When I first came to this country, my program said over and over, "Welcome to Jordan. You are not in America." The significance of this statement is that things will never be the familiar in Jordan, especially since I am not going to be here longer than 4 months. Every where I turn, everything is different, and I am required to have extremely cultural sensitivity for Jordan to be able to survive. I think I've done ok, since I've been adopted by a family here, and have had very few iffy situations.
Jordanians, however, are extremely culturally insensitive.
Evidently they really like to make fun of Asians Asians, on the other hand, really don't like to laugh at themselves. This makes for a really negative interaction.
Jumi, my Korean friend, gets very offended when she is greeted in Chinese I'm not sure why this is so much more offensive then the casual questions of if I too think America is a nation of terrorists. But it is.
Another friend, Winston, tries to be as accepting as possible. He's this poor awkward kid that no matter how hard he tries, he is accepted by no one, natives and students alike. It's probably because he does try so very, very hard and is just awkward and needy all the time.
My professor, he Arab Michael Scott, did not disappoint today. Because our classrooms have glass walls, we can see the goofy students walking by. Today, he commented again on how goofy this asian kid was. A black girl in my class commented that his eyes were so small he probably couldn't even see. I was pretty much floored. She's American and knows better.
We talked about taboos yesterday in my Fusha class (formal Arabic) and we compared cultural sensitives in our different areas. One thing I learned is that it's horrifying to Arabs to marry a black person. When I asked why, they said...well obviously because then you end up with black babies. No one wants that.
I really was unsure what to think about that. This area is so conservative, perhaps I should have expected some of this, but really I didn't. I am confused, and unsure how I'm supposed to act. This is the problem with completely different cultures. You just never know what exactly is appropriate, and you are ALWAYS taken by surprise.
Jordanians, however, are extremely culturally insensitive.
Evidently they really like to make fun of Asians Asians, on the other hand, really don't like to laugh at themselves. This makes for a really negative interaction.
Jumi, my Korean friend, gets very offended when she is greeted in Chinese I'm not sure why this is so much more offensive then the casual questions of if I too think America is a nation of terrorists. But it is.
Another friend, Winston, tries to be as accepting as possible. He's this poor awkward kid that no matter how hard he tries, he is accepted by no one, natives and students alike. It's probably because he does try so very, very hard and is just awkward and needy all the time.
My professor, he Arab Michael Scott, did not disappoint today. Because our classrooms have glass walls, we can see the goofy students walking by. Today, he commented again on how goofy this asian kid was. A black girl in my class commented that his eyes were so small he probably couldn't even see. I was pretty much floored. She's American and knows better.
We talked about taboos yesterday in my Fusha class (formal Arabic) and we compared cultural sensitives in our different areas. One thing I learned is that it's horrifying to Arabs to marry a black person. When I asked why, they said...well obviously because then you end up with black babies. No one wants that.
I really was unsure what to think about that. This area is so conservative, perhaps I should have expected some of this, but really I didn't. I am confused, and unsure how I'm supposed to act. This is the problem with completely different cultures. You just never know what exactly is appropriate, and you are ALWAYS taken by surprise.
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