~Exploration 1~

I went and observed the International Student Committee, on campus. I realize that they are not a direct link to the Peace Corps, but I figured that while being a volunteer you become the minority within a community. So, I wanted to see just what being the minority felt like. As I was sitting in the room waiting for people to start showing up I got a big rush of nerves. I am not sure exactly why this happened but it made me slightly uneasy. The first man walked around the corner and in through the door. Our eyes met for a split second and then the questions began racing through my head. What should I say? Should I smile? Is he going to take the first step? Crap what do I do? Think fast Jenna… say something. “Hi my name is Jenna! What is yours?” Oh I did it: That was not too bad, I do not know why I was so nervous. After we were talking for a while another man showed up and both of the boys, the first from Pakistan and the second from India, started talking in a common language. I was so confused on what was going on. Unsure about what exactly they were saying I look for clues in their body language. The first guy kept making gestures towards be and the other would look in my direction, so I figured that he was explain to him exactly why I was there. After this went on for awhile more and more people started showing up, but since all of the others did not communicate through that same language they switched the conversation back to English, which was very beneficial to me. So, the meeting got started.

As the room filled with ten bodies I noticed a split between genders: Guys on one side girls on the other. Is this how they do it in their cultures or was it just a coincidence? The females were very talkative when it came to taking care of household business. They were all about the organization and running of the things behind the scene: while the males were more talkative about what would be going on in the public aspect of things. Do all women in different cultures leave the public stuff up to the men because that is their role in life; to run things from behind the curtain? I noticed that whenever one of the men was speaking all of the women were completely silent and their full, undivided attention was on them. That was not the case when other women were talking; they were constantly interrupting each other getting louder, trying to get their point across. Why was this occurring? Are men revered as superior and women speak over other women in order to show their superiority?

As the meeting came to a close I had lost all sense of being uncomfortable. I know that they are similar to me and my culture in so many ways and the differences that are present show no signs of a culture being superior or inferior. I really enjoyed being able to see how unique and different it is to be the one who is “strange” in a certain setting. I was very pleased at the end to join in with this group and share a delicious home maid Korean dish. Yum!