Discussion About Intercultural Topics

The diversity of dialects within one language.

Maggie and I have talked about how dialects, accents and slang are various within one language. She shared with me her experience with Spanish Language spoken by people in Spain. she said that she has faced some confusing situation where one single word has two different connotation meaning depending on the diversity of dialects in Mexico and Spain. Therefore, she has been in some embarrassing situations. I also contributed to the discussion by referring to the same point in my first language (Arabic). I told Maggie that among Middle Eastern countries there are many dialects ad within one country there are several accents depending on the regions. I added that all of Ghadah, Asma, Aishah, Reem and I speak different accents because we are from different cities and regions in Saudi Arabia.

Interview with my partner Maggie

My partner is Margarita López. She is Mexican American.  She seems adventurer and friendly. She described herself as a self-motivated individual with a lot of goals in mind. She is interested to learn new things. Her bachelor degree is in business. She is hoping to work abroad to widen her gaze.   

In order to know more about Maggie, there are several question to her, below:

1. What custom do you like most in your culture?

2. Have you ever lived in any foreign country? if yes, where? and how do you describe it?

3. Have you ever experienced culture shock?

4. What has surprised you when you've met people from other countries?

5. What don't you like about your culture?

6. What is you favorite music?

7. What is considered rude in your culture?

8. What is the proper way to greet someone? How and when should you do it?

9. Do you like movies? which genre?

10. If you have to pick one movie to see with your family, what do you pick? and why?

 Maggie

1. What I like most is the fact that I'm bicultural. I share perspectives and traditions of both cultures.

2. Yes, I've lived in Spain. My experience was as an International Student there and I loved it.

3. Yes, I've experienced the feeling of culture shock. It was in regards to my personal space. Someone got too close to me once at a store's check out lane in Madrid. It is normal there, but I wasn't used to it.

4. The contradictions of some traditions. That sometimes things are so radical, that don't allow any space for change.

5. The folklore that defines them.

6. I am very diverse in regards to music. I like hip-hop, R&B, Rock in Spanish, House, Country, etc. It all depends on the mood.

7. I think the biggest one is disrespecting people, talking back and using profanity. Unfortunately is one of the most common ones as well.

8. The greeting is not such a set form. It depends on the person and the relation to the one you are greeting. The most formal one is the handshake.

9. I love movies. My favorite genre is the romantic comedy.

10. I would pick Shrek to see with my family, all of the series. I would choose it over any other because it is very entertaining and everyone in my family likes it.

Log: Record of Discussions

Below are the emails that Maggie and I have exchange to arrange the short trip to Riverside Museum:      

Hello Anna,

Samar and I will,  be meeting tomorrow at the Riverside Museum at noon for the interview project. Just wanted to let you know in case you would like to join us with your project partner, since you requested to have us with you for meeting with him. In case you can't make it, if you agree to meet with him later on, if you still want us to join you, I could only do it over the weekends. I just wanted to let you know about my availability.

Best,

Mggie Lopez

 ..............................

Hello Maggi
Unfortunately, Friday, My husband and I have to go to Mosque, so we can go either before 1 pm or after 2.30 pm. Choose any one of the museums it is okay for me. My husband will come with us if you do not mind. I will wake up early if you want us to go early morning I can do it.

Samar

..................

Hello,

I think the 2:30 time fits better. Because of the time the main museum is the only place we can go, so lets meet there at 2:30. If you don't mind, can you send me the link to one of the blogs to see what the project is about? In regards to Anna, she hasn't responded to my e-mail, so I'm assuming she is not interested in going with us,we still have to do the project though, and the sooner, the better. There are so many projects in this class that we need to start knocking them down. Thank you and see you then.

Maggie

................

Then we started texting each other,

 Maggie

Hello, I responded to your email. Are we still on for the museum at 2:30?  

Samar 

Yes i can do it but can you pick me up with you ?

Maggie

You want me to go pick you up. Or you wanna carpool?

