last week

I don't think I saw achieved what I wanted to through this class. I sort of wanted to be less discrimative, but I have not changed. Hard for me to change something I have been for quite awhile. I did learn a lot about different cultures and some interesting things about them. Learned actually a lot about the world and the different cultures through out our universe.

My Paper:

DJ Weismann

Ms. Weismann

Intercultural Communications

4 May. 2011

China Trip

     When my mom asked me if I wanted to go to China I thought she was putting me on.  Then she said I had to get a passport, this included going on my day off school to the post office and they only did them by appointment.  We did not have an appointment but the lady did take my pictures for it, of course that is when I realized this trip was going to cost me money.  Thirty-five dollars for two little pictures.  Then I had to go to the courthouse and apply for the passport, another one hundred twenty-five dollars.  This was in addition to the cost of the trip.  But, I was able to help a friend who is planning on going out of the country this summer because I already did this and could tell him what he had to do.  Later, I had to get two more pictures taken for my visa, but the cost of this was covered through fund raising I participated in.  I hate fund raising, I conned my mother into doing it for me.  Then I found out I have to take a class at the college (actually I started with three and dropped one due to conflicts.)  I had to get permission from my high school to miss school for two weeks. Unfortunately, I had to make up the class work before I left or take it with me because two days after I returned was the end of the nine weeks and I had tests.  However, I did get to drop Ceramics and have an off-hour because I was attending this class after school hours.  This added more class work to my time.  Oh and then I found out I needed to get some vaccines (Hep A) so I would not get sick due to the lower standards of sanitation in China.  Was it worth it?  Yes.  (I still need to get the rest of the Hep A series.)

     When people asked me what I was going to do in China I told them, I was going there to eat Chinese food.  Which was not a lie, I did eat Chinese food.  However, I did not drink the water.  Food was good.  We have a Chinese restaurant in Dickinson I really like and the food they serve is the same.  Now the water situation, we are so lucky to have water purification in the United States.  And I do appreciate what the employees at the water department do for us.  Eating with chopsticks is an adventure that I suppose I could have done at home but in China, I had to.  At home, I eat with a fork and poke into my food.  This is a big no-no in China.  You do not poke into your food with a chopstick and you do not lay your chopstick on the plate.  There is a special utensil you lay your chopsticks outside the plate.  I had fun with Vinny putting a toothpick in the food and picking up the toothpick with chopsticks.  Why, because I could.  At home, we buy food and freeze or can a lot of it.  In China, most of the food is purchased daily and prepared fresh. 

     Travel was another adventure!  I had never flown before.  I am glad I did not have to figure out where I was going.  I stayed in the pack (okay group) and let our leader be the guide as to where to go and what to do.  The initial packing was interesting, as some items had to be purchased before we went so I would not have to get them later.  I had to call my mother to find my razor, good thing it was in my bag.  And, tissues because we would need toilet paper over there and would not want to buy paper each time!   Flying over we knew we could have 50 pounds in a bag two-carry ones, which could not be locked.  However, once in China we were limited to 44 pounds and one 11 pound carry on, the large one had to be locked and/or tied because we were flying between Beijing, Shanghai, and Hong Kong on Chinese airlines verses American. 

     We met up with a group from Pennsylvania, which I thought were a weird group of ducks except for to super tall Ed.  He was all right and the most normal (or what I considered normal) out of their whole group. He was about six-six, which was funny to see when he laid on the little Chinese beds!  Over their even my five foot seven frame is tall, so imagine how he stood out like a sore thumb.

     I was lucky to go with relatives, my sister (Kimmy) and uncle, Ed, also were on the tour.  Kim is a take-charge person and it was a good thing she was there to keep up in line (and to pick on).   I am a go with the flow – tell me what to do and I might do it.  Ed was in between, but follow his lead and you may not get too lost.  Really enjoyed sharing the trip with them. Some of the students went did not have that relationship to start but we had to make connections with all the members in some form from the beginning.  It is very different living with people and relying on them when you are learning about them as well as being in another country with them.  I met Howard, now he graduated from high school the year my mother was born but we found we could talk sports.  He is all right for an old guy. 

