Cultural Awareness

In the world there are many different stages of cultural awareness. Most people in the world are unsure of any other culture but there own and stereotype or label anything that doesn't have to do with there own culture or beliefs. These people are put into the Parochial Stage which is the first level of awareness which states that people are aware of their own way of doing things and that there way is the only way. People in this stage ignore cultural differences altogether. The Parochial Stage is not a very good stage to be in because you are thinking very narrowly and are not open for discussion or change. I really enjoyed the article about the IceBerg Theory because it is very true and relatable. A lot of the time people only recognize a tiny portion of cultural aspects are visible to people of other cultures. They only know things such as food, language, accents, clothing, holidays, performing arts and games are some of the more obvious things people notice. Although these things are important there are so many more culturally important things people never notice about other cultures because people never take the time to learn about them. I personally like to learn about other countries values, religious beliefs and family matters to see how they relate to the things that I do and believe in. I have learned about a few cultural perceptions of Ireland and Scotland over the years. One thing I know about Ireland is the Irish River-dance, since I was little I would always enjoy watching the Irish River-Dancing on Tv, the way they would dance was fascinating to me. Another thing I love about Irish culture is St. Valentines Day. People would send unsigned valentines cards to there admirer and then the admirer would go to great lengths to find out there secret admirer was. It is a romantic and fun part of Irelands History that the United States also participates in as well. Except in our tradition we sign who we are on the card, which is a little different than the Irish and leaves a little bit of the romance and fun out of finding out who your admirer is. Valentines day is one tradition that the United States and Ireland share, which is really cool. On the other hand in Scottish culture I have always been interested in the fact that they can play the Bagpipe in amazing unison and how one important cultural piece of clothing is a kilt. I have always wanted to go to Scotland during the month of August so I can get a chance to see the Bagpipers play at the Edinburgh Military Tattoo and on Glasgow Green. Another thing that has always interested me is the Scotland Highland Games. The different sports they perform in the games are very interesting to watch! The Main point of my blog is for me to become more culturally aware and able to learn about different cultures and be able to relate to them. 

The stage I want to be in is the Participatory Third Culture Stage. I want to be able to discuss my culture with people of different cultural backgrounds and share our values and hopefully create new meanings with one another. So we will be able to learn about each others culture and respect it.