Samar

My address is ............ San Bernardino. If you don't mind i want you to pick me up  

Then Maggie called me when she arrived at my apt.

Critical Incident

During my time in USA I have been in many confusing situations. These absolutely happened because of the huge cultural differences between mine and Americans’ culture. One of the incidents is the way people greeting each other. I found out that each culture has different way in greeting. For example, here in America they are used to shake hand or hug as a way of greeting. However, in my culture we are used to shake hand by our right hands and kiss 2 or three times in cheeks, even men they do the same and no nobody misunderstood this behavior. Also, in our religion women should not have to shake hand with stranger’s males, but it is okay to do it with relatives. Based on this difference, it happened to me many times that I have been in a situation where a stranger man wants to shake my hand and I got embarrassed to refuse so I bow to show some respect. It is really hard to me to refuse because when people shake hands they are kind of welcoming others.           

Riverside Art Museum

Maggie and I went to Riverside Art Museum on Friday July 3 at 3 pm. It is in Riverside and It is oped on:  TUESDAY through Saturday: 10:00 a.m. to 4:00 p.m. * Sunday: 12:00 p.m. to 4:00 p.m. *First Thursdays: On the first Thursday of each month, the museum re-opens from 6:00 p.m. - 9:00 p.m. for Arts Walk free of charge. *First Sundays: On the first Sunday of each month (October - May), the museum participates in First Sundays, with crafts and activities for familes, free to the public, from 1:00 p.m. - 4:00 p.m. The museum is closed on: New Year's Day, Martin Luther King Jr.'s Birthday Observed, Presidents' Day Observed, Easter, Memorial Day, Independence Day, Labor Day, Thanksgiving Day, and Christmas.        We stayed there 1 hour then we stayed another hour in a coffee shop.I carpooled with Maggie in her nice car. Therefore, we had more time to talk with each other and learn a lot about the cultural differences. There is a counter disc in the entrance of the museum, where we paid 2 dollars. Then a nice tour guide lady offered to guide us through the museum. Her name is Rosaline. She is also student in CSUSB. She gave us some procures and hand out information about the history of the museum. We used the map also to move around the building.
Here is the museum from outside,

In the entrance, there is a small lobby and the corridors and rooms are in the sides. 

         Rosaline started to explain to us in details the history of the museum. The museum was built by the renowned architect Julia Morgan. The most interesting thing about this woman that In 1894 she became the first woman to graduate from the university with a degree in civil engineering.

Below is a picture of Julia Morgan,

       The building became the house of art in Riverside for more than 50 years. The Museum monthly change the open exhibits and galleries.  It has more than 100 local artistes who are member of RAM. The Art of Humor: Five Hundred Years of Caricature and Satire at RAM is one of the most interesting and popular exhibits because it presents works by well-chronicled pioneers in satire and caricature art.

 

       There were plenty of paintings that relate to different period of time and origin background. The exhibitions are indoor.  It influenced by  the Spanish Colonial and Mediterranean styles.
 

These some of the paintings,

       The museum provides drawing workshops for both adults and children. 

       Unfortunately, there were no body except us in the museum. There was no shop. I mostly liked the building itself where it reminds me of the ancient houses in Syria and Lebanon.

There is a wedding hall at the roof of the museum for rent. We were not able to have a look at it.

 
This is one of Maggie’s favorite :)

We took picture together in the museum

After we have done looking around the museum, we went to a coffee shop and had soda because the weather was really hot. We talked about many topics like languages, culture differences, traveling and food. Maggie told me about her trip to Spain and how she enjoyed it. She is thinking to work in South Korea. We are thinking to visit chines town together. Finally, I really enjoyed me time with Maggie because she is really a nice person.   

About me

I am Samar Mari. I am from Saudi Arabia. I have been in USA 2 years. I am enjoying my time in America. I also learned a lot form this experience. I hope to finish my master degree and be a good teacher and teach back home. I see my self as a sociable person. I made friends from different countries and I would love to be a friend with all of you in the EESL536 class.

Four word describe me: caring, giving, dreamy and ambitious.