     The tours were okay.  My favorite was of the brewery.  I liked the taste of the beer also.  I was surprised to learn that the beer in China was stronger than in the United States.  Now that is something I wish I could have brought back with me.  I also liked the Great Wall of China.  And I think it liked me also because a piece of it got stuck in my shoe and came home with me.  Most tours were covered in our original fee and I think the companies were able to provide these to the tour company at a low price because they made money off the items they sold to tourists.  Yes, I got a little stuffed panda, jade Buddha, and silk boxers. 

     The exchange rate differed from Beijing and Shanghai, China to Hong Kong. Their money is different, not like here where a dollar is a dollar in Dickinson, as well as New York or Seattle.  I brought some of the money home to keep.

     The trip started leaving Dickinson on Monday, March 7 and traveling by car to Fargo, ND where the group got on a plane and flew to Chicago where we switched planes.  (This was my first airplane ride.)  We flew out of Chicago and went to Beijing, China.  After a couple days we flew to Shanghai, China for more tours.  Our last city to visit was Hong Kong where we flew after Shanghai.  It was the trip home that was tricky.  Our group was supposed to fly out of Hong Kong to Tokyo, Japan.  This was at the time the nuclear plant was attempting to have a meltdown, this was one week after the earthquakes and tsunami went through Japan.  I really did not think we were going to make it home.  I know Kim worked hard to change the scheduled flights and make us all safe and at the last minute our flights were changed and we flew to London.  Once in London, our group got split and we were then on different flights and airlines.  We flew to New York, JFK Airport and stayed over for a few hours in a hotel.  Then the groups flew to Chicago and finally Fargo, ND.  I was extremely happy to get home. To be completely honest , I didn’t really expect anything from China or it to be any different than I thought it would be. I was kind of disappointed in the food. I thought the food was going to be really different and good. It wasn’t any different than the chinese restaurant in Dickinson. So, simply put China was how I imagined it.

       I would go to China again.

Hello

The movie really made me happy that we have people who are willing to put their time, money, and kindness to help other people from a different country or culture. This movie showed a lot of heart that people even have for U.S.A. Those boys that came over where down right psyched to come and live in the US of A.

I do not quite understand the article I received in the email. It was all very confusing to me.

I am fine with people coming and going for travel and living in different countries to live. I am not really fine with the fact of everyone (doesn't matter who they are) transferring Stds or other health related problems around.

The work problem makes sense because some countries don't have as many opportunities at jobs then some other countries. The economy, I feel like countries economy are being split up or affected by migration. The health is one subject I feel like is being affected the most because of migration. Living situations were affected at one point when race had their own certain places they could be. I don't feel like war is affected at all, because when other people travel to another country there isn't war or conflict just starting because of that.

I Hate Snow

It is snowing our right now and I am not liking it. Hi Matt.

First of all, Thank you Matt for being a speaker. You showing up and talking to the class really got me thinking about a lot of things. Thank you.

The show Handi-Man kind of bugged me not going to lie. It did in fact show how mean some people can be example: When that guy in the clip was tripping handicapped people. It got to me a little bit.

To be completely honest, I think everyone has a disability or handicap of some sort. I sort of know how it is. I am dyslexic, which makes me almost have to work just as hard just to get the concept of some things. I had to relearn how to walk when I was seven years old, because of surgery. I just over came that one, but haven't fully overcame dyslexia.

The beauty people seek is not the beauty that shows. Would you rather have someone that isn't interesting at all, not nice to talk to, and self centered, or someone who is the nicest person, most interesting person you could talk for hours, and cares about others?

I feel like most people just make fun of disabled or handicapped people, because they don't know how to approach the people. They feel like they are going to say something wrong and look like a jerk.

