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?

First Week of March

I couldn't hear the speaker that well. When I did hear her it was very glitchy. It almost made her sound like she was saying the same word at 100 miles per hour. If I was studying abroad with a Japanese student I think i would try to learn Japanese and teach him/her some English, so we could talk in either language.

The movie got me thinking about how different cultures and countries speak and it almost gets me thinking. Why are there so many different languages? I think a lot of tattoo's people get mean something. Example: Kim you have a tattoo that says 7/11 which was your wedding date. I have friends who have tattoo's of their name on their back, that doesn't make any sense at all. I also have friends that have tattoo's on their body with dates of deaths, this makes a lot of sense just showing their love.

Only reason I think we should have mandatory classes is because we have immigrants coming over and working not knowing what we are saying. I feel this way because when the Mexicans or Spanish people come over and get jobs you need a interpreter to tell what they are saying because they do not speak English. I do not think this would mess wit any cultures because they are learning a new language which can help them in many ways.

I think languages can disappear when they are from an older dialect that aren't taught as much as the main languages are taught today. Example: Catalan is a language in Spain, but since it is not the main language it isn't practiced, so the language is fading away slowly. Only way we could preserve a language is to have it practiced more within the community.

I don't know if we should have an official language for the U.S., but we should have one language that everyone can speak. You see the professional athletes that lived in a different country their whole life until they got drafted to whatever sport they play in the U.S. When they come over they do not speak one bit of English, but they are encouraged by the community and friends to learn English.

Two more weeks

What holiday I do not celebrate is May Day. May Day is May 1st, I do not celebrate this holiday because most people in America do not celebrate this. May Day is mainly a day in different countries where they celebrate politics and how long they have worked at their jobs or unions. Some countries celebrate May Day as the start of Spring or the ending of Winter.

The speaker really got me thinking on the racism towards Native Americans. When the speaker said that that one guy tried to guess his tribe, the guy guessed all the popular tribes before the speaker actually told hmi which tribe he was originally from. When the speaker said that that one other Native American was making fun of him because of his tribe. That shows you that there is more racism within the race than there is out of the community.

What I get from these readings is that we learn a lot from the Native Americans. They have teached us a lot in the past and are still teaching us today. When the colonists came over from Britain or where ever they came from they learned quite a bit from the Native Americans. They taught us how to hunt, build, stalk, trap, etc. What I also get from these readings is that there is a lot of poverty in the indigineous. It makes me feel like we either aren't helping them or they are not wanting any help from us.

The day after Valentine's Day

This blog will be a little difficult after not being able to finish watching class.

I agree with Kim on the name calling of different races. I agree with this because it isn't right to call people slang terms that really hurt them. WhatIi don't agree with is that its bad when a different race calls them that but they can call themselves and people within their race the name. Example: When a white person calls an African American a "nigger" it's wrong, but when another African American calls another a "nigger" thats fine? I am just stating this irritates me because it doesn't seem like it is showing the right reason of the word.

I also want to know when did being Jewish become a race? I am pretty sure being Jewish is a religion and lifestyle. Apparently after World War II, Judaism became a race. This makes no sense whatsoever.

I don't care what people believe in, homosexuals, bisexuals, or race. None of this affects me so it doesn't matter to me what people are or believe in. What bugs me is if your gay just come out of the closet and don't lie. You can really hurt people not being honest with them.

I am not just saying you have to be white to be racist. It feels like every race is fending for themselves. There is white power, black power, brown power, etc. What I am trying to state is that not everyone is treated equal based on race. You can have someone who is completely not racist. They still will have racist thoughts though and they will still feel like they are dominant over other people no matter what race. It is almost like a human instinct for power.

I don't remember the movie. They playback didn't work for me.

First Week In February

This week we had that one lady from South Africa. To be honest I don't really know what to write on here because she talked pretty fast and I couldn't really comprehend anything.

