How Others See Us

Having the opportunity to study abroad in Israel is an amazing experience.  I am learning about the culture in Israel, the culture of Kibbutz Ketura, and the Arava desert through my diverse group of classmates, professors, Kibbutz members, and the desert itself.  I find it thrilling to learn of new cultures and ways of living.  Though my interactions with non-American classmates, I can also see them learning more about my culture which either adds to or disproves their notions of people from the United States.  With these interviews, I was able to directly ask my classmates about their perceptions of Americans and how they based their beliefs.  I decided to interview one Israeli student, one Arab-Israeli student, and one Jordanian student.

Each student had different perceptions of the United States, the people from the States, and unique experiences that helped build their perceptions.  My Israeli friend thinks that the United States is a very strong nation with a very capitalist society.  I thought it was interesting when she told me that she believes that the United States has too much political freedom.  She also mentioned that she saw the United States as having a lot of politics in the Middle East.  Her experience with people from the States came from interactions with friends of friends and from when she visited New York and Orlando.  My Arab-Israeli friend thinks that the United States is very similar to Israeli.  He lived in the United States for 3 years when he was in seventh through ninth grade.  My Jordanian friend perceives the United States as a country run by large corporations.  He believes that these corporations have more power than the government itself.  Like my Israeli friend, my Jordanian friend thinks that United States is a very strong nation.  He even said that the United States is the world leader and that everyone in Jordan wants to have the ‘American Dream’.  He has come into contact with Americans when his family hosted two American Students for a year and has worked with American engineering students while he was working as an engineer.

My Israeli friend knows Americans to be loud people.  She also stated that the States has a lot of famous people that are known around the world.  The Arab-Israeli student told me, “some of them can be really ignorant,” when he was referring to Americans.  He told me that when he lived in the States people assumed he was Muslim and that the Americans he encountered did not know that an Arab could be Christian.  He also recognizes Americans as more polite than people from Israel.  My Jordanian friend sees Americans as structured people.  He told me that they, “can’t do anything without a specific plan.”  Like my Arab-Israeli friend, he thinks Americans can be naive.  He then went on to explain all the good he sees in Americans.  He perceives Americans as organized, loyal, and independent.  He said, “[they] can do what they want to do whenever they want.”  I thought it was interesting that both he and my Israeli classmate think Americans are well educated.  I discussed this further with my Jordanian classmate and he told me that this view could have come from him only working with well-educated Americans through work and hosting them.

I also asked my classmates about their perceptions on American women expecting to get responses like easy or ditzy, – and one of my friends did say that at first—but what my friends did say pleasantly surprised me.  My Israeli friend told me that she believes that American women are strong; she is proud of American’s feminist movement and thinks it is a good example for the rest of the world.  My Jordanian friend stated something similar when he said that American women care a lot about other women.  He said he sees other women fight people who view them only as a piece of meat.  Both my Jordanian and Arab-Israeli friend see women from the States as open-minded.  My Jordanian friend went on to say that he admires how women from the States follow their dreams, have strong personalities, are kind, and can discuss any topic with him.

The final question I asked my classmates was if I or any of the other Americans here at Arava Institute fit their image of people from the United States.  My Israeli friend said that we do not exactly fit the profile; she went on to say that she sees each person as special.  My Jordanian friend told me that he sees us fitting his image, and he had many positive things to say about Americans.  I enjoyed talking to my friends about their perceptions of Americans and hearing both their positive and negative perceptions.

Improving perceptions of Americans through friendship.

How Others See Us: Kibbutz Ketura

Any travel brochure, book, or website one visits is full of the "stereotypes of Americans" Even one of the brochures given by Allegheny College to it's female students traveling abroad informed us of the "stereotypes of American women". Bearing this in mind, I was very curious to find out first hand what the opinions of Americans are, especially as I am living in the equivalent of an international community.

 

Above: Many members of my program

What was I Ieast surprised about? The views on American attitude and actions. Words my friends used to describe Americans included: "powerful", "loud", "outgoing", "tough", "ready-to-fight", and "obnoxious". I was then informed that I fit the stereotypes of loud and outgoing, which to me was even less surprising. 

