Katherine-CP#1

I admit that I was a little nervous going into my first culture workshop class. Being in a small room totally crowded with people from all walks of life was not only intimidating, but actually a bit scary (mainly because I'm shy by nature and it can take me awhile to "warm up"). I was put into/joined a group that was more diverse than the others. One member was Min who was an intern in one of my classroom observations from earlier that day (yay! a familiar face!). The two other CIES students were both women from Vietnam and Saudi Arabia. The two TEFL students were also diverse from me. For starters, they are both male and from two different ethnic backgrounds with very different experiences growing up. It made for very interesting and valuable conversation since every single member of the group is so diverse from one another. As one of the students pointed out, it was neat to hear differing opinions on American culture. Three people, same place, very different experiences and view points. Everyone was able to find several similarities with every other person. For some, the realization that other cultures also use the lunar AND Roman calendar was very important. We all bonded over New Year traditions and the cultural emphasis on starting fresh each year. One of the students in my group was also quite shy, but all the other members were very out-going and got even us to talk quite a bit. I was impressed with how informative and valuable this short hour was. I knew going in that many of my existing stereotypes/conceptions/etc would be proven false, but no where near to the extent I experienced. Its like controlled culture shock. Everyone in my group seemed to benefit dissecting their culture(s). I am so glad I signed up for this!