Topic: Tradition
Source:
My junior year I went to California and spent Christmas with my mother's side of the family.
Relation:
Our reading on Japanese hip-hop in Conformity and Conflict(CH. 36).
Description:
All the way up until my junior year, I spent Christmas at home with my close family. We decided that we were going to travel down to California and spend Christmas with my mom's side of the family this time to change things up. My dad's side of the family is mostly German and Norwegian and my mom's side is mostly Hispanic. We arrived three days before Christmas day. I remember I loved being in California because the weather was hot and sunny, a huge change from the snow and rain in Seattle. On Christmas Eve I went to a huge outdoor fiesta that was held at my great aunt's house. Most of my aunts and cousins that were women were working in the kitchen and cooking up a huge meal. We had homemade tamales, tortillas, rice, beans, and asada soft tacos. I am a huge fan of Mexican food and having real authentic food was delicious. The fiesta was filled with a lot of people from my mom's side of the family. I felt like I kept meeting more and more cousins that I was not introduced to before. We stayed for a couple hours and then went back to my mom's old house for a special surprise. A tradition in her family is that all of the kids get to open a present the night before Christmas. I opened up mine and received a new video game. We went to sleep for the night. Christmas morning we woke up really early and went to church. We went to a church where the mass was said only in Spanish. I had never been to church before when they did not speak English. I could understand some of the words but the priest spoke to fast for me to understand it all.
Commentary/Analysis:
Before I went to California to visit my family and spend Christmas with them I was unaware of the fact that everyone spends Christmas differently. Everybody has their own specific family traditions that last a lifetime. Going to my family's fiesta on Christmas Eve was something that my close family and I had never done together. Eating the authentic food was amazing and meeting all my cousins was really great. I was surprised when we went home and got to open one present before Christmas. It made me realize that everyone has their own little specific traditions. Back at home in Washington our tradition of Christmas Eve is to have a steak dinner and play poker together as a family. The moment that surprised me the most was when we went to the mass that was spoken in Spanish. I took Spanish my freshman and sophomore year so I knew a little bit but was nowhere close to understanding the whole mass. It really opened up my eyes to see how my mom's side of the family is different from my close family but still we share similarities. At home in Washington we do attend mass on Christmas but it is spoken in English. Overall, my time spent in California for Christmas really helped me embrace my mom's side of the family. I got to see how they spend Christmas and they were very welcoming and helping along the way. It was really interesting to see just even the little things that different families do for holidays.
Sunday, February 26, 2012
Sunday, February 12, 2012
Two Different Worlds
Topic: Cultural Text - Soccer
Source: My observations from my trip to Brazil about how the soccer culture there differs from the soccer culture here in the United States.
Relation: As discussed in Chapter One: Culture and Meaning from Robbins, a cultural text is a way of thinking about a culture as a text of significant symbols such as words, gestures, drawings, and natural objects that carry meaning.
Description: Last summer I took a week long trip down to Sau Paulo, Brazil to visit one of my good friends, Bruno da Matta. Bruno currently lives in San Diego but his mother and father were born in Brazil and own a house there. My parents bought my tickets and told me that it was my graduation present. I could not have received a better present. I graduated high school and a week later I was off to Brazil with two of my other really good friends who also play soccer. After a very long 13 and half hours we finally landed in Sau Paulo. This was the second time I was out of the country. The first was visiting Canada. I did not know what to expect. Bruno and his family picked us up and we were off to there house. The da Matta's speak Portuguese as their first language but also speak fluent English which made it easy to communicate with them. As we drove I remember looking out the window and seeing how much different Brazil was then the United States. The monuments and statues were impeccable and simply stunning. We arrived and Bruno's house and unpacked all of our stuff. I knew the da Matta's were huge soccer fans but I did not know the extremes of their passion and love for the game. Their whole house was very eloquently decorated but different from a traditional American decorated house. Bruno, my two friends, and I walked down to a soccer field one day to play. I remember on our way, we saw people ranging from little kids to adults playing little pickup games in the streets. They used makeshift goals and many would play bare foot. I looked up at the billboards we passed and mostly all of them were advertisements for soccer. When we got to the field, we joined a random pick up game. Everybody was playing with so much heart and dedication even though it was just a game that did not matter. We played for hours until it got dark and then we went back to his house.