I did understand the culture is way different though. Learning that there is 11 main languages is kind of mind blowing because you don't usually see more than two or three. Then I remember her saying that they couldn't get a job until after college. When today is it is almost recommended to get a job around 14 and 15 years old. The sports aren't that different except that they don't have half the sports we have. They have cricket which we don't have here. As over there they call soccer football when we just call it soccer.

The guy from Canada actually made me realize a lot about Canada. I always thought Canada and U.S. were quite alike, but we are actually quite different. The laws aren't similar at all. Their speed limits or driving are by kilometers and kilometers per hour when ours are by miles or miles per hour. They praise hockey over any other sport. We have our professional sports. Hockey is their main sport they watch or play. Some play baseball or football like the Canadian Football League (CFL). Fun fact: Weston Dressler two time all state running back from Bismarck High School and then went to the University of North Dakota. Weston now plays Canadian football for the Saskatchewan Roughriders. The drinking age is different. To legally drink in the U.S. is 21 and in Canada it is 18 or 19 depends on where you are at. Not to sure about the drug laws. I do not remember what he said about the border though.

I see some of the readings are about women's rights. I respect this fully because women's rights were a great turning point in politics and life itself. Women's rights had a huge deal when it came to voting and even military. Life is making it harder for women though. It's hard to speak in a women's perspective because I am not one. Like the Glass Ceiling says that women get to one spot but are stopped in getting to the top of any place.

Affirmative action is saying that people are being turned down by jobs or mistreated because of their race, gender, or beliefs. This is really messing up our community because when you have people who feel mistreated or treated unfairly because of their culture or race. People have to overcome this and treat people of any race or belief to keep this world going around.

This is what I remember from class on Tuesday. I keep learning something new about different cultures each week.

Family Tree

I did my Family Tree assignment on my dad's mother's side, Charlene (Mueller) Weismann .  I interviewed her on her family from her parent's to some of their parents.
My grandma's parent's on her father's side were both from Hungary. Their names were Franz Mueller and Threasa Mosung. They came to the United States because they were promised a quarter of land. The loophole was though they had to farm the land for three years before it was considered theirs. If the wife wanted her own land she would have to build a house on her land and live in her own house while her husband lives in the house on his land.

My grandma's father was 13 years old when he moved here with his parents. He only got to go ot school until the 3rd grade. Most kids quit school after the 3rd grade to go to work. They came over on the S.S. Willehad, 1894 North German Lloyd on May 20, 1897. They settled on a farm North of Glen Ulin, North Dakota.

My grandma's mother's side were both from Speier, Russia. They came to the U.S. for the same reason. Their names were Nik Kuhn and Anna Hoerner. For some odd reason I do not know if it is true but they were on the same boat as the Muellers.

My grandma didn't know too much about her grandparents except for Nik's parents. Nik's father died in Russia and his mother was getting older so she just stayed. Nik went over there three times to visit his mother. They wrote each other a lot. Nik sent money with his letters, but his mother never got any of the money. The Russian embassy went through the letters and took the money and only gave Nik's mom the letters. Nik's mother died of starvation.

To become a citizen they had to sign a lot of papers. They had to sign a declaration of the intentions to become a citizen. Had to sign a Homestead Application to apply for their land. Homestead proof where they had witnesses that witnessed the signing of the contracts. Their applications had to be signed by the President of the United States. All of their Applications were signed by Theodore Roosevelt.

They all lived in a village, but in the morning went out to the farms.

This was my interview with my grandmother. Not a lot of information but I thought it was interesting learning about her parents' origin. They all spoke German and had to learn how to speak English. Something that isn't seen as much today. That is all my grandmother told me.

Week 3

This week in class I gave my values presentation. Well I gave some of my presentation but I cutted out during my presentation, so Tony finished my presentation for me. Thank you Tony for doing so.

