Response to Mrs.McDowells china experience

What did you already know?

What did you learn?

What do you have questions about?

What surprised you? 

How might living abroad result in a paradigm shift (way of thinking differently?)?

What role did some of the WOKs (language, perception, emotion, intuition, memory, reason, imagination, faith) play in my experiences in China?

1) At the moment, I already knew that the Chinese use the whole part of an animal and like things like pig tongue. My family has family friends who are from China and more than once I have been offered to have Pigs tongue, fish eye, etc. In Chinese culture it is considered rude to say no apparently but there were times when I would have to say no because the smell would make my throat close up! I wanted to try it but could not push myself to. 

2) I learned a lot by reading through the document. I guess I did not realize that privacy in china was strange and abnormal. Being from America, it is weird to fathom that a whole group of people seeing someone alone is strange. Personally, I like my alone time. It is what helps me think and regenerate. I also did not know about the day thing. I still am not sure about the days because it is so confusing, but apparently the chinese culture likes to change stuff up. 

3) How do the days work?? 

Why is the man who supposedly one a nobel peace prize blocked? 

they dont know what Pads are? When they are on their period what do they do? And if they cant take showers or touch water... I would feel gross! 

Having muscle as a woman is bad? 

4) The period thing was definitely a shocker. I cannot imagine not being able to take a shower or touch anything that is cold water. I know I take a shower every night, so not taking one for a whole week would be ... I cant even fathom! I would feel so icky! Another thing that shocked me was the days thing. I would be so overwhelmingly lost and confused. Why do they change the days? I guess I am wondering what is the point in changing the days? 

5) Living abroad can result in a paradigm shift because it is forcing a person to step out of their own head and see what other cultures are like. By living with a different culture you get to see different things and learn much more about why and how they do certain things. It would be just like if you decided to go and stay with a family you did not know. Not necessarily that they live in another country but it is another home. They may do dinner differently at their house, or they may go to bed at a different time. It helps you appreciate things in your culture as well as theirs.

6) the way of knowing; language, is a huge part in your experience, i believe. I do believe that there was a language barrier, but I also do not know how much Chinese you spoke or how much English they spoke. I would think that if you were teaching there that you would know a good amount of chinese, or if it was an international school, that the children were required to know a good amount of English to get by. But language is how the human world interacts. It would be really hard to not have the language. 

Perception would also be another big one. How you perceive the culture. Like, in the Chinese culture they do a lot of things in large groups, but in America we prefer more alone time. The Chinese perception of you would be that you are a loner, which is far from the truth! But also your perception probably changed after living there.