Personal Narrative: My Disparate Cultures

My “outside” cultural influences I have: America is one of the most ethnically diverse countries in the world culturally. We have German-Americans speaking German, Filipino-Americans speaking Tagalog, Irish-Americans speaking Irish, Scandinavian-Americans speaking Norwegian, Swedish, Danish, etc., Welsh-Americans speaking Welsh, Japanese-Americans speaking Japanese, Iraqi-Americans speaking Arabian, Mexican-Americans speaking Spanish, and all Americans united in the common goal to create the best possible nation in accordance with our Constitution.

My bucket filled with images represents my surface and deep culture unique to me. I found out where I got my passions and which people influenced my culture, and what I need to do to continue to keep my culture and faith to be something I’m proud of.

“Don’t let the Arab play dodgeball with us. He might try killing us.” As I looked around exasperatedly for the origin of this voice, I was greeted with a barrage of laughter. I did not have the cultural or linguistic qualifications to be deemed Arabic. Nor could my long, spindly arms cause harm. Yet, slowly, and in unison, each of my new sixth-grade classmates turned to stare at me. “Hey Arab, wipe that target off your forehead,” someone called out. I quickly realized my verbal assailant had mistakenly connected my tilak chandlo, a distinct Hindu forehead marking, with his own misinformed understanding of “Arab-ness.” My first lunch period ended with a bloody nose and a seat in the principal’s office. From that point forward, my future in middle school and high school appeared rather grim. The prospect of re-educating my peers seemed daunting and unmanageable.

Adapting to a whole new culture can be difficult and have a huge impact on someone's life; that is exactly what I learned to do at a young age. Growing up, I only knew how to speak Spanish and what my parents taught me about the Mexican culture. English was not taught to me until I began elementary, but even then I did not grasp the language quickly. At a young age, I realized my life was not going to be so easy because of this language and culture barrier.

The environment i was raised in was a diverse environment.The people who had shaped me

The one question I hate being asked the most: “Where are you from?” Why would such a simple question bother me? It is simply just too complicated to answer. I was born in New York, and have moved to Maryland, California, Pennsylvania, Virginia, and eventually to Indiana. By moving so often, I have been able to accomplish a goal that many could only dream of. Visiting all fifty states, because of all my experiences in other places and people, I desire to learn more about others. As well as gain new experiences and live life to the fullest.

There is a lot that happens throughout an individual's life that can shape them into the person they become in the future. For examples the culture of the family, what religion they are, the socioeconomic status, and even how an individual reacts the situations they are put into.

Who are you? Most respond with their names, but there are probably a thousand other people who have that name. Knowing one’s name doesn’t mean you really know a person. No, to really know someone you learn their birthday, star sign, favorite color, favorite hobby, how many brothers or sisters they have. You learn them like you’ll have an exam on it next week. You learn their cultural identity. Who am I? I am a candle stick. I am one of six, a capricorn, a soccer player, and someone who lacks ambition. I am, and my culture is: the people I surround myself with, my environment, and most of all, my memories. I am an unexplainable enigma far too complicated to be analyzed by any single human being.

Walking through the stale airport air again with my dad, mom, and little brother made me realize that I was leaving my home country Germany behind for the second time. See it wasn’t my choice to constantly move between the U.S. and Germany it was the military making the calls for my family to move around. Making me constantly go through this cycle like eating your favorite food everyday for a month and end up getting sick of it. I was so unprepared for the hurdles that where about to come that I would end up hitting my foot as I try to jump over the obstacles that were in my way. See I was born in Munich Germany and I am mixed with African American and Bosnian.

“Focus on your education, it’s going to be the only thing you are going to have in the long run” Its the first thing my mom tells me every time I start complaining about school. I have grown up in a bicultural lifestyle where I have managed both of worlds.I grew up in a typical mexican household, where we are not allowed to go anywhere without our parents, were we have thousands of second, third, and fourth cousins. My parents were born and raised in a rural area in mexico. My dad stopped going to school when he was in elementary school, because he had to help my grandpa with the harvest and with feeding and taking care of the animals. My mom stop going to school when she was in middle school, because her parents couldn't pay for her education

It is the one thing many cannot help themselves to refrain from asking. It is a question that I have received so many times in my lifetime, but never quite had a precise answer. I was born in Libya, but my family was forced into exile for political reasons soon after to Jordan. I grew up to the same questions of where I am from and what brought me here, while I was still figuring it out myself. The concept of “home” came up a lot, and while everyone else was sure of theirs, I was amid two.

I have lived in two regions of the country that have their own sub-cultures. I. Even though I lived in Michigan for most of my life and have lived in Florida in the years that mold who you are. As a Spartan I believe I will bring a person that doesn’t just like to scratch the service on topics, but a person that digs deeper.

There is pain and there is heartbreak, and on a beautiful summer day in August 2015, I discovered just that. Nothing could have prepared me for the dramatic turn my life was about to take. The life-altering day that my parents decided to separate changed me forever, but broadened my understanding of inner strength and the importance of independence.

The five popular cultures that I partake in are; dancing, playing the violin, celebrating Father’s Day, ice skating, and celebrating Mother’s Day. coming from ancient Egypt as rituals for their gods and goddesses, dancing could be performed by making movements with one’s body. During the 1530’s in Cremona, Italy, Andrea Amati made the first violin. The violin made by piecing together an ivory or ebony fingerboard, a wooden bridge, two spruce sound posts, and a wooden frame with catgut (the dried, stretched, and twisted intestines from a goat or sheep) strings tightly fastened to the instrument; it was played by using a wooden bow with hair made of horsehair and by placing one’s fingers to hit certain pitches, sharps, flats, and harmonics. By taking the back leg bone from an animal and strapping it to your shoe and using poles to push one across ice is how ice skating became known as ice skating and dates back to as early as 3000 BC and linked to Northern Ancient Europe. Mother’s Day is a holiday that originates from the wild and wonderful state known as West Virginia in the year 1908 and was a day to mourn fallen soldiers and work for peace. Similar to Mother’s Day, Father’s Day originates

I left home at age 16. within a year, I lived with host families and taught English, a new language for me. The following year I started standing at the OCC. The biggest problem living in a different society is not much as the language barrier as the difference of cultures and mentalities. As a result of this, I spent most of my time with the Russian, who live here, as they are the closest to me in way to think. However, gradual I used to a new culture. And though I cannot call America my home, but for me, it is not a foreign country anymore. For last year, when I went to Russia, I felt more foreign there than here. Anyways, i love everything in my home town. I miss for people,