Now this week in class we had that one lady from Ole Miss talk to us about the Muslim Culture. I actually learned quite a bit from this lady. The Muslim isn't totally different than our culture today. They have some rules and holidays we do not celebrate. They have Ramadan which I sort of knew about but I didn't know that if you were pregnant or taking care of a infant you can eat and take in liquids. I had a history class last semester we learned about the Vietnam War. We learned that the famous Muslim boxer Muhammad Ali was actually drafted into the war but refused because war was against his religion. I thought the lady from Ole Miss was very interesting and I leanred a lot Tuesday from her.

When we talked about the Religion Readings I found out polygamy isn't practiced by the Mormons. This surprises me because out of any culture I would expect it from the Mormons especially. I didn't really understand the Freemasons as much.

The World's Culture

Everyone in the world is different. You will not meet one person who is alike in any kind of way. Everyone has a different culture and different beliefs. There is a lot of discrimination and hate in our world. Why is this? What makes our culture so much better than someone else's culture?

We watched the video in class that was about other people's cultures and it asked what they wanted to be called. To be honest with you this video didn't make any sense to me. The people in the video went around and asked different people of different race what they wanted to be called. I don't see what this video was suppose to teach. I can see how they ask because they are called a lot of different names or racist names.

Our class discussion hit me in the head pretty hard. I knew there were a lot of cultures in our world. I didn't know that people had cultures based on what they do, example: video gamer. I figured a culture was just where you were from or what you believed in, but its not all based on that.

I thought the speaker was a very nice lady to come in and tell us about her country and culture. I learned a lot from her. I learned that Ukraine is quite a bit different than the U.S. In their schools they do not get to pick their classes the school board issues them their classes.Their holidays aren't that much different, their dates are just different.They are very different when it comes to food. They don not have a bunch of fast food like the United States does. I was puzzled by the religion. I thought the Ukraine would have a lot of the same religions, but they practice a lot of Orthodox.

 Our culture differs a lot from other cultures.

Killings is Egypt

Could you ever kill someone because they do not have the same religion as you? Not to long ago there was a shooting in Egypt because of this conflict. to be more specific it was a drive-by shooting outside of a Christian church. None of the newspaper articles or associate press had a valid date of the killing. Mohammed Ahmed Hassanein, also known as Hammam al-Kamouni to his friends. was the killer. Six Christians were killed and a Muslim guard was also shot.

At a different church on New Year's Day a Muslim suicide bomber entered a different Christian church and set off his explosives. This explosion killed 21 Christian followers.

The Christian community in Egypt is out number by the Muslim religion. Christianity is only about 10 percent of the whole population. So, what is being said is the Christianity religion is the minority of Egypt.  An Associated Press article on January 16th of this year said that the Egyptian government convicted the man who is Muslim.  A mention was made of a rape of a Muslim girl by a Christian man.  What the two had to do with each other other is not explained.  I think it was because they were both based on the two religions and that they do not get along.

Mohammed quotes "I am a victim, I did not do it."  I think he did it.  It reminds me of the Jewish people in Germany when Hitler was in charge.  The killings remind me of the gang shootings that happen.

What do you think?

The article, 'Egypt church shooting attacker gets death sentence' can be found at: http://nytimes.com/2011/01/17/world/middleeast/17egypt.html?ref=egypt

Title

My main goals for this class is to learn about different cultures and to also understand my culture a little more and compare it to other cultures. I would love to leave this class knowing a lot more about other cultures in the world and how they compare to the culture I see daily.

I would have to say my expectation for this class would have to be to learn something about the world. I am in high school we do not learn about cultures, we just learn about post wars and a country's government. I would love to get something from this class so when I am off to college I know a little more about other cultures and how I can relate and understand people from other areas of the US and the world.

I thought the video was a very good at showing how people discriminate other people before they really meet them. It showed how confusing it is when two people of very different cultures meet and don't have any idea about the other one and they miscommunicate. I think the video probably could have showed a little more about the discrimination that happens in our country and how its wrong to judge other people before knowing anything about them.  This video got me thinking about discrimination and cultural differences.