Two days in a row...now I am just spoiling all you readers out there! I was working on a project for my intercultural competence class and part of my project is to interview someone from another culture. Well, I have a friend who lived in Nicaragua before coming to the United States, so I decided to interview him. After the interview, I needed to type it up and I really want to share it with everyone.
There are so many different cultures that we come in contact with here in the United States and they actually bring a lot of new things into our lives. Think about some of the yummy foods we get to enjoy. These foods come from all over the world and from different cultures. We also have new traditions and get to interact with all these great people. They can teach us a lot and I feel their experiences are so beneficial to us!
Please read what I wrote about my friend I interviewed. It's amazing how much his life changed by coming to the United States!
To better understand the differences between my culture and other cultures out there, I decided to interview a good friend of mine, Javier, who came from Nicaragua, the largest country in Central America. Before I met him, I knew absolutely nothing about the Nicaraguan culture, and as our friendship grew, I began to learn a lot of fascinating things about his unique lifestyle before coming to the United States. Javier, who is now 24 years old, was born in the capital of Nicaragua called Managua. He grew up specifically in a place known as El Barrio Reconciliacion, where life was very hard. This specific area was very poor; the houses were extremely small, and not very attractive to the human eye. There were no telephone poles, no such thing as cable, and the roads were not paved, so even walking through the streets, their clothes would become extremely dirty very easily. Javier went on to say that these residential areas in Nicaragua are very different from the areas in the United States and that he is much happier living in the United States.
Javier lived in this specific area until the age of 14 before coming to the United States. In Nicaragua, he started going to school at the age of 4 from 10AM until 1PM and at the age of 12, he was forced to take night classes in order to help his family out at the local market. His mother designed and sewed clothing and jewelry that they sold to help make money for their family. I asked Javier how businesses do in that area and he said that the businesses do ok, but this particular business did much better in the summer than in any of the other seasons. Since some of Javier’s family still lives in Nicaragua, this business is still conducted and ran by his cousin and his cousin’s husband. Again, they say that the retail store is doing ok, but is still much busier in the summer. With that said Javier feels that the business is probably doing very well right now.
After receiving the background about his time growing up in Nicaragua, I was really interested on how much difference he sees from life in Nicaragua to life in the United States. “It’s very different,” Javier said. He was telling me how the days seem to go by much slower because many people just sit around or try to sell products at the market since no one can go out and afford to do things that we take for granted in the United States. A typical day in Nicaragua for him and his family was waking up at 6AM, getting ready to go to work or school, eat a very small breakfast, and then leave for the remainder of the day. Upon returning home, you did whatever homework you had from school, ate dinner, cleaned up the house, and then went to bed. His life in the United States allows him to go out Friday or Saturday nights, walk the streets, go to dinner, while in Nicaragua it’s dangerous to even step foot out on the streets at night and it can even be dangerous walking by yourself during the day. Of course, we all have the fears of walking the streets both day and night, but in Nicaragua, the tensions are high and you never know who could approach you.
Our interview then went into the things that Javier feels stands out about the Nicaraguan culture. He told me the food definitely stands out, as well as the music. In regards to their meals, it consists of some type of meat with either tortilla or rice and some beans. One of his favorite meals is called vigoron, which is a pork dish, with boiled yucca and pork with chopped cabbage, tomatoes, onions, and chili. I was hungry just talking about it! He also went on the say that their music style is also very different. They have a mixture of European (mostly Spanish) and indigenous tribal sounds. He also said they use the marimba a lot in their music, which is an instrument in the percussion family that consists of a set of wooden keys or bars with resonators.
Javier also wanted to discuss with me the differences within the school systems. He said that the dropout rates are much higher for two reasons: 1) kids have to work to help support the family and 2) the kids are recruited by gangs to engage in terrible behavior. He was happy to say that most of the kids drop out to help the family, but there are still some who engage in gang activity. The school days are much shorter in Nicaragua, lunch is not provided, and you have to wear a uniform regardless if it’s public or private. The students stay in one classroom all day, compared to the United States, where we go from classroom to classroom. Javier also wanted to add that the crime rates are higher as well in the major cities. He said that the laws are followed much better in the United States, and that in Nicaragua, many traffic violations occur and other things occur that the cops simply cannot keep up with. Therefore, a lot of people get away with wrongful doings on a daily basis.
Overall, Javier is very happy that his parents decided to bring his family over to the United States. He now lives in Totowa, New Jersey with his mom, dad, and sister. His family’s reasoning for bringing them to the United States, when he was the age of 14, was because they wanted him and his sister to be able to go to a good school and receive a better education. By coming to the United States, they are able to pursue a college career and find a job opportunity much easier than in Nicaragua, where times are tough. Javier’s parents realized that the life in Nicaragua would not allow them to pursue all their hopes and dreams or live up to their full potential. Now that he is in the United States, he has graduated from Montclair State University with a Bachelor’s in Marketing and is working full time as a manager. His final words to conclude our interview were: “Life in the United States is good!”
So after reading that...what do you think? Have you ever engaged with someone from another culture? Did you learn a lot from them that you have never learned about before? It's so interesting to talk to people from different cultures, so if you haven't, start asking questions! You'll never know who you'll meet!
Have a great week everyone!!
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