one another and that’s just the way it is generally. Given time though, everyone was actually really accepting of the way I’ve grown up, and they all kissed me on the cheek when saying goodbye and became just generally more accepting of the way I did things. I actually experienced the same thing- when my aunt saw I was playing a video game with one of my cousins during lunch, she went over to feed me herself, and I saw and sort of flinch, because that isn’t exactly something you’d consider normal….in America. My aunts explained to me that they really don’t see it as a big deal at all, again, you do it for those you care about, with family comes total familiarity and comfortability, to an extent at least. No locked doors or “private time” ever. And now, I see both sides and feel no real preference anymore. Personally, I feel that everyone has something in common, regardless where they might come from or what they particular story happens to be. Take, for instance, Kevin and I. We don’t even speak the same language, yet we actually have been able to get along perfectly fine, albeit after a bit of an awkward patch at first. All my life I’ve been interacting with people from a different culture, whether it was American or Sri Lankan, because I simply don’t have an incredibly vast amount in common with wither- yet, it’s never been an issue for me. Though I admit, I might be a little more apathetic about these things than some others out there. The thing is, some people really do live what you might call “polarized lives” in terms of culture. I think for people like this, for example, a Sri Lankan family who might tend to make friends and attend events exclusively with other Sri Lankan families, and not altogether expose themselves or their children(at home, at least) to other cultures, may have a harder time getting along with someone growing up in a different climate, exposed to all different aspects of life- be it interests, language, religion, or whatever the case might be. I, on the other hand, have always been somewhat of a mixed bag in terms of the cultural influences that are prominent in my life, so I feel that yes, I am “culturally competent” enough to fill out the basic definition of the word, or the ability to communicate or just get along with those from other cultures and backgrounds. Someone like my mentee Kevin, on the other hand, may not have as easy of a time getting along with just anyone, and might seek out people that he considers to have interests/background similar to his own, simply because what might be deemed his “comfort zone” is considerably smaller than, say, someone like me, who was raised as a young child in a completely different eastern cultural scene, and grew in up the “world” we know today, seeing and perceiving things the way one might say an “American” does, because of nothing other than the prominent influences exerted on any given person on any random day in our cultural climate. Like I said, a mixed bag. 

Me and Kevin...he's probably happier than he looks.