Culture

Today I was sitting in the library doing homework, then after my homework was finished I started checking some Primitive Tim stuff.  I sat down to write this blog and I would write a paragraph then decide I didn't like that topic and delete it all and start on something else.  To say the least, I was lacking inspiration.

Inspiration came and sat down right next to me.  He came with a foreign accent, so naturally I asked him where he was from.  I like to welcome foreign folks to my country.  His reply caught me off guard.  "Turkey" was his reply.  Without skipping a beat I replied, "ah sen Turksun?"  Talk about caught off guard!  The poor young man was very surprised.  He could see that I was a normal American dude but I just spoke his native tongue in a convincing accent.  Gurhan is his name

So the topic is culture and I believe it is very important to be culturally aware.  Now, I had lived in Gurhan's culture and as it turns out we may have even ridden the same bus together, having lived in the same city.  Immediately I could relate to Gurhan in culture, language, and humor.  After chatting laughing with him for a few minutes I felt comfortable enough on a personal basis that I could show how we're culturally very different.  We quickly became facebook friends and he was exposed to all the snakes, spiders and other creepy crawlies that I catch on a regular basis.  By the look I saw on his face he was pretty well creeped out.  This is a man in his twenties reacting to a picture of me holding a snake similar to how my grandmother might react.  Turks have a special fear of snakes more so than most folks on America.  However, he had met me personally and saw that I wasn't a nut case like my facebook might portray and listened to me explain how they weren't venomous and totally harmless.

It was really exciting to me how I could relate to someone so quickly just because we are both part of a culture that nobody else around us is from.  That instant relation was jut incredible.  If any of y'all haven't had that much cultural experience you more than likely know somebody that is or you can meet someone that isn't from around here.  You have no idea what it means to foreigners when you take an interest in their culture, language, or country.  We all represent our different countries to other countries.  We want these foreigners to go home and tell their friends and family how nice the Americans were... because we are nice!