I was one of these kids, traveling on summer vacations to my parents’ small rural villages in Tamil Nadu, India, every few years. Below, I chronicle my trips in developmental stages, and perhaps pediatricians and parents will be able to relate to some of their own patients/children’s perspectives in my story.
My first contact with India, and cross-cultural enunciations, was as a toddler in the early 70’s. My memory from that time is based on a photograph. I am wrapped in a saree. My head is shaved (a Hindu custom), and sandalwood paste is smeared on my head. In the photograph, I am smiling.
My parents also recall with amusement that the first question I had when I got off the plane in the United States was “Namma car ela porum?!”, which translated from Tamil means “Are we going in our own car?!)
At the time, hardly any one we knew in India had cars, and the main mode of transportation was bicycle, bus, motorcycle, or bullock cart. I also proceeded to devour cheese for the next week, as this is not a staple in the South Indian diet.
Have you gone to another culture as a child? What was that like for you? Have you taken your children to another culture? How did they respond?
| July 29th, 2008 at 10:09 pm
I have not traveled much at all, let alone another culture. However, my husband’s mother is Japanese, came to the US when she got married. We would love to have the opportunity to take our children to Japan one day.
In the meantime we introduce them to their heritage in small bites.
I loved the look on the face of the restaurant owner when we had my then 3 year old eating sushi with chopsticks while refusing the macaroni and cheese they brought out for her so that she would have something she liked.
| July 30th, 2008 at 7:21 am
As a child we did not travel across countries, but we did make the long car trip from one end of this country to the other to visit with my grandparents, aunts, uncles and cousins. This trip would take several days, and more times than not we would sleep in the car, and eat from a picinic basket. As a child I thought these trips were great fun and one we took almost every July.
In many ways these trips were much like yours as in it was like a whole different world. Life here was different than it was ‘back home’ - we ate different, did different things — but somehow it just fit, and felt right.
My great grandfather immigrated from Norway with his wife and baby (my grandfather) - to start a new life in Canada.
These July trips were often filled stories from those early days in Canada - stories that I now pass on to my own grandchildren.
It is fun now to look back on some of the photo’s from those trips, and amazing the memories that they stir up.
| July 30th, 2008 at 11:10 am
My husband and I are fortunate in that we are American military and have had/have the opportunity to travel to various places throughout the world. This time last year our entire family was living in Okinawa, Japan and had been for three years.
In November we are going back for another four years. We absolutely love it there. The rich culture, the people, even the food. It is so drastically different than what we experience here in the United States. My children adore it as much as we do and are very eager to get back to having Culture Class at school, going to the ocean, the castles, playing with their Japanese friends and continuing to learn the language.
When I was still in the military I spend four months in the Kingdom of Saudia Arabia. I was 19, naive, somewhat scared, and ill equipped for what was to come in the four months I was there. I was completely unable to grasp my mind around a culture that subdues women, humuliates soldiers as a form of punishment, let’s Allah’s Will decide who lives or dies in an accident, when every single instinct I had told me to stop and help, and many many more situations that I just couldn’t comprehend. There are times when I wonder if the world had been different then if I’d be more willing to look at the big picture…then my feelings return to that place, that time, that terrorist attack that I *should* have been in but instead my friends were, the feeling of knowing you’re next but who is the actual “you”. My life was literally at risk for defending a culture other than my own and one which I didn’t understand.
Now, I like to think that my understanding it is not the same as accepting it. It is not my culture or my ways to understand however, I do accept the fact that it is their way of life, what they know and what makes them stand out in the world.
| August 6th, 2008 at 2:54 pm
Dear Tamyra,
Thank you so much for taking the time to share your very rich travel experiences as part of the military with us. I have Indian friends based in America who spent 3 years in Tokyo, Japan, for work and relished their time there. They, too, learned so much about a country that is very different from India or America. I hope you and your family enjoy the next four years you will spend in Okinawa.
It sounds like your time in Saudi Arabia was filled with intense experiences and questioning, and all this occcurred while you were still a young teenager. I salute you for taking the time and energy to have this exposure to a very different culture, at such a young age. Though we may not understand or accept everything we witness, I think this first-hand cultural immersion is an invaluable first step to building positive relationships with other peoples of the world.
Sincerely,
Vasuki