Commentary/Analysis: Looking back at my week long trip to Brazil now, I discovered that I can use the beautiful game of soccer as a cultural text. In the United States soccer is growing in popularity but it is no where as popular compared to big time sports such as football, basketball, and baseball. I learned that even in college sports the popularity of the sport determines how much funding it is going to receive. For instance big football programs get all of the nicest equipment, training facilities, and most of their games on television. They get these privileges because the sport is extremely popular and rich boosters want to donate all the money they can to see the program succeed. The United States has always been raised like that though and soccer has never really been at the top of the popularity list. On the other hand, in Brazil, soccer is basically integrated throughout their whole culture. Most people live and breathe the game. It was very interesting to compare both cultures. Turning on the sports channel in Brazil you will find games and highlights from soccer matches and basically nothing else. People ranging from all ages don't need a grass field to play, they play wherever they can, with whoever they can, and whenever they can. The passion Brazilians have for the game has been instilled in them since they were born. To many Americans soccer is just another sport, but to many Brazilians soccer is life.
Source: My observations from my trip to Brazil about how the soccer culture there differs from the soccer culture here in the United States.
Relation: As discussed in Chapter One: Culture and Meaning from Robbins, a cultural text is a way of thinking about a culture as a text of significant symbols such as words, gestures, drawings, and natural objects that carry meaning.
Description: Last summer I took a week long trip down to Sau Paulo, Brazil to visit one of my good friends, Bruno da Matta. Bruno currently lives in San Diego but his mother and father were born in Brazil and own a house there. My parents bought my tickets and told me that it was my graduation present. I could not have received a better present. I graduated high school and a week later I was off to Brazil with two of my other really good friends who also play soccer. After a very long 13 and half hours we finally landed in Sau Paulo. This was the second time I was out of the country. The first was visiting Canada. I did not know what to expect. Bruno and his family picked us up and we were off to there house. The da Matta's speak Portuguese as their first language but also speak fluent English which made it easy to communicate with them. As we drove I remember looking out the window and seeing how much different Brazil was then the United States. The monuments and statues were impeccable and simply stunning. We arrived and Bruno's house and unpacked all of our stuff. I knew the da Matta's were huge soccer fans but I did not know the extremes of their passion and love for the game. Their whole house was very eloquently decorated but different from a traditional American decorated house. Bruno, my two friends, and I walked down to a soccer field one day to play. I remember on our way, we saw people ranging from little kids to adults playing little pickup games in the streets. They used makeshift goals and many would play bare foot. I looked up at the billboards we passed and mostly all of them were advertisements for soccer. When we got to the field, we joined a random pick up game. Everybody was playing with so much heart and dedication even though it was just a game that did not matter. We played for hours until it got dark and then we went back to his house.
Commentary/Analysis: Looking back at my week long trip to Brazil now, I discovered that I can use the beautiful game of soccer as a cultural text. In the United States soccer is growing in popularity but it is no where as popular compared to big time sports such as football, basketball, and baseball. I learned that even in college sports the popularity of the sport determines how much funding it is going to receive. For instance big football programs get all of the nicest equipment, training facilities, and most of their games on television. They get these privileges because the sport is extremely popular and rich boosters want to donate all the money they can to see the program succeed. The United States has always been raised like that though and soccer has never really been at the top of the popularity list. On the other hand, in Brazil, soccer is basically integrated throughout their whole culture. Most people live and breathe the game. It was very interesting to compare both cultures. Turning on the sports channel in Brazil you will find games and highlights from soccer matches and basically nothing else. People ranging from all ages don't need a grass field to play, they play wherever they can, with whoever they can, and whenever they can. The passion Brazilians have for the game has been instilled in them since they were born. To many Americans soccer is just another sport, but to many Brazilians soccer is life.
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