the best part about flying home....
Surely had to be meeting the Norwegian friends that sat next to me. We even had a fun experience trying to get through customs at Chicago. At least we didn't have to do it alone. That's another side tangent.. returning to a culture of fear, and still realizing this is where I call home. And, I almost didn't even make it home.
...but working on my research was a close second.
So, on the plane ride back I read over a primary artifact I will be using to fulfill the requirements of this internship, but hopefully to expand into an actual lifelong work. Time will tell. Anyway, I asked for a xerox copy of a chapter from the tenth grade English textbook and specifically for the chapter that focused on America. I thought it would make it easier for me to identify the stereotypes, exaggerations, etc. as a native to the country. Now before I go into highlights, I should also add that I have a German language textbook for English speakers of a similar age (but not necessarily level) that I do foresee using as a way to contrast. However, I do want to make sure my paper does focus on my experience in Berlin, before I do too much cross-cultural analyses.
let me give you a few highlights...
1. Apparently, Americans tend to have an indisputable love and respect for the Statue of Liberty. It is never the sign of tension like other symbols can be such as flag burning, etc. But, it's not just that we "don't" disrespect the statue of liberty, it's almost like we cherish it - and by cherish I mean a much stronger word... like.. adorn.. or something that just isn't coming to me. I was just surprised by how highlighted lady liberty really was made out to be when I really feel like I don't even have her on my frontal lobe of what it means to be American. Maybe I'm a broken American.
2. One of the listening exercises was Bush's inaugural address from 2001. Now, that's kind of a sophisticated exercise in language by itself, but it gets better. After students did the standard instructional practices of like writing the main points and answering brief contextual questions in full sentences, the fun part comes. Get this : they compare his talking points to his track record and reflect on the similarities/differences.
--->>in case you have been zoning out please pay attention now..
Here we have kids halfway across the world doing something for school that's more thorough of an exercise radicals here use to support their views. And that's the radicals - let's not go into the apathetic moderates and their lack of any political knowledge. I mean, don't get me wrong.. I'm far from innocent on turning my head the other way instead of severely critiquing a politicians credibility. Nonehteless, I like to think I make up for it but critiquing institutional credibility.
also, i'm a punk kid. i try to be young.
3. There was a list of phrases to help communicate with English speakers - who are, apparently, universally passive aggressive. Okay, I see where people get that - and a lot of that has to do with how our grammar rules are set up and what "correct" language looks like. But still, REALLY?! I mean, here we are in the states telling kids that German speakers are direct and then they are being taught we are passive aggressive. So, here's what happens. German kids try to approach English speakers passive aggressively while English kids try to be direct and then they are both like in this spiral of misunderstandings about the other. Okay, I get this is an oversimplification.. but... I feel like in the twenty-first century we might have come farther than relying on textbooks to educate eachother, about each other. Like, we are talking about a world that internet can be accessed from the most dangerous climates. And, we are literally relying on some overgeneralized fucking textbook to learn how to speak and interact with eachother?! Seriously, like these things aren't just reference books for grammar...?
I think I need to calm down a bit.
I still have much more to write about Berlin. I feel like being back in the states feels more like a trip than being in Berlin did. It's a weird complex.
nevertheless, as each day passes
I am becoming more comfortable with being happy.
No matter what anyone else thinks.
(love ending on cheesy versions of cliches. <3 b="">
No comments:
Post a Comment