Post #5

Over the past couple of weeks our class began studying the impact American Culture has on us Americans. I believe American's now a days are afraid to chase love because to them getting a promotion and working all your life is better then feeling "loved."Although many people can disagree with that it's very clear that many Americans don't like to think about how things impact us but instead move on with life as if nothing happened. The traditional culture in America is to forget our loved ones and move on with life but, in my culture we like to mourn the deaths of our soldiers and even keep that person in our head because it wasn't morally right to block out that person from your mind. Americans value many things in life but, none of them stop and think about the overall picture and how it impacts us majorly. For example in the TED talk by Chris Jordan, he brings up epidemics in America and explains how we have lost our national expression of America and how each year our country begins to negatively change. I agree with Chris because it almost seems like our country forgot about the pride it took by our Soldiers to help bring this place to peace. If people began wanting "change" then maybe we would see some change in America behavior wise. If we saw a change in behavior then we might begin to get a sense of "ourselves" and our national pride. In the movie Tuesdays with Morrie, Morrie kept bringing up "if you learn to accept yourself and find use then you will live a happy life." What he means is that America is too busy working all their life for nothing and there too ignorant to accept the fact that their death is going to come therefore they should learn to accept that. In our culture we value Time because it's always good to be on time to Work, School, or even an event that has meaning to our life. In the movie, Morrie believes that you shouldn't worry about the time but rather make use in your life knowing your time is coming very soon. He was constantly giving advice in life which to me sounded very valuable and true.

Post #4

Over the past couple of weeks in Sociology we learned about Cultural shock, Gestures, Taboos, Norms, Values and how they can each effect the way we see the world around us.We also learned that each culture outside the US consists of different values and traditions which can make it hard for us to adapt. Cultural Shock can be best described as not being aware of the different traditions when you enter a unfamiliar area. For example in the movie "God Grew tired of us", the Lost Boys of Sudan experience a life they are unfamiliar with because to them tradition is different back home then when they arrive in America. Back at home they were living in the dirt poor area with nothing but little food and water to live with. Once they arrived with America, they soon began to realize how much more opportunity they have to make a living and pay for their own stuff. Also, on the airplane to America, the Lost boys were shocked the whole ride on the plane because in Sudan they don't get the same opportunity in the camps. Gestures varied world wide and can be misinterpreted very easily which can be a difficult situation to be in. One gesture can be carried on to another culture and mean something completely different for example, Japanese people tend to put their hand on their head which means they are embarrassed at something and to us it means that person is thinking something through. Taboos are things accepted but are not talked about for example, if my parent were to ask me if I'm going out so they could have some time to themselves. Although we know what they would do, it's not usually a good thing to be open about in a social environment therefore we call it "Taboo." After living in America for 14 years, visiting Albania again changes my perspective of life because the traditions are completely different therefore it takes some getting used to. In Albania it's socially acceptable to smoke at a younger age compared to America where it's illegal until your 18. As soon as you enter another country, rules change, norms become different, which takes some understanding to adapt to the change in an appropriate manner.