My family and I are sitting on our front porch just soaking in the peaceful melody of the crickets chirping in the dark of night. Hearing the mellifluous chirp of the crickets is such a lovely feeling that soothes our souls. The silence of this night flashes me back to the summer of June 2009, when my parents decided to go on a family vacation to Bangladesh. At that time, I could remember feeling tremendously happy. As the wind blows softly through my hair, my thoughts shift and I recall the negative experience I encountered with my cousin. Contrary to popular belief, not all vacations conclude with happy memories. I was a freshman in high school when my parents announced that we were going to Bangladesh for our family vacation. I felt extremely excited because, finally, after ten years I was going to meet all of my family members in Bangladesh. I come from a Bengali background in which family bonds are upheld with the utmost importance. I was born in Bangladesh, but I came to America when I was five years old. Because of this, American culture has vastly influenced my life, and I have become estranged with Bengali culture. Before heading out for the flight, I remember my sensitive elder sister admonishing me to stay away from family arguments. As I ate breakfast, my sister began talking about what we call the “do's and don’ts.” Shahida, my sister, is a fun loving person who always looks out for her family members. That day, she began lecturing me, saying, “Shammi, don’t trust anyone and stay away from people who look suspicious to you.” I pondered, “Am I going on some kind of survival game show where I can’t trust anyone?” Shahida realized I was ignoring her. She continued talking anyway, presuming that she might catch my atten... ... middle of paper ... ...y up, considering that I was from America, and I didn’t know about anyone’s background before that summer. The truth was out when the whole family confronted Shaniya. Shaniya confessed that she might have spoken a few things here and there. As always, I learned my lesson the hard way. I got involved in an unnecessary situation. I should have kept my mouth shut and enjoyed my vacation, which was the only reason I was in Bangladesh in the first place. Now I know to always mind my own business. However, my intentions were pure, and I was not trying to create any misunderstanding and luckily for me, my family understood that. Shaniya later apologized to Runa, and all was mended among my family in Bangladesh. I’m glad my name was cleared, but next time I’ll try to stay away from conflict like this, especially during what's supposed to be a fun, relaxing family vacation.
My grandmother, Rokeya Sultana, grew up in the urban parts of Bangladesh, with 2 sisters and 3 brothers. Her father, my great grandfather, was the chief officer of the district. She would go to school or to places by a motorcycle, car, or helicopter. She was living the life of her dreams. But then, my great grandfather had diabetes, and it was discovered one month before he died. It was a great shock for my great grandmother’s family because they had to move from the urban city to a rural neighborhood. My grandmother went to elementary, middle, and high school as a child. She also received a Bachelor’s degree in teaching. She was a good student and a very honest and respectful person. Once she reached the age of 20 to 21, she married Jonab Ali, my grandfather, and moved to Dhaka, the capital city of Bangladesh.
It is not customary for the older generation of Asians to express their past experiences to the younger generation. Traditionally there is no interaction between parents and their children in expressing their feelings to them, but this is something they can learn. The younger generation wants to connect with the history of the parents’ ancestors and the stories of their family who emigrated to America. The younger generation is finding a way to fill the gap in order to connect with the older generation. They are maintaining closeness by living not so far away from each other. They keep this tradition alive because it is important to tie them together as a big family. Asians always keep family togetherness to tie them close. Asian parents have sacrificed themselves to immigrate to America to make their kid’s lives better. They are willing to do anything to help their children have a better life than they had. Until this day, Asian parents keep their traditions in order to provide their kids with as much as they can for them to have a better life. This is a tradition of passing on to their children’s children as Bo’s ma wanted to provide food for him. Even though they seem emotionally remote and don’t speak about their past to their kids, they do not want their children to suffer as they did. The younger generation needs to actively trace their history because the history that shaped their parents is the
It is my memory of first year in the United States. Back then, I was a between 16 and 17 years old girl who would be called, ‘fob,’ which means ‘fresh off the boat.’ I was quite shy, not fluent in English, exotic looking and nervous but excited at the same time. Coming to the U.S. all by myself, leaving behind familiar culture, friends and family was quite challenging at such a young age, but I was all ready to endure hardship and obstacles of language barrier, cultural difference and loneliness. However, the trouble that pushed me into the well of suffering that I could not see the bottom came from the most unexpected source. It was my host family; they were white with a middle-class background, living in a rural area. They seemed like nice and friendly people at first. They brought me and my roommate to various events and places where I can learn American culture, helped me learn English, taught us the basic manner accepted in the U.S. and even celebrated my birthday. Nevertheless, they had a contradicting side as well. The family had eccentrically strict house rules which gave us heavy house chore, and eventually it led them to treat my roommate and me like housekeepers in the
In conclusion, this book gave me a whole new view on life and how we can interact better with different people. The book emphasized that culture is key to understanding people. Sometimes it is hard to connect with others because they are indicated as different but in due time we can adjust. Every culture has their own traditions when it comes to what they eat, what to wear, dating, various ceremonies, holidays and more. Reading this book helped me become more accepting of who I am and where I come from.
