Culture and Globalization

Many of you know that in September I wanted to go to France for a year to teach.  If you didn't know, then now you do. I got to France and basically turned right back around, but not without first exploring a little of Central Europe.  I enjoyed my touring immensely and it's an experience that I'm glad I was able to undertake.  However, I left Europe deeply saddened by what has happened on this planet. This is what I wrote when I returned to Paris.

Advancement in technology and intelligence is a great feat that we as humans have been able to accomplish.  The ability to travel around the world to destinations our ancestors never would have imagined of doing is fantastic.  However, I'm not so sure I think it's right that American Culture and Customs should be what the rest of the world adapts to.  I used to live in Ecuador and my belief has always been that if you travel to another country, you should learn about the customs of that country before venturing there.  If you move to another country, there is no question that you should learn those customs and try to adopt them in your life there.  The first time I ever made this realization was when I was thirteen years old.  Our family began attending the English Fellowship church.  I will admit that when you are in another country it is nice to be in communion from time to time with people from similar backgrounds.  On one Sunday morning, my Sunday School class visited the local bakery down the street and one of the girls in the group started yelling at the clerk in English, "I just want bread, why don't you understand."  He didn't understand because he only spoke Spanish!  I know we were just a group of immature teenagers, but I was astounded at this behavior.  After church that day, I went back to the bakery and apologized for what she had done.  Something about the situation just didn't feel right and I had to do something.  I've kept that memory alive and have always, always traveled with the intention of understanding a culture.  

I feel extraordinarily lucky that I was able to grow up in a household that always embraced the culture in which it was located.  In Ecuador, my sisters and I did not attend the International Schools where instruction was in English.  We went to local private schools where learning Spanish was not an option.  In joining these schools, we were able to assimilate into the culture.  My nickname in fifth and sixth grades was "Gringa Falceta," meaning Fake Gringa.  (Gringa being the female version of Gringo which is a derogatory term for Americans). 

When I went to Egypt, my intention was to learn about Arabic and Islamic Cultures. One of my greatest desires is to learn to speak Arabic more than I do.  I didn't go to Egypt naively.  I dressed appropriately and respected their customs.  I did not wear shorts or any suggestive attire.  I never dress provocatively anyway, but long sleeves and pants were my uniform.  Unless we were visiting the very touristy parts in the desert!  (sometimes you have to make exceptions)

When I went to Central Europe, I was disgusted with myself. I went to Austria without even knowing what language they spoke.  I had become what I feared most, ignorant.  Luckily on the plane ride over, I remembered that they spoke German there and fortunately I know a few German words and phrases.  Whew!  But I visited Prague and Krakow and didn't know any Czech or Polish. Needless to say I was very embarrassed in these countries having to rely on everyone else to speak English.  I lived up to the image of the Stupid, Arrogant American.  I will never do that again.  If I choose to visit another country, I will make sure that I study as much as I can and remember to visit the less touristy places. 

The Iron Curtain was lifted in the late 1980s making Central and Eastern Europe more accessible to Americans, but I don't know if this has been of any great benefit to the rest of the global society.  I see the same restaurants and stores all throughout the United States, what I don't want to see, are those same places on every continent.  Our differences is what makes our cultures unique.  For centuries, these cultures were cultivated and just within the last twenty years we have broken down those cultural differences.  On the one hand, it makes me sad that we are becoming a more homogeneous planet, but on the other, it makes me hopeful that we are becoming more and more tolerant of each other.  Then again, do we want to become the United States of the Earth.  I don't think I want that.  Does anybody really?  Tough call.