What was the most surprising? The views on American students. "American students have much better ettiquete than Israeli students" one of my roommates told me. My jaw practically dropped from shock. She continued "You all show up on time to class". Another student chimmed in, "You raise your hands to speak". Then another "You are very polite!" It made me much more aware of the class dynamic and now I'm noticing this too. It was interesting to see that non-American students saw this while I didn't. Plus, it was a positive about Americans!! From everything I had been taught/read, nearly every culture views America negatively. It was comforting to hear a different opinion. 

Above: One of my classes

Intercultural Negotiations

Before I describe my observation on an intercultural differences, I would like to share a thought about the reading we had for this particular blog entry by Hybels, Saundra and Weaver II. The reading defines, discusses and gives many examples of intercultural communication and other related aspects of culture such as the six dimensions in studying cultural differences, the barriers of intercultural interactions and how to deal with such barriers.

However, most of the ways to deal with the cultural-difference barriers are defined as more likely to the apply to differences or comparisons between two cultures (the non-dominant and the dominant groups) and do not take into consideration the complexities within each of those cultures. Also, the six dimensions mentioned in this chapter seem to be binary oppositions instead of arranged along a spectrum: either individualism or collectivism, femininity or masculinity, etc. Therefore, in my opinions cultures are more complex than so, and I visualize most cultures as existing somewhere between, but not in the middle of those dimensions' continuum.

In other words, each culture can potentially have a little bit of both poles of a dimension.

Take my case: I am a Vietnamese whose home school is an American college, Allegheny College. Now I have gone on a further exploration of my study-abroad by attending James Cook University, Australia for one semester. This means that my observations and reflections in this entry and other future entries will be influenced by all of the three cultures (my past and present experiences).

Why did I decide to emphasize the idea of continuum when talking about cultures and my background? Because the topic here is intercultural differences, which I can choose to discuss as a South-east Asian international student, or I can choose to compare my experience in the States with that in my current host destination.

Through the lens of a foreigner, I found both America and Australia to be very similar to the point that when I first read the question, I did not know what to talk about. Both are more likely to be viewed as individualistic cultures where independence is an expected standard for most people, and individual growth is highly celebrated. In term of how businesses are run, both countries provide good services and take doing business seriously, as they do professionalism. Specifically, even education is viewed as business. As one of the representatives, who was in charge of running an orientation event, emphasized -- even though students pay for their education, we should take note that this is not like the other items a student would simply purchase, since this particular purchase requires a lot of students' time and efforts. I feel the same perspective can be applied to viewing the American educational system.

Through the lens of a person who has lived and adapted to America, and is now starting her new Australian journey, I found a difference between how the two schools conduct business. Perhaps most American schools' tuition fees are higher or more expensive than Australian schools because at Allegheny College, for example, the tuition fee covers almost all services and activities offered on campus including laundry, gym, athletic fees, student club member fees, printing charges, etc.. However, all of the services mentioned above are not included in the tuition fee at James Cook, and students have to pay extra at Australian universities if they need to access such services. So that is a major difference between the American and Australian schools.

Tuition fee covers only academic-related aspects at James Cook University.
Photo was captured during one of a session during Orientation Week
showing introducing students about how classes and lectures work.

 Nevertheless, when you come outside of the school system, some discounts available for students in opening a bank account, buying a mobile phone plan, or using public transportation in Townsville, Australia are not available in Meadville, America.

So, despite seeming to be similar at first glance, how the societies and cultures sun, show interesting differences, even if they fall within the same cultural dimensions mentioned in the reading.

Public transportation companies such as Sun-bus offer discounts for students.
Photo was captured at one of the Sun-bus system's bus stations.

References:
Hybels, Saundra, and Richard Weaver II. “Intercultural Communication.” Communicating Effectively. 10th ed. New York, NY: McGraw-Hill, 2011. 62-97.

