Yina, Chung
Korea
October 16, 2001
Since I came here, I have had lots of opportunities to contact with other cultures. Sometimes interacting with them is very interesting to me, but sometimes it makes me embarrassed. Last Friday, we had a party in our room. It wasn't a dance party, just inviting some friends from other countries and enjoying Korean food. I was very pleased that all the people in our room seemed to like the Korean food. During that time we talked about some Korean food, Korean people, and Korean culture. It might have been a good experience to them. And also we learned some Latin Dances like a salsa, merange... to prepare a dance party. At night, we went to the 'Latino Fiesta', which was a kind of dance party. It was a great time for me to experience Latin dance, their culture, and people. At the dance party, I danced with many Latinos. Almost all of them are ELI students...
I was quite embarrassed because of contacting the dance partner physically. In Korea, most people are not accustomed to touch another person, so Koreans always keep a distance from somebody. But as for Latinos, it seems very common and friendly to have a close contact with another person. And there's one interesting thing that I can find. That is... the inclination of the people. It seemed that they might know how to enjoy themselves and how to express their feelings. Koreans are poor at expressing their feelings, so at that time some of Koreans were at a loss on the dance floor. But every one has his own advantages and disadvantages.
Studying at the ELI is a quite good opportunity for me to experience many other cultures. Actually when I came here, I just wanted to know American culture, their life, and their feelings. But in these days I come to be interested in every culture and comparing one with the other. It's pretty marvelous that we come together at this moment and communicate with each other. The important thing in this situation like this is to be open-minded. It's better to make one's own effort to understand other cultures and other people. Contacting with another culture can enrich not only our experience, but also enrich our thoughts and feelings.