Be yourself.

Treat everyone like you would like to be treated. Oldest saying ever preached, but the best saying in the world.

Sexual Orientation

When it comes to Don't Ask Don't Tell for the military. I think this is a joke. You shouldn't have to hide if your are homosexual or bisexual. The government shouldn't have to worry about this. It's not like they are hurting anyone we are all equals and everyone should be treated as equals and not pointed out.

I do not really understand how Lesbians say they aren't gay. My definition of homosexual is same sex, where one sex is attracted to the same sex person(s). I might not be right on my definition or something is wrong. I am just baffled by what they mean they aren't gay.

This is has been going on for years when people get fired or aren't hired for a job when the employer hears the person they are hiring or firing is homosexual or bisexual. This is down right outrageous. First off people wouldn't hire people of different races now its they won't hire people because of their sexual orientation? What is this world coming too? When will everyone just figure out everyone is equal in the community?

In Islam the women praise the men. I don't believe in this, but Islamic is my religion. They have been doing this for thousands of years and I fee like we are starting to get a culture change out of the me especially when they visit the US. It is a little ridiculous when they give a bunch of privileges to the men and not women. No showing affection or dating is kind of scary because if you do it you could almost be killed.

Truthfully, I don't believe in men's privileges. I've been preaching almost this whole blog how I think everyone has equal rights and I believe in that.

The movie Middle Sexes really made me think about what Ed was talking about. I believe everyone should do what they want to do. No one should be able to hurt you at all because they don't understand. Most people make fun of other people for these reasons because they don't understand. I am going to be completely honest. I have never really heard of this until now and it scares me. I understand it happens, but it seems like it tears families apart. If i were ever to settle down and have a family, I would pray day and night for my kid never to turn out like that. It might be terrible of me to think that way and I am sorry, but it scares me.

Speaker

Ed, the speaker last week really got to me. Ed seems like a really cool person. When he told us about his condition I was wondering what it was. Ed is a very brave and courageous person to share his condition with others.

Meeting Ed in class really made me think in the inside never to judge anyone different, because how would you like it if someone picked on you. Ed was an outstanding person to meet last week. I am still not totally aware what he all has or what was said, but still opened up my eyes to his condition.

I am very proud of Ed. He is a trans-gender person working towards his goal of being a lawyer. Sort of sad that his parents didn't fully understand right away and were pushing him towards being a girl, but Ed said this is what he is going to do and worked towards that. I respect this guy totally and everything he does. I wish all luck towards his surgery.

My Snacks

Kuchen is the German word for cake. Kuchen, the famous German cake is also very famous Chile from early German settlers. Usually made with all sorts of fruits and cinnamon on top of the Kuchen.

Borscht is From the Ukrainian origin that is also very poular within Europe. The main ingredient that all borscht has is the beet. THere are some borscht soups that do not need beets, these soups are usually tomato based. Borscht usually contains: beets, potatoes, cabbage, carrots (other vegetables) and meat. There are also different kinds of broscht types, vegetarian (just take the meat out), regular, tomato based, and green borscht.

I'm Back

I think the health in Kenya or just Africa is kind of sad but its their culture. A lot of people in Africa are diagnosed with AIDS and then some of them later dwon the road die of the disease.

Reading the McDonald's article doesn't surprise me at all. It doesn't surprise me that McDonald's is everywhere and is still building chains around the world as we speak. I am pretty sure they have some different stuff on the menu from which I have seen through the window in China. I can see McDonald's in China being a little more expensice than the US because US has a lot more beef than China does.

The Ache video didn't really load well but what I got out of the visual was that the people really depend on roots or what they can find in the wild.

The Jewish video really made food look tough to make. There is so many rules to making it. If any knid of meat or something touches the dough or what they are cooking they have to burn or dispose of. You have to make the foods a certain way. You can't use milk for the products. This makes me ask, what does kosher food taste like?