There are many differences between a person’s home culture (the main culture of a person) and the local culture (the culture of the person’s destination), whether it is the speaking of a different language, different customs, different social structures, or simply the different way a person says hello. None of these differences are wrong in anyway, however they are different from a person’s home culture and therefore can become hard to accepts and overcome. The differences in cultures, although expected, are some of the hardest challenges a person entering a new culture will ha...
The Role of Culture in Shaping us as Individuals Culture has a big impact on how we all fit in as individuals in today’s society, and since this assignment is about that I decided to include some of my own experiences to illustrate my point of view and compare it with those of my classmates and some of the readings. My family and I moved to United States in 1998 from Albania. My parents believed that I and my sister would get a better education here and also it would be useful and interesting to learn another language and its culture.
Looking back on a childhood filled with events and memories, I find it rather difficult to pick on that leaves me with the fabled “warm and fuzzy feelings.” As the daughter of an Air Force Major, I had the pleasure of traveling across America in many moving trips. I have visited the monstrous trees of the Sequoia National Forest, stood on the edge of the Grande Canyon and have jumped on the beds at Caesar’s Palace in Lake Tahoe. However, I have discovered that when reflecting on my childhood, it is not the trips that come to mind, instead there are details from everyday doings; a deck of cards, a silver bank or an ice cream flavor.
Holidays are a celebration and an enjoyment of festivities. Although they are a commonality across the world, holidays differ between countries and cultures. But, what many do not realize is that holidays are ultimately ideology driven, that is that the group that celebrates these holidays follows a certain set of ideas and beliefs. Whether the ideology is religion based, or politically based, all holidays are centered around ideologies.
Living in a developing society that is an opportunity could help people improve their skills such as in communicate and education. Moreover, when children grow up in good environment, they could have more condition to get good health and career. No doubt, from past to now, although people could live in any circumstances even poor or rich, they must have love from relatives and friends. However, love and belief are not only help people have happiness, but it also can make we disappointed. Certainly, I would not be exception, so a conflict was happened between my uncle’s family and I after one year I lived in the US. Because they are complained lot of my conduction individual such as rent payment, my jobs, and the top of our argument is they wanted me to leave their house, this problem could lead I thought about I should or should not live
It is extremely exciting that you want to come to the United States; it truly is a great place to live. However, there are a couple of subjects that you and I need to discuss, so you are not completely lost when you arrive. So the things that I will discuss and better help you understand are the family cultures in the United States, what community means and the effect it has on others around, how technology affects everyday living here, the social media, educational system and the environment, and finally the relation between self and others.
Going on a road trip with my family means the world to me. We drove to another state during summer vacation, and it was by far the best road trip I have ever been on. My family and I were able to go to many fun places. We ate so many exotic and delicious foods as well. Yet most importantly, I spent time with my family and their friends. It was the day when my family and I went to California for our summer vacation.
Everyone seems to define family differently, however, the significance of family is the same. For you, family means everything. You can always count on your parents and siblings for help and love. Family is very valuable and important to you and should never be taken for granted. No one can deny that family is the foundation of our generation. A family is where we all start our life journey and helps us grow to be successful throughout our lives.
Throughout someone’s life they will go to many places with their family, friends, another relatives. I have been on a few vacations that have made a lasting impact on my life. But one of the most memorable vacations I have experienced was with my cousins. I went to goa beach. Most of you probably don’t know about that beach but it is a very famous one in south India. I enjoyed myself to the fullest. The beach environment was enlightening. I would not have wanted to take this trip with anyone other than my cousins. We had a great time on the ocean sands and swimming in the ocean everyday made this vacation unforgettable.
"The great gift of family life is to be intimately acquainted with people you might never even introduce yourself to, had life not done it for you." -Kendall Hailey. Many people among us think that a family reunion is boring. It is an unpleasant social affair where our parents drive us to go and stay there for a considerable length of time. There are odd individuals who come to us and kiss or embrace us while we are still considering "do I know him/her?”. It is because we believe that enjoying the holiday out with friends is much better than investing hours with the people, we “unfortunately” belong to. They have no other subject for discussion aside from our studies and grades. On the other hand, family gathering is always a new experience for someone who lives far away from his blood relations.
There are so many different types of family relationships. Whatever form a family takes; it is an important part of everyone’s life. My family has played an important role in my life. Good family relationships serve as a foundation to interactions with others. Supportive families will help children to thrive. The quality of the family relationship is more important than the size of the family. Making the relationships priority, communication, and providing support for one another is key to developing relationships. Family relationships are what make up our world today; they shape the ways that we see things and the ways that we do things.