The Portuguese Cultural Experience In The Portuguese Culture

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For this assignment, I immersed myself in the Portuguese Culture. I have a friend that is very proud of his Portuguese culture, and he has always wanted me to try the traditional foods his grandmother makes. I never took him up on that offer because the food always seemed different then what I am used to, plus I am a picky eater. But, this project gave me the perfect chance to take him up on the opportunity to try traditional Portuguese foods and have an enriching conversation with Portuguese Americans. This cross cultural experience was more enjoyable than I was expecting. I had a traditional Portuguese feast with my friend, his brother, his parents, and his grandmother. I learned so much and was able to eat some pretty tasty food. The meal that was prepared by his grandmother consisted of: fish, linguica (pork sausage), beef sopash (beef soup with bread), tremocos lupini beans …show more content…

His grandmother immigrated to the United States (from Portugal) when she was young, but she kept the strong morals and traditions of her Portuguese culture. When I asked how they felt about therapy, I was surprised by the answer. He said that in the Portuguese culture, they do not believe in therapy, because they think they don’t need it. This is because you should take care of everyone else before you take care of yourself. Everyone else’s needs should be satisfied before you take care of your own, and therapy would qualify as taking care of oneself before others, because there is always someone that needs assistance. I then asked if someone did need therapy, how could a therapist make someone of their culture feel comfortable, and he said that a therapist would need to help them understand that in order to help others, they themselves need to be healthy. This was definitely the most surprising thing I learned, and I will keep this in mind for when I have a client of the Portuguese culture in the

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