Intercultural Negotations

Buenas! Costa Rica has been really amazing so far. We've spent a lot of time in National Parks exploring the local ecology on the Pacific coast from the dry forests up north to the humid forests in the south. Along the way, we've interacted with many Costa Ricans, or Ticos, as they call themselves. The culture here is reminiscent of home, with the biggest difference being that here the sewage systems aren't built to handle toilet paper, so you have to throw your used paper into a trash can. When I walk through the street, I do see and hear the attention of men more strongly than in my country, but as any Costa Rican woman would do, I pretend to notice nothing. The same thing happens in New York City, so really it's not anything new. The Costa Ricans are extremely patient and kind. When I am in a restaurant trying to order something but not sure how to express what it is that I would like, the waiter or waitress is very understanding and we're able to talk through my questions. Anyone is willing to give directions, offer a ride, or just greet you in passing on the sidewalk. Costa Ricans are definitely accustomed to having us gringos around though, because a lot of their economy is based upon tourism. As I passed sugar cane, banana, and pineapple plantations I also drove by countless tour buses and signs for adventure attractions. Although the culture here is similar to that of my home, reading "Intercultural Communication" informed me of a term called power distance, which is contrasting two cultures by measuring the social inequality present in each. While I think the power difference is very low, indicating that equality here is relatively widespread, the roles of women are more traditional and limited, such as women being cooks, maids, and sometimes cashiers or waitresses. When our class breaks down camp to load the truck or boat with our supplies and luggage, the men who drive the vehicles are always trying to take my load. I don't feel that as a woman I am unable to carry the supplies and load the truck, but I guess in this society the women would have a different role in packing. I don't think I've been in the country long enough and had enough interaction outside of studying biology in the field to decide whether women are unequal to men, but I can conclude that the roles seem to be separate and more traditional.

I'm excited to see what comes next in my adventures-- I've finally moved to a town, Monteverde, so I will be able to experience more Costa Rican culture. Cheers!

Intercultural Negotiations

After being in Australia for over a week, I have noticed many differences between the US and my host country. The largest difference would be the residential college life (like our residence halls) and conduct within. I wasn't worried too much about the language barrier although I was expecting local slang to be the most difficult to overcome. However, I quickly discovered there are many differences between how I conduct myself and how the Aussie's do. Haybel mentions that the culture we are raised in influences perception of everything and everyone we encounter (58), and I have certainly experienced this idea in my time here!

During O-week, we had many events planned not just by the university, but also our residence hall, Uni Hall. After 'Fresher' move-in day, we each found a bucket in our rooms with all kinds of things from the hall including a Uni Hall O-week event list, rules of O-week, and the 10 commandments of Uni Hall. One thing all the Americans noticed on the O-week schedule was that most of it involved alcohol in some way. From previous knowledge, I knew Aussie's liked to drink but was still surprised by the sheer amount of drinking involved in just 1 week at Uni. At one point, Hybels states that our actions and words reflect our culture because this is where we learned them and likely all we know (58). Because we Americans were raised to accept that 21 years old is the legal drinking age, we were not prepared for a setting where drinking was very commonplace as most uni students are of the 18 year old legal age in Australia. After a short Fresher orientation meeting, I found out about the hall spirit and unity along with the fact that O-week was basically an initiation for Freshers joining Uni Hall. It seemed as if the older hall members, Fossils, formed a pretty tight-knit group, so our O-week was basically a right of passage to become a member of the Uni Hall family. At JCU, the residence colleges compete with each other in sports like rugby, cricket and soccer each trying to win the ultimate prize, Fisher Shield. The Uni Hall mascot is the Dragonslayer and we even have a chant! I would describe the overall experience as a mix between the House Cup in Harry Potter and a fraternity in the US.

Uni Hall 10 Commandments and O-week (initiation) Schedule

 I am a member of a sorority at Allegheny and even though there is a lot involved in joining a Greek organization in the US, here there was open hazing, drinking and swearing going on at all the Uni Hall events. There were also many derogatory comments about women in conversations and our chant. I was definitely not prepared for any of this upon arrival in Australia! Many of the Australian's from Queensland seemed to be prepared and fit right in to the events that conspired, but some Australian's from other areas across the country were just as taken aback as I was. Hybel states, "...you must accept "what is, as is," in other words, accept whatever it is that the universe serves up" (73). I was originally horrified by the language that seems commonplace here, but I have decided to embrace it and accept it as the norm of the Aussie culture. Now that O-week is over, many of the Fossils are very nice, so again it seems as if we are a family similar to Greek life at Allegheny.

Although the conduct between people in the States versus Australia differs, a person willing to accept and adjust to new viewpoints will truly begin understanding the complex culture of a new country. I have learned in my short time in Australia to not be easily offended by derogatory remarks or the constant swearing. I have accepted that it is just part of the language here and is often not meant to be mean or upset anyone. Acceptance is a key factor in immersing oneself in a new culture and being able to enjoy it!

Hybels, Saundra and Richard Weaver II. "Intercultural Communication." Communicating Effectively,
     10th Ed. New York, NY: McGraw-Hill, 2011. 62-97.