Matt Zanis CP#1

         For my conversation partner requirements, I have been taking part in the cultural workshop organized between both the CIES and TEFL programs. Outside of the three fellow TEFLer's in my group, I was joined by Maria from Columbia, Naumann from Pakistan, and Salem home country seems to be escaping my memory at the moment but I will be sure to include in my next post. The first thing we discussed was just the simple greeting and the differences across cultures. When talking about it with the group it seemed to me that the American greeting was much more impersonal. Just a simple hand shake and "how's it going?" with no real answer expected. As in the other cultures the greetings were accompanied by either a kiss on each cheek, or simply cheek to cheek. The other difference we spent a lot of time talking about was the trend for American children to leave their families at the age of 18. It was something I had never really thought of as strange but our fellow group members were astounded by it. I really enjoyed the first work shop and look forward to next Tuesday.