09
Feb 14

FGE Conference

     I attend The foundation of Global Engagement (FGE), a program that intends to help students learn more about other’s culture and life, this semester. We went to a resort in State College for a Conference this weekend. We had so much fun.

     There were not so many people in FGE. So we could easily get to know all the people and make true friends. We sat in a circle, talking about our first impression of Penn State and stereotypes we usually had. We found that there were so many similarities between us. Meanwhile, we had so much difference in cultures. It was great to hear so many different voices. Moreover, I made friends from America, Morocco, Saudi Arabia, South Korea, Sri Lanka Malaysia and Kenya, etc. We also played some games about culture. We were divided into two groups. Each group played a kind of culture. For example, in our culture “Heelotion”, we could not have eye contact with each other. We didn’t know what another culture was like. We visited another culture at regular intervals. After the game, we talked about what were our impressions of another culture. We found that was how stereotype formed.

     Maybe we will go to New York in April to visit United Nation. I already cannot wait now!


05
Feb 14

The Mid-Autumn Festival

Last year, an evening party, held by Chinese Students and Scholars Association (CSSA) to celebrate the Mid-Autumn Festival, attracted hundreds of people. There were many performances, such as Peking Opera, singing and dancing. Staff of CSSA handed out moon-cakes, a traditional dessert, to every audience. However, different from much performance in Western, with so many people eating, chatting and laughing, the scene of the Mid-Autumn Festival performance was very noisy. Some people might think that Chinese were rude. But was that true? Maybe it was just a culture phenomenon?

The Mid-Autumn Festival is a typical Chinese traditional Festival. Family unites and has a big dinner. At night, my family always drives to a park where we eat moon-cakes and enjoy the full moon. When I became a teenager, I just wanted to hang out with my friends instead of staying with family. Since my parents were very liberal, I could do that. But most of my friends were not allow going out. Staying with family in special festival is a norm for our culture, which is similar to Western. We stay with family in Spring Festival, Lantern Festival and some other festival. Since we study abroad and have no family around now, we celebrate this festival with compatriot. The evening party is more like a family union.


02
Feb 14

Happy Chinese New Year!

Last Thursday was Chinese New Year. You might find that any Chinese student couldn’t put away their cellphones at that day. That was the reason. Thursday was still a workday for us. But our family and friends in China were off to celebrate. When I was rushing to class, my family was having a big dinner, which did make me feel lost. This was my first Chinese New Year without my family.

However, we still celebrated it! This Saturday my roommate and I cooked and invited our friends. My roommate made spaghetti salad and s’ more. I made scrambled egg with tomatoes, Ma Po bean curd, teriyaki salmon and soup, all of which were Chinese food. We invited some Chinese as well as Korean because we all celebrated this festival. One of my Chinese friends brought dumpling, which was what we must eat in Chinese New Year. I really enjoyed our dinner.

Although there is an ocean between America and my hometown, I can still find some ways to relate me to China. And I feel so lucky because I can use kitchen in my resident hall—Beaver Hall. I don’t think other halls have kitchen like us.


01
Feb 14

My First Working Day

     Last day was my first working day at Pollock Dining Hall. I was so excited about it. It took me around two months to apply for the job. Because I am a international students, I have to apply for my SSN first in order to get the job. I had waited for so long to get the job and that was why I was so excited.

     I worked from 4: 30 to 9: 00, over four hours. My job was to put the food into plates and give them to customers. It was not a hard job but if you kept repeating the action, you could feel the soreness of your arm. My supervisors and colleague were very friendly and helpful. They asked me to get a drink every single hour. One of my colleagues said they didn’t want me to pass out in the first day.

    Sometimes my customers were someone I knew. I greeted to them. Seeing their surprised face, I felt really happy. Maybe with time goes by, the novelty will wear off. But I hope this post will always remind me of my passion. I hope that I can always keep my passion for life.


27
Jan 14

Conquring Stereotype

I was a victim of stereotype. Before I came to America, the only way I gained knowledge about the world was through TV and books. I knew nobody but Chinese. But now, studying in Penn State, I meet many people who come from different countries. I always ask them some silly questions. Once upon a time, I chatted with an Arabic friend. He comes from Saudi Arabia. I asked him should they wear white robes when they come back to their countries and what would happen if they wore T-shirt. He replied that they would kill you and then burst into laughter. The truth was nothing would happen. He also told me that although according to their law, man could have four wives, few people really did that. Most of them just had a wife, which was the same as us. Another example is about Korean. In China, most of people hold a stereotype that Koreans are all poor at English pronunciation. What’s more, most of my friends and relatives don’t believe that Koreans will like Chinese. As a matter of fact, I know many Koreans who live in the same Hall as me and all of them do well in speaking English. Friendly and humorous, they always tell jokes with us. Some of them have learnt Chinese for several years. Last night, a Korean girl told me that she always loved Chinese people without any reason, which really made me happy. I think that Koreans’ attitude towards Chinese just varies from person to person.

It goes without saying that Hollywood is a big machine of stereotypes. Movies like High School Musical do attract many Chinese students to America. I still remember the feeling that my blood was boiling after seeing High School Musical. However, all of my classmates that attended high school in America found that it was just illusion. Moreover, Hollywood’s film always makes my parents worried because America is described as a country that is frequent to be attacked. Most of Chinese maintain that America is a land of sex revolution, which is also a reflection of Hollywood’s movies. Actually, a large amount of Christians keep their purity before getting married.

Now I am learning to conquer stereotype. Can we judge people by their nationality, religion or appearance? Can we know a kind of people only through movies? We have a lot of questions to think about.


17
Jan 14